เข้าสู่ระบบCeleste, Luca’s first love, and I were trapped in the Romano docks fire on the same night. He saved me first. By the time he went back for Celeste, the warehouse had already collapsed. She died in the fire and became the regret he carried for the rest of his life. Luca never said he blamed me. But after that night, my birthdays, our anniversaries, even private family dinners became days for him to mourn Celeste. He often said, “It should have been me.” Years later, the Chronos Project opened to the powerful families of the underworld. For a brutal price, it could send someone back to one moment in the past. Luca signed the waiver without hesitation. Before entering the machine, he said to me, “I saved you first because you were my wife. If I had saved Celeste first, the families would have called her my mistress and destroyed her. This time, I’ll save her properly.” After he vanished, the Romano elders turned all their grief on me. “If Luca had chosen Celeste first, he would have had the life he wanted.” “She died because of you.” “You should have been the one the fire took.” I did not explain. I signed the Chronos waiver too. This time, I would give them what they wanted.
ดูเพิ่มเติม“Hey Sunny, have you been waiting here for long?
Apologies for the delay, babe.The Professor had so much for me to do that…” Selene began explaining why she was fifteen minutes late to the meeting she only knew about during her last class for the day. Her professor had tasked her to supervise a project that would determine whether they would pass or fail his program for the semester.“Cut the crap, you cheap slut!” He cut her off rudely, his voice a few octaves higher. It was as if he wanted everyone to hear him. “You are such a bold one, Selene. You kept me waiting here, while you took all the time in your Professor’s office doing God knows what. You think a simple apology can solve that?”Selene’s face turned pale when she heard what he had to say. She couldn’t believe her ears, as she wondered, “It’s only been fifteen minutes. Why is he getting so worked up?” Meanwhile, she cautioned in a gentle tone, “Watch your words, Sunny. What are you implying?” Her composure rather irked him, who felt that the young lady had no regard for him. After all, why would she be so composed right now?“Are you commanding me now?” He mocked, still drawing the attention of other students around. “What do you want, Sunny? You called me out here.” She had always been at his beck and call, and even now, she had an impromptu assignment to present the next day, yet, she still came to see her boyfriend. However, he didn’t give a damn about anything she had to do. Whenever he calls, she must answer immediately.“You have the nerve to ask me what I want?Do you really think you can boss me around because you buy me gifts?You think the expensive watches, clothes, perfumes, and shoes, or even the free meals are enough for you to treat me like thrash?” Sunny asked unreasonably. As he listed the items his girlfriend provided willingly to him, some other guys were hoping the two could just break up already, or better still switch places with the dumb guy. However, he couldn’t take the cue.At this point, she was fed up and didn’t even have the strength to argue with the clown anymore. After all, her mom taught her better than to argue with unreasonable people. He was so self-centered that he forgot how special the day was. All he could think about was himself and no one else.Selene’s unconcerned gaze further fuelled his anger, causing him to say coldly, “I cannot have a girlfriend who treats me like trash.” Selene only looked at him from top to bottom, noticing that everything he was donning was a gift from her. From the hair gel, through his body cream, to his clothes and shoes. Then her sight finally landed on the custom-made wristwatch she ordered for his last birthday. Even his damn perfume was a gift from her.“I cannot have a girlfriend who feels that she should always be in charge because she has a little more money than me.” He paused intentionally to scrutinize her gaze, only to notice there was still no reaction from her. However, Selene scoffed at his statement, “Just a little more money than you, huh? Your little must be so much, judging from how you have nothing to your name” She thought in jest, since he was as poor as a church rat. Moreover, he would have been expelled if she hadn’t paid eighty percent of his fees this semester. She remained quiet, urging him with her gaze to continue his speech.“You couldn’t even assist me in my chosen field, yet you ignorantly got me the role of a backup singer for a measly wanna-be artist. Do you really think so lowly of me?” At this point, she finally raised her eyebrows in interest and asked with shock lacing her tone, “Did you just say I hooked you up with a measly wanna-be rookie?” Selene asked in one breath, her gaze fixed on the pathetic specimen of a man before her.She couldn’t believe that she secured a backup role with the most popular singer of the moment, yet, he felt that she wanted him to support a newbie. Her views on life changed drastically at that moment. Even though her heart felt heavy at the realization that it was finally over, she still hoped her lover would just tell her it was all a prank.She suddenly roamed her gaze through the place, expectation building up within her. “Aaah! He’s trying to surprise me with something. Whew! Sunny never speaks to me like this. It’s definitely a prank.” Selene smiled beautifully, anticipating her boyfriend to bring out whatever he had prepared for her, as it would be his first time in more than a year since they started dating. She never received anything from him.“You really got me there, Su…” She began making light of everything because she was convinced that only a prank could explain Sunny’s attitude towards her at the moment. However, before she could complete the statement and make more jest of herself, something unbelievable caught her sight.A blonde in pink stilettos approached them steadily, her skimpy dress reaching just a little below her bum. “Babe, here you are. Been looking everywhere for you.” She spoke cheekily, passed a mischievous glare toward Selene, and finally threw herself onto Sunny’s lap. As if that wasn’t enough, the two carelessly joined their lips and hungrily kissed each other with care for nothing in the world. It was as if they were the only ones in the restaurant.When Sunny felt her piercing gaze on them, he concluded flippantly, “As I was saying before you rudely cut me off, this relationship is over, Daddy’s pet.I found me a real girlfriend who would satisfy me in all aspects.” He concluded with a gentle squeeze on her butt, earning a squeal from the lady.Selene unconsciously rubbed her thumb on her lips as she remembered that she never even gave him a peck, talk less of doing the shameful thing they just did in public. “Do you know what today is?” She asked in a trembling voice, yet Sunny didn’t give a damn. He only rubbed his new girlfriend’s exposed thighs with nothing but worship filling his gaze.Selene felt so stupid to have paid heed to the clown all this while. She loved to wear miniskirts and clothes that showed her smooth and fair skin while accentuating her curves. However, he forbade her when they began dating, only to be happily hugging another girl in such skimpy clothes.With all the self-restraint she could muster she repeated in her mind, “You can’t show him your tears, Selene. You cannot give them that satisfaction.”“This is the best birthday gift ever. Thank you for showing your true colors.Goodbye, Sunny.”***“Hey, you can’t do this to me. I… I… I…”Chloe began, but couldn’t get the rest of the words out of her mouth. She felt as if a huge stone had just been lodged in her throat. It pained so badly that she had to rub her chest continuously. “Just yesterday, you told me you loved me. Was it all a lie?” She asked meaningfully..“Oh, please. Spare me that crap.I knew you were a spoiled brat, but I didn’t expect it to be through and through.Gosh! You really were a virgin. Hhahhahha!Just keep me in your thoughts as the boy who snatched your first time from you, okay? That would do for me.” With a provocative wink, Spencer walked away without a care for anything in the world.“This is the worst birthday ever.” Chloe blurted amidst tears as she finally broke down and threw herself on the floor like a beggar. She couldn’t believe she gave her first time to such a jerk.“I heard everything that happened just now, and I know you feel like shit, just like me.So, how about we go to the bar down the road and drink our hearts out tonight?” Selene suggested while wiping Chloe’s tears with a tissue. She thought she needed to convince her for long, but was suddenly shocked when the young lady responded almost immediately,“Count me in!It’s our birthday, after all.”...
To be continued...
Seven years later, I returned to the city for a restoration commission.By then, the Romano name no longer hurt to see. I had finished my training, built my own reputation, and learned to live without waiting for anyone to choose me.Before I left, Donna Sofia invited me back to the estate.I went because the past no longer had the power to keep me away.Luca was waiting in the study.He looked older than I expected. The sharpness was still there, but years of regret had worn it down into something quieter.“Elena,” he said.“Luca.”He looked at me for a long moment.“You look well.”“I am.”His eyes moved to my hand.“You never remarried.”“No.”For one second, hope appeared in his face.I ended it before he could misunderstand.“I chose my work. That has nothing to do with you.”The light in his eyes faded.Donna Sofia told me what happened after I left. Luca had lost his place on the inner council for a time, and the Vitales used Celeste’s stolen papers to damage several Romano rout
Luca turned toward me.The corridor was still in chaos. Matteo’s men were taking Celeste away, clinic staff were clearing the hall, and Bianca had vanished beneath a bench, but Luca seemed to hear none of it.His eyes stayed on me.“You remember everything,” he said.“Yes.”His throat moved, and for a moment he looked less like the head of the Romano family than the man who had finally understood that the past had never belonged to him alone.“In the other life, I saved you first,” he said. “Celeste died before I could reach her. I told myself I did the right thing because you were my wife, but I could never stop seeing the fire.”I waited.His eyes were red.“Every birthday, every anniversary, every dinner with the family, I saw her in that warehouse. I thought if I went back and saved her, the guilt would end. I thought I could come back to you without her shadow between us.”“You wanted to save her first and still keep me afterward.”His face paled.“I did not think of it like that.
The next time I went to the Romano clinic, Luca was already waiting outside the examination room.He stood by the window with his coat over one arm, looking as if he had not slept. When the doctor told me the wound was healing and that rest would be enough, his expression eased for only a moment before his gaze fell to the bandage beneath my coat.“I should have brought you here myself that night,” he said.I buttoned my coat. “That night is over.”Before he could answer, the corridor doors opened, and Celeste hurried in with two guards behind her. Her face was pale, her eyes wet, and she went straight toward Luca as if the rest of us were not there.“Luca, thank God I found you. Someone has been following me since yesterday. I think it’s the Vitales. Please, I can’t go back there.”In the past, he would have taken her away before she finished speaking. This time, he stepped aside before her hands could reach him.Celeste froze.Luca looked at her without warmth. “Are they following yo
After leaving my empty room, Luca began looking for me.The old Voss villa was empty. The apartment I used before our marriage had been locked for years. I was not at the clinic, not at any hotel under my name, and not in any Romano safe house.Every place he thought I might go only proved how little he knew about where I would choose to disappear.By evening, he returned to the estate.The house was too quiet. My dresses were still upstairs, my name was still on the household records, but the few things that mattered had disappeared with me. For the first time, Luca understood that I had not left in anger.I had left with a plan.Near the service entrance, two maids stopped talking the moment they saw him.“What were you saying?” he asked.Neither of them answered.Luca’s voice lowered.“Speak.”One maid finally lowered her head.“I saw Miss Celeste last night. Before Donna Sofia went to the guest house, Miss Celeste carried Bianca toward the old greenhouse.”The other maid went pale.






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