I followed the mob boss, Hector Wayne, for ten years. One day, he told me to protect a girl, Caroline Parker. “You’re used to living and dying beside me,” he said. “Caroline isn’t. She’s… different. She’s innocent.” Then he added, without hesitation: "If you die, it doesn't matter. I only need her to live." He once saved my life. I couldn't refuse his request. But later, when we were ambushed by our rivals, ten years of instinct took over. Without thinking, I stepped in front of him and took the fatal shot meant for his heart. The gunfire sent Caroline into a panic. She ran blindly—straight off a cliff. Her fate unknown. From that moment on, Hector hated me to the bone. When I was kidnapped by enemy forces again, he did something unprecedented. He didn't come to save me. Instead, he had someone bring me a message. "Fiona, the thing I regret most in my life is saving you back then." "You owe Caroline. Now you're gonna pay it back with your life." My heart completely died. I was tortured to death by the enemy and dumped in the wilderness. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Hector told me to protect that girl. This time, I refused without hesitation. “I can’t protect her. My family is waiting for me to go home and get married.” The life I owed him was repaid in my previous life. In this one, I chose a different path. I would marry someone else, and leave him to chase the regret he carried from before. At my words, a flicker of expression finally crossed Hector Wayne’s usually impassive face. He let out a cold, dismissive laugh. “Fiona Lester. You’ve been with me this long—your reputation’s already worn thin. Who else would want you?” “When I retire and marry Caroline, you can still stay by my side like you do now. Just don’t push it too far. That’s when it stops being fun.” His tone was certain I was bluffing. But he forgot that I have never lied. Years ago, my parents had already arranged everything overseas. They’d found me a suitable man and were simply waiting for me to finish playing at danger and come home to marry. Caroline, dressed in a white dress, walked up to me. Tears filled her eyes as she held my hand. "Fiona, I know you don't like me. But you shouldn't embarrass me in front of so many of Hector's brothers. I heard you used to help Hector take care of many girls before." She paused, then lifted her eyes. Her gaze turned sharp. “Taking care of me should be easy for you too, shouldn’t it?” There had always been women around Hector. And yes, I had handled more than my share of trouble for him. But they were not Caroline. He cherished her differently. Guarded her differently. I pulled my hand free and met Hector’s assessing stare. “You’re right,” I said evenly. “I’m not young anymore. I can’t keep playing house without a name or a future.” “We’re done.” As soon as the words fell, the entire room went silent. Hector frowned almost imperceptibly. Impatience filled his eyes. Most of the people present were brothers who had once fought impossible battles with Hector and me. The atmosphere grew tense. Someone gave an awkward laugh and tried to smooth things over. "Fiona, don't mess with us. Boss can't manage without you. We've shared so many years together. There's no need to make things like this over an outsider." "Yeah, Fiona. You've been with Hector for ten years. We brothers already set aside wedding money for you two. Leaving now really isn't appropriate..." Before he could finish, Hector casually picked up an ashtray from the table and smashed it at the speaker. After a horrifying dull thud, the man's head split open and blood poured out. The entire room fell silent. No one dared to speak another word for me. Hector pulled Caroline behind him. His expression was grave. "What do you mean I can't manage without Fiona? You think you're all being fed by her?" "The gang can run without anyone. From now on, Caroline will take over Fiona's position as second-in-command. Don't you say one more word about it. Let’s see whether my gun’s harder, or your skull is." I gave a bitter smile. In ten years, Hector had never defended me like this in front of others. Even when the enemy humiliated me, he still didn't care. To me, he always said one thing. "It's not like you haven't been seriously injured before. What's a few insults? It's not like you'll lose a piece of flesh." Thinking of this, I let out a self-mocking laugh and turned away without hesitation. Hector chased after me and gripped my wrist tightly. "Fiona, think it through. Once you walk out that door, don't even think about coming back!" When he saw me staring at him without saying a word, he completely lost his temper. "Fine, Fiona. You've got guts!" He leaned down close, voice low and edged with fury, every word bitten off: "Since you wanna leave, then go as far away as possible." His eyes darkened. "Don't come back and get in my way like you did in the last life!"
I froze for a moment. So he had been reborn too. I hadn’t expected that even with a second life, his hatred for me would remain untouched. No, sharper than before. I stood there in silence, watching him wrap an arm around Caroline and walk out of my sight. Only after he left did his brothers dare to come over and comfort me. "Fiona, Boss just likes something new. You two go way back. There’s no way he’d actually marry some barely-grown girl." "Yeah, Fiona. Just coax Boss a bit more. He listens to you the most. He can't seriously let a young girl run the gang. That's ridiculous." I walked over to the window and lit a cigarette. Smoke curled around my fingers before the wind tore it apart. “The transition is already handled,” I said calmly. “This is the key to the confidential cabinet. Give it back to Hector when you see him.” I casually handed the key to Nick and turned to leave. "Fiona, so when will you come back?" he called after me. My steps paused. "I'm not coming back." *** I went back to pack my things at a time when Hector wasn't home. Ten years left me with very little. The Polaroid we bought together for the first time. The bracelet he bought me after earning his first fortune. The instrument he could never blow properly when he confessed to me. I put them all into a wooden box and burned everything to ashes. When Hector stormed in to find me, I was just stepping out with a pitifully small suitcase. The moment he saw me, he grabbed my neck with deadly force. In an instant, I felt the closeness of death. "Fiona, didn't I warn you not to harm Caroline? Did you take my words as a joke?" "Who gave you the nerve to poison her?" "If anything happens to her because of you, I don't mind killing you one more time!" I shook my head desperately and forced out half a sentence. "No, I didn't..." His rough fingers scraped hard across the edge of my ear, leaving a long, bloody gash. "Fiona, this is the last chance I'm giving you. Get to the hospital, kneel down in front of Caroline, and apologize until she forgives you." "Otherwise, I have a hundred ways to make your life worse than death." As soon as he finished speaking, he seized my wrist and shoved me into the car. He drove at full speed all the way to the hospital. In the intensive care unit, I saw Caroline lying on the hospital bed. Her face was so pale it had no color at all. When she saw me come in, she instinctively shrank back. Panic filled her expression. "Fiona, I know I was wrong. Please don't feed me pesticide again, okay? I'll be obedient. I'll stay far away from Hector..." "My life was saved by Hector. Even if you wanna kill me, at least let me see Hector one last time, okay?" I was stunned by the groundless accusation. Hector, however, walked over to Caroline, full of tenderness. He carefully pulled her into his arms and soothed her. "Caroline, don't be afraid. I'm here. No one can harm you." "If someone wants to bully you, I'll bully them back twice as hard." The next second, his tone turned sharp. He looked at me coldly. "Kneel." I shook my head with tears in my eyes. "I said it already. I didn't poison her. Why do you never believe me?" "Fiona, I only care about the result. Caroline almost lost her life because of you. You should atone for it." He kicked the back of my knee and forced my head down. He smashed it hard against the tiled floor. Dizzy pain exploded through me, unbearable and overwhelming. Again. And again. Hector's commanding voice came into my ears like a demon's decree. "Apologize to Caroline. Don't stop until she forgives you." Warm tears slid down my cheeks and slammed onto the floor. "I was wrong. Please forgive me." "I'll never appear in front of you again. I promise I'll disappear completely and never get in your way again." When he heard me say I would disappear, Hector's face darkened. I wiped the blood that had flowed into my eyes and stubbornly lifted my head. "Are you happy now?" Hector frowned and looked at me with a complicated expression. "There's no need to pretend to be pitiful in front of me. I haven't forgotten how you caused Caroline's death in the last life. I already lost her once. I can't lose her again." "Since you've apologized, get lost now." He flung me to the ground like a piece of trash. I looked at him one last time. I braced myself against the wall and struggled to stand. With the last of my strength, I pulled open the hospital room door. Then, before I lost consciousness, I completely disappeared from his sight.
While I lay unconscious, memories of my first life drifted back to when I first met Hector Wayne. Back then, I had been running from a marriage my family arranged for me and ended up trapped deep in the mountains. It was eighteen-year-old Hector who appeared like something out of a legend and pulled me out alive. He wore a black T-shirt faded from too many washes, a half-burned cigarette always caught between his fingers. When I insisted on following him, reckless and stubborn, he let out a soft laugh. “I’m just a street thug,” he said. “Some days I eat, some days I don’t. You’re too delicate. There’s no future with me.” I didn’t care. I threw myself into his arms and said, with absolute certainty, "I'm going anywhere you are." He paused when he was about to push me away. In the end, he pulled me tightly into his embrace. That year, I walked away from the multimillion-dollar career and political marriage my family had prepared for me. Without regret, I moved into a damp basement apartment that cost five hundred a month and called it home with Hector. The place was so run-down that even a light rain would leak through the ceiling. In that air thick with humidity, we clung to each other night after night. Through countless dawns, he lifted me high enough to make the world disappear. And in the heat of it all, he once said he loved me. For ten years, I saw his hands soaked in blood. I also saw him cry late at night. I became an indispensable part of his life. Until the day he brought Caroline in front of me. Caroline looked a lot like me when I was younger. She was stubborn, resilient, pure, and beautiful. Her appearance shattered the fragile balance between Hector and me. When he calmly told me to protect her, my heart clenched with sudden pain. But he had saved my life. I had no reason to refuse him. Later, during the gunfight while we were escaping our enemies, I instinctively used my body to block a fatal shot for him. Caroline was startled by the gunfire. She panicked, lost her footing, and fell off a cliff. None of us knew if she survived. From that moment on, Hector hated me to the bone. So much so that before an enemy's bullet pierced my forehead, he still had someone pass on a message to me. "Fiona, the thing I regret most in my life is saving you back then." "What you owe Caroline, you'll repay with your life." *** I snapped awake as if from a dream. The moment I opened my eyes, I saw Caroline standing by my bed. She was playing with the metal wristwatch I had once given to Hector. Seeing that I was awake, she stopped pretending. "I heard this was some kind of family heirloom. Hector treasured it so much. What a pity. I only mentioned that Happie needed a collar accessory for his birthday, and he gave the watch to me." She tilted her head, smiling. "Oh right, Happie is the golden retriever Hector and I are raising together. You should feel honored." She leaned down with a smile and whispered into my ear. "Who he loves is already obvious, isn't it? Why are you still shamelessly clinging to him?" "Was the lesson you got in your last life not enough?" I stared at her with widened eyes. "You were reborn too?" She laughed so hard and then looked at me with pity. "Fiona, you don't really think I'm some naive little girl, do you?" "If I hadn't faked my death once in the last life to make Hector see where his heart truly lay, do you think he would’ve had the resolve to finish you off?" "If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being too much of an eyesore." I frowned at her. "But you already have what you wanted. I've decided to leave Hector and never come back. Why do you still..." Before I could finish, she cut me off. "That's far from enough! As long as you're alive, there will always be a corner of his heart reserved for you. I can never fully have him!" "So you must die!" She picked up the fruit knife from the table and pressed it against my face. The icy touch made every hair on my body stand on end. I looked at her in terror. Her smile only grew more unhinged. The next second, she turned the blade around and stabbed it straight into her own chest. The knife pierced her flesh. Blood soaked through her snow-white dress. She cried and said, "Fiona, I know you hate me. I really didn't mean to harm you or something. I just wanted to come see you. How could you treat me like this..." I froze. Almost instantly, Hector pushed the door open while carrying a lunch box. He raised his hand and slapped me hard across the face. "Fiona, if anything happens to Caroline, I'll take your life!" He didn’t hold back. The force split my lip and sent blood streaming from my nose. The dark muzzle of his gun pressed against my forehead. His eyes were bloodshot as he said, each word trembling with fury, “Caroline is the one I cherish most. You hurt her—you know the rules.” “This is on you.” The gunshot exploded through the room. A searing pain tore through my left leg. Blood poured out, soaking the floor as agony ripped through my body. I collapsed, stunned, watching as Hector carefully lifted Caroline into his arms and carried her out of my sight. Cradled against his chest, she mouthed two words at me. You lost. My nails dug into my palms until they hurt. I let out a hollow laugh at myself. At my own stupidity, and at how completely I had lost. I had already decided to leave, and yet, somewhere deep down, I had still gambled on one thing. That he might trust me. Even a little. I wiped the tears from the corner of my eyes and made up my mind. This would be the last time. That night, numb, I bandaged my wound. Then, without hesitation, I dialed the number of the man waiting for me across the ocean—the fiancé my family had chosen.
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