Late Regrets for the Wronged Lover

All of New York was talking about it --- Lucas Hale, the guy who once won an international gold medal on the piano, was now nothing more than Serena Caldwell's pet.

The day the Hale family went bankrupt, I signed a three-year contract and sold myself to my ex-girlfriend, Serena Caldwell.

Everyone assumed we'd rekindled our romance. Only I knew the truth --- I was a servant she'd bought for three million dollars.

She went through seventeen boyfriends, and every single breakup, she took it out on me.

Slapping me across the face. Pouring champagne over my head. Leaking photos of me on my knees scrubbing her heels to the media.

Spreading rumors that I'd sleep with anyone, that I'd clawed my way up by using my body.

I fell from the top to the gutter and became the laughingstock of all New York. I endured all of it.

Until one night, drunk and reckless, she made a bet and lost me to the girl next door --- the one I'd watched over since we were kids, the one I loved like a little sister.

Three days and three nights. The fingers I'd spent eighteen years training on the piano were broken, one by one. A deep, permanent scar was carved across my cheek from one side to the other.

When I finally crawled out, Serena was sitting on the couch touching up her makeup, smiling like nothing had happened.

"It was just a little joke. Don't tell me you can't take a joke."

Then she held the rest of the Hale family's debt over my head, just like she had on every one of the previous one thousand and ninety-five days.

I didn't say a word. I just lifted my eyes to the clock on the wall.

Seventy-two hours until the three-year contract expired.

Serena Caldwell. Game over.

"Lucas, why the hell are you walking around with that look on your face?"

A hand with dark red nails hooked under my chin and tilted it up.

I met her eyes. The sting behind mine threatened to break through, but I forced it back down.

Serena paused for just a moment.

Then a thin, mocking smile curled at the corner of her mouth.

"Oh, playing victim again? You think you're still that precious little heir everyone used to fawn over?"

I said nothing and turned my face away.

Serena let out a cold laugh and wrenched my face back toward her.

"Drop the tough-guy act. Don't think I don't know what you've been up to with those men. I've seen the photos."

The words landed with a sick kind of pleasure behind them.

My whole body went rigid.

Photos? What photos?

Serena unlocked her phone and held up the screen.

There I was --- dazed, barely conscious, surrounded by a group of men.

The memory of those three days came rushing back like a wave of filth.

I clenched my fist until my nails bit into my palm.

Serena grabbed my collar and let her eyes drag slowly over me.

"Funny thing, Lucas. All those years with me, you acted like you couldn't be bothered. But with them, you couldn't wait."

Disgust flickered across her face. She raised her hand and cracked it across my cheek.

The sting bloomed instantly, sharp and hot.

I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

"Miss Caldwell, Mr. White is here."

The butler's voice cut through the room.

One second ago Serena's face was full of fury. The next, she softened completely, like someone had smoothed out every hard edge.

She let go of me and turned to head downstairs.

A cheerful male voice floated up from the entryway.

"Serena, I missed you so much. You promised to take me somewhere good yesterday. How could you forget? I had to come all the way here myself."

Through the gap in the railing, I watched Serena's expression shift into something warm and indulgent.

There was a time she used to look at me that way.

That time was long gone.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Want me to take you now?"

Ryan White laughed softly.

"No way. I want to eat here. I heard you've got a live-in servant who's been around for three years and actually cooks pretty well. Why don't we have him make us something?"

Ryan's gaze cut straight through the railing and landed on me, taking in every bit of the mess I was.

Everyone in New York knew I was Serena's ex --- the one she kept locked up in her house just to have someone to punish.

This was nothing more than Ryan planting his flag. Showing me who had the power here.

Sure enough, Serena agreed without a second thought.

Fighting through the dull ache in my body, I walked into the kitchen and tied on an apron.

Laughter drifted in from the living room.

I glanced over.

Ryan was draped against Serena's shoulder on the sofa, his voice all soft and playful.

"So when are you finally going to marry me? I can't wait anymore."

Ryan wasn't like the others Serena had cycled through. He was the only son of New York's mayor. And by far the longest-running relationship she'd ever had.

"When do you want?"

"I don't care, I just want it to be soon!"

"Okay, okay. I'll come to your parents' place tomorrow. Happy?"

"Now we're talking!"

Something clenched in my chest.

The knife slipped. The blade caught my finger before I could pull back.

Blood welled up immediately, a sharp, bright sting.

I held my hand under the running water until the pain faded to a low throb, then pulled it back.

I carried the food out, set everything on the table, and moved to leave.

"Hey. Stop."

Ryan's voice caught me at the doorway.

He was smiling, just slightly. "Would you mind serving the rice?"

I glanced at Serena. She gave nothing. I nodded and stepped forward.

I set the bowl in front of him.

He took one bite.

Then, without warning, he swept the bowl off the table.

Scalding rice scattered across my hand.

"Are you trying to burn me?" His voice was flat and cold. "Taste it yourself. Tell me if that's edible."

The back of my hand was already red and blotchy. I turned toward the kitchen.

"Did I say you could go? Get back here."

I stopped. I bit down hard, then turned back around.

"The rice was just cooked. It's going to be hot right off the stove, Mr. White."

"So now you're blaming me?"

His face was expressionless. The look in his eyes treated me like something he'd scraped off his shoe.

"No."

"Then apologize."

"I'm sorry."

Three years of this life had sanded down every sharp edge I used to have.

But Ryan wasn't done. He let out a short, dismissive laugh.

"That's it? One sorry and we're good? Here's what's going to happen. You're going to get on your knees and pick up every grain of rice off that floor with your mouth. Do that, and I'll let it go."

I went rigid. My head snapped toward Serena.

She had no intention of stepping in.

If anything, something like amusement had crept into her eyes.

Her silence was the worst thing she could have done to me.

I set my jaw. I bent my knees and lowered myself to the floor.

"No hands. Head down. Eat it."

Ryan's order made me freeze.

I pulled my hands back. I bent forward, and one by one, I picked up each grain of rice from the floor with my mouth.

The rice mixed with the grit from the tile. It scraped rough against my teeth.

"God, this is exhausting. Can't even enjoy a meal in peace. Serena, let's just go out."

"Fine."

"You're not upset that I put your guy in his place?"

"Why would I be? He's just the help."

The words drifted over me, light and unbothered, growing fainter as they moved toward the door.

I slowly raised my head. I watched Serena walk out with her arm around Ryan's, until they disappeared. Then I swallowed what was in my mouth.

Serena didn't come home until late into the night.

I went back to the servant's room --- barely a hundred and fifty square feet --- and reached up to tear the page off the wall calendar.

After tonight, two days left.

Two days, and I could walk out of here.

Somewhere between sleep and waking, a sound jolted me awake.

My eyes flew open --- someone was on top of me, pulling at my clothes.

I shoved them off and scrambled to turn on the light.

The moment the room lit up, I saw her face.

"Vanessa!"

"Caught me, huh?" She stepped toward me slowly, eyes fixed on me with something unsettling and obsessive.

The memories crashed back in, dull and grinding, like a blade dragged slowly across skin.

I lunged for the door. Locked. She'd locked it from the inside.

"Save your energy. I made sure everyone else is gone. Your precious Serena is out there right now on a romantic date with the mayor's son."

Vanessa Caldwell --- Serena's younger sister --- spoke without hurry.

"What do you want?"

I forced my voice steady.

She walked toward me, the smile on her face making my skin crawl.

"What do I want? I've been in love with you for years. Why won't you ever look at me?"

"Tell me honestly --- aren't I better than Serena? At least I haven't traded out a boyfriend every few months."

Her eyes were red at the corners. The obsession there was frightening.

"Just be with me instead."

While she was talking, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and called Serena.

Vanessa didn't try to stop me. She just stood there and watched.

The line rang for a long time. Then Serena's voice came through, slightly breathless.

"Hello."

Right after, faint in the background --- a woman's voice.

"...softer..."

The hand holding the phone locked in place.

Then Vanessa plucked it out of my grip.

She leaned close to my ear and lowered her voice.

"Let me be honest with you. Tonight was Serena's idea. How do you think I just walked in here without any trouble?"

The words hit like a fist to the chest.

Vanessa's hand rested on my shoulder. She kept going.

"There's something else you probably don't know. You ever wonder why your family went bankrupt so fast? Why your father killed himself in prison?"

My head snapped toward her.

"That was all Serena. She went to the prison herself and used your future --- your whole life --- as leverage against your father. He chose to end it so he wouldn't drag you down with him."

My mind went blank with a sudden roar.

The last thing that had kept me going through these three years --- the final thread of belief I had held onto --- snapped completely in that moment.

I stared at her. "What did you just say?"

"This has been an open secret in our circle for a long time. You're the only one who was never told."

I thought of the way Serena's expression would flicker --- just barely, just for a second --- every time my father came up in conversation.

And suddenly the cold sank all the way through me.