The Girl I Lost

My name is Sienna.

This was supposed to be my sixth year with Sebastian.

That day, I accidentally overheard a conversation between him and his secretary.

The secretary asked if the little girl was still throwing a tantrum.

Sebastian let out a scoff and said that no matter how fiery she was, she couldn't hold a candle to the way Sienna used to be.

The secretary quickly agreed, laughing about how no one could have predicted that the wild, untamable Miss Sienna from back then would turn into someone so incredibly obedient, never daring to step a toe out of line.

But Sebastian just frowned. He said Sienna was docile now, yes, but she had also become painfully boring.

I stood frozen outside the door, feeling like a lifeless statue carved out of clay.

So that was it. I was the girl he was talking about. The one who used to be fiercely stubborn, but had now become so blindly obedient that I was completely unrecognizable.

Through the half-open door, the rise and fall of their conversation drifted out into the hallway.

I had just raised my hand to push the door open when I suddenly heard my own name.

"I think she's just taking advantage of the fact that I spoil her."

"Fiery?"

Sebastian sneered. "Even on her worst day, she doesn't have half the fire Sienna had back then."

The men inside chuckled, eager to please him. "Miss Lily is young, after all. She won't even turn nineteen until after the holidays. It's totally normal for her to be a bit childish and throw tantrums."

"Sienna was exactly that age back then."

Sebastian seemed to get caught up in the memory, falling silent for a brief moment.

"You all saw it. You know exactly how wild and fierce she was."

"But look at her now. She's so well-behaved she wouldn't dare breathe in the wrong direction."

The sycophantic laughter started up again. "You're absolutely right, sir. Back then, none of us could have ever imagined Miss Sienna becoming so incredibly tame."

Someone else chimed in. "I remember it perfectly. She had a lethal temper. If I hadn't ducked fast enough that one night, that heavy glass ashtray would have split my skull wide open."

Sebastian laughed along. "Now that she's older, she's gotten soft and utterly dull."

"Looking at Lily... I actually see a faint shadow of how Sienna used to be."

As he spoke, he suddenly turned to his secretary. "Go book a flight."

"For tonight. I'm flying back to New York."

"Are you flying back personally just to coax her?" The secretary sounded genuinely surprised.

Sebastian didn't deny it. "The patriarch isn't feeling well. I need to go check on him. Dropping by to see Lily is just on the way."

"There are no more commercial flights tonight. The earliest private slot is at 3 AM. Would you like to reschedule..."

"Book the 3 AM slot." Sebastian cut him off without hesitation.

I slowly lowered my hand.

Inside the room, the conversation carried on, but they had already moved on to other, meaningless topics.

I didn't push the door open.

I just stood there, entirely rigid.

Like a wooden carving.

It wasn't until the harsh, overly bright hallway lights began to make my eyes sting that I finally blinked, turned around, and slowly walked toward the elevator.

The Sienna that Sebastian was talking about was me.

The girl whose personality used to be incredibly stubborn and unyielding.

The girl who had rejected his massive, extravagant romantic pursuits over a dozen times.

The Sienna who used to dramatically quote cheesy proverbs about how wealth could never corrupt her and power could never bend her.

And now, I had morphed into a girl so submissive that I didn't even recognize my own reflection.

As I stepped into the elevator, my phone buzzed. It was Sebastian.

"Why aren't you here yet?"

"Something came up. I'm not going to make it."

"Alright. We're wrapping up here anyway. I'll be home soon."

Sebastian's voice was as warm and gentle as always. "Be a good girl and wait for me at home, Sienna."

But he didn't come home soon.

I took a shower. My mind was wide awake, so I just sat on the living room rug, staring blankly into space.

It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that the rain began to pour.

The front door clicked open, and Sebastian strode in, bringing the freezing, damp scent of the rain with him.

"You're not asleep?"

He seemed slightly taken aback.

A fleeting second of guilt seemed to flash through his eyes.

But it was only a second.

He walked over, leaned down, and brushed his thumb against my cheek.

Then he pressed a kiss to my temple. "I have to fly back to New York."

"Grandpa is sick. I'm really worried about him."

He spoke quickly, his voice low and a bit hoarse.

His brows were pulled tightly together, and a heavy shadow of concern covered his face.

If this had been any other day, my heart would have ached for him.

But right now, looking at his face, studying every microscopic shift in his expression, I just felt a sickening urge to laugh.

Was flying back to coax Lily really just a coincidence?

Or was checking on his sick grandfather the actual coincidence?

I doubt Sebastian even knew the answer to that himself.

But it was glaringly obvious that his performance right now was so good he was even fooling himself.

"Sebastian, it's raining outside."

I pointed toward the dark windows.

A sudden, violent crack of thunder ripped the pitch-black sky wide open.

It was a thunderstorm.

My absolute biggest phobia.

It was also the exact same weather we had six years ago, on the night we finally got together.

"I'm scared."

I reached out and tugged the hem of his jacket, my pale lips pressed into a tight line.

I looked up at him. I looked deep into his eyes.

I saw the tiny reflection of myself in his pupils.

Seeing the fragile, desperate hope written all over my own face made me want to cry.

Six years of deep, consuming love couldn't just be erased overnight. I kept telling myself that.

If he didn't leave... if he just agreed to stay with me...

"Sienna, I absolutely have to go back."

Sebastian gently but firmly pried my fingers off his jacket.

His tone was so resolute it bordered on freezing. "You have always been so understanding. What is wrong with you tonight?"

Saying that, he turned around, shrugging off his damp coat as he walked toward the walk-in closet.

"Come here. Help me pack."

"I'll be gone for at least a week."

"But don't worry, I won't miss your birthday."

"And I definitely won't miss our anniversary."

He stopped and looked back at me over his shoulder.

His dark hair was slightly damp from the rain, clinging softly to his forehead. It made his deep, dark eyes look incredibly warm and affectionate.

He didn't look like the arrogant, untouchable elite he usually was.

I stood up and offered him a small smile.

I walked right past him and headed into the closet.

I pulled out a massive, oversized hardshell suitcase.

Sebastian chuckled. "Why do I need a bag that big? I'll be back in a few days."

I thought about it for a second. He was right.

But you couldn't exactly wear recycled outfits to go see a brand-new girl. A girl with a temper that fiery definitely wouldn't swallow that kind of disrespect.

I packed a few essentials.

Throughout the process, Sebastian kept checking his luxury watch, his eyes brimming with blatant impatience.

My heart felt like a massive boulder, slowly sinking into the dark depths of the ocean.

There were no violent waves or dramatic crashes. Just a few silent bubbles rising to the surface as it disappeared.

I finally realized that letting go of six years of love only took the space of a single heartbeat.

Sebastian left.

The heavy rain finally stopped.

A faint, pale glow appeared on the horizon. The weather forecast said today was going to be a beautiful, sunny day.

I started packing my own belongings.

The things I absolutely needed went into my largest suitcase.

Everything else went into cardboard boxes. I called a moving company to come and junk it all.

Right before I walked out the door, I took off the ring that had sat on my left hand for six straight years.

Sebastian had personally slid it onto my finger.

He had promised me it was a priceless heirloom, passed down only to the wives of the Prescott family.

But the Prescott family despised my ordinary, working-class background. They flat-out refused to accept me. They certainly never would have handed over a family heirloom to a nobody like me.

I knew the truth. I knew it was just an expensive replica he had custom-made to keep me happy.

And back then, because I was so desperately in love with him, I was perfectly willing to let him trick me.

The ring was valuable, yes, but a fake was still a fake.

I opened the front door and dragged my heavy suitcase out into the hall.

I didn't look back a single time.

Just like I didn't look back the day I decided to walk toward him.

I gambled my heart, and I lost. I could accept that.

On his third day back in New York.

The patriarch was perfectly fine and had already been discharged from the hospital.

Lily had been successfully coaxed back into a sweet, obedient angel.

His elite circles were throwing welcome-back parties for him every single night.

Sebastian's schedule was packed to the absolute brim.

It wasn't until a rare, quiet moment of downtime that someone casually mentioned Sienna's name, snapping him back to reality.

It had been exactly three days.

He hadn't received a single phone call from Sienna.

There wasn't a single text message waiting for him on his phone.

His brow furrowed.

He remembered that the night he left, the sky was tearing itself apart with a thunderstorm.

Sienna was terrified of thunderstorms.

Her father had died in a brutal hit-and-run on a night exactly like that. It was a trauma she could never outrun.

A sudden wave of regret, mixed with a sharp sting of guilt, hit his chest.

Why hadn't he just waited until morning to fly out? It would have only been a few hours.

Lily's sweet, bubbling laughter echoed across the room.

His wealthy friends were teasing her, treating her like an adorable little pet.

Sebastian suddenly remembered what it was like when he was chasing Sienna.

He had finally managed to convince her to come out for a drink. But because these exact same arrogant trust-fund kids had disrespected her and her roommate, Sienna completely lost her mind.

She literally flipped the table right in front of them.

She used her razor-sharp tongue to curse those spoiled brats into the dirt.

And because he was standing right behind her, actively clapping and cheering her on, his friends were furious but completely powerless. They had been forced to swallow their pride and apologize to her face.

Thinking back on it now, the memory was both hilarious and ridiculous.

Over the last few years, the passion between him and Sienna had slowly faded.

He frequently used checking on his grandfather as an excuse to linger in New York and fool around.

But those girls came and went. They bored him entirely too quickly.

Until he met Lily.

But looking at her now, why did he ever think Lily was anything like Sienna?

Sienna would never sit there like a good girl and let a bunch of men treat her like a joke.

Sienna wouldn't just blush and look down when they made dirty comments.

When Sienna got angry, her eyes burned like actual fire.

She would put her hands on her hips, tilt her chin up defiantly, and say something incredibly naive but entirely fearless: "You think having a little money makes you a god? I don't give a damn about your wealth."

Sebastian couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He pulled out his phone, deciding to finally call her.

But the call couldn't connect.

He lit a cigarette and stood on the high-rise balcony for ten minutes. Then, he called one of his subordinates upstate.

Half an hour later, the man called back.

His voice was trembling with absolute terror.

"Miss Sienna moved out."

"She hired a moving company to haul everything away."

"The only thing left is a ring sitting on the coffee table."

Sebastian's grip on his phone tightened so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Did she leave a message?"

"No, sir. I searched the entire apartment."

"She didn't leave a single word behind."

Sebastian let out a dark, furious laugh.

He realized that the exact insult he threw at Lily applied perfectly to Sienna.

She was just taking advantage of the fact that he spoiled her.

For the last few years, he had completely abandoned the luxury of New York high society just to live with her in that boring, quiet little town.

His parents and elders refused to accept her, and he had fought them brutally for it.

During their first few years together, he even skipped his family's elite holiday galas just to spend New Year's Eve with her.

Who the hell was he? He was Sebastian Prescott.

Since when did he ever lower his head and sacrifice his own comfort for anyone else?

On the other end of the line, the subordinate didn't even dare to breathe.

It took a long time before Sebastian finally spoke, his voice dripping with ice.

"Change the locks."

This was his territory. Walking out was easy, but if she thought she could ever waltz back in, she was out of her mind.

The seventh day. This was the day he was originally supposed to fly back.

But Sebastian didn't pack his bags.

Sienna's birthday was in five days.

And exactly five days after that was their anniversary.

Compared to her birthday, Sienna had always cared way more about the anniversary.

Sebastian figured that, at the absolute latest, she would crack by that day and come crawling back.

The twelfth day.

Sebastian spent the entire day feeling inexplicably restless and on edge.

A reminder popped up on his calendar.

Sienna's birthday.

It felt like a physical needle in his eye. He opened the app and deleted it entirely.

His friends had set up a massive party. After the first club, they immediately moved to a second lounge.

He brought Lily along.

The girl had completely shed all her defensive thorns. She sat glued to his side, looking as obedient as a porcelain doll.

They were deep into the liquor when someone suddenly brought up Sienna's name.

"Seb, are you and that Sienna girl officially done for good?"

Normally, even when he came back to New York, he never stayed longer than a week. No matter how gorgeous the girls were, his core focus always remained tied to Sienna.

But this time, the vibe was completely different. Everyone was betting that Sienna was officially ancient history.

Sebastian didn't even lift his eyes. He held his whiskey glass in one hand, twisting a strand of Lily's hair around the fingers of his other hand. "We've been done for a while."

"Hell yes!"

Carter shot up from his leather booth, practically rubbing his hands together in excitement.

"I've been waiting for this day until I was blue in the face!"

"She used to walk all over us just because you backed her up. She was practically stepping on my neck."

"Now that you've dumped her, I want to see exactly how cocky she can be. If I ever run into her again, I swear to God I will destroy her!"

A lot of the guys in the room had suffered under Sienna's absolute refusal to tolerate their garbage. Instantly, the room erupted into passionate agreement.

Lily looked around the room with wide, innocent eyes.

"Who is Sienna? Is she really mean? You guys seem to hate her."

"She is the absolute worst! A total nightmare!"

"Little girl, whatever you do, do not act like her. Girls like that always meet a miserable end, got it?"

Lily turned back to Sebastian, pressing her soft body against his chest. "I'm the best-behaved girl in the world now, aren't I, Sebastian?"

Sebastian looked down. He clearly saw the calculated, desperate fawning hiding in her eyes.

Even though she was trying her hardest to hide it, he saw right through it.

He had seen that exact same pathetic, groveling look from people his entire life.

He was utterly disgusted by it.

He had just raised his hand to push her away when the heavy VIP doors were suddenly shoved open.

"Holy shit, guess who I just saw downstairs?!"

"Who? Why are you screaming?"

"It's Sienna! Sienna just walked past the bar! With that exact same arrogant attitude, I would recognize her if she turned to ash!"

"What the hell is she doing here?"

"Seb, is she stalking you? Is she here to beg for you back?"

"I told you guys she wouldn't just quietly walk away. She was definitely waiting for tonight to pull some massive stunt!"

"Seb, if she comes crying to you, you aren't going to get soft, are you?"

The arrogant bravado of the rich kids instantly dropped a few notches.

After all, every single one of them had seen exactly how obsessively Sebastian used to protect her. And none of them could genuinely predict what Sebastian was actually thinking right now.

Sebastian's hand, which had been meant to push Lily away, suddenly dropped to her cheek.

He lightly pinched Lily's soft skin, lazily lifting his gaze.

His eyes locked onto the half-open door of the VIP room.

He could faintly make out a slender shadow standing just outside in the hall.

It had to be Sienna.

He had honestly thought her pride would hold out a little longer. He assumed she would at least wait another five days.

He didn't expect her to lose her patience this quickly.

Sebastian suddenly felt the heavy, suffocating dark cloud that had ruined his entire day completely evaporate.

He leaned back lazily against the leather cushions.

He purposely raised his voice, letting his tone drag with absolute arrogance. "No. I like good, obedient girls like Lily now."

"Whoever wants to deal with a wild thorn like that can have her."

The shadow cast on the hallway floor gave a violent, sudden tremble.

The corner of Sebastian's mouth curled up into a smirk.

He was willing to bet money that Sienna wouldn't last three seconds before she charged into the room.

After all, with a temper as explosive as hers, how could she possibly swallow an insult like that?