When the news came from the Ricci art division that she had been selected, Serafina pressed her phone against her chest, unable to believe what she had just heard.
The opportunity to work with Arturo’s collection, the artist she had admired for years, and to oversee his works as they traveled through the Old World, felt almost unreal.
For the first time in a long while, she felt like she was standing beneath sunlight again.
But before she could fully enjoy that feeling, a cold message appeared on her screen.
[Take your belongings before 8 a.m. tomorrow. I won’t wait after that.]
The words struck her harder than she expected.
Serafina leaned against the window of the bus, staring at the message.
Her finger hovered over the screen.
There was only one person in the entire city who would still be able to send her messages after she had blocked every possible way of contacting her.
Augusto.
No one else had that kind of arrogance.
Without hesitation, she replied.
[Throw them away.]
After sending it, her chest tightened.
The air around her felt heavy.
Bitter.
She got off the bus one stop earlier than planned.
She needed to walk.
She needed the cold air to clear the chaos inside her.
But as she moved through the quiet streets, she slowly noticed something.
Footsteps behind her.
Soft.
Careful.
Yet impossible to ignore.
Serafina stopped suddenly and turned around.
The alley behind her was empty.
Only a stray cat slipped past the corner, disappearing into the darkness.
She stood there for a moment before continuing.
When the familiar light of her father’s storefront finally appeared ahead, she quietly released a breath of relief.
But before she could reach the door, a hand suddenly grabbed her and pulled her into the shadows.
“Did Dante tell you anything?”
Augusto’s hands locked around her shoulders.
His grip was so tight it hurt.
It felt as if he wanted to crush every bit of distance between them.
Serafina frowned in confusion.
“What are you talking about?”
The pain made her instinctively struggle.
“Are you crazy?”
Augusto stared at her face.
He searched for any sign that she was lying.
But when he realized she truly knew nothing, the tension in his expression slowly eased.
Without saying anything, he reached inside his coat.
He took out a small bottle.
A drop of sterilizing alcohol fell onto his hands.
Slowly.
Carefully.
He wiped the exact places where he had touched her.
As if he needed to erase the trace of her skin.
Serafina watched silently.
Her heart felt colder than before.
“The Arturo exhibition.”
Augusto’s voice remained firm.
“Don’t accept it.”
“I’ll pay whatever compensation is required for breaking the agreement.”
Serafina looked at him.
“Why?”
Her voice was quiet.
“Why should I?”
“Your body has only just recovered.”
“You’re not ready for something this exhausting.”
Augusto paused.
“Ceciliana is more suitable.”
For a moment, Serafina couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Was he pretending to worry about her?
Or was he simply clearing the way for Ceciliana to take another thing that belonged to her?
The anger in her chest burned.
“Let me make this clear one last time.”
“We are over.”
“You have no right to decide my future anymore.”
Augusto’s expression changed.
He had always been able to push her to the edge with a single sentence.
But this time, she didn’t break.
Instead, she looked at him with disappointment.
“Why did you suddenly leave me?”
His fingers tightened around her shoulders again.
“It can’t only be because I asked you to clean yourself before bed.”
“I did that because I cared about you.”
The memory returned instantly.
The cold water.
The sharp smell of disinfectant.
The blood.
The fear.
The moment she called him and waited for him to save her.
Serafina’s eyes reddened.
She interrupted him.
“Do you know that I almost died that day?”
“In that disinfectant you claimed was for my own good?”
“I was lying there waiting for you.”
“Calling you.”
“Begging you.”
“And where were you?”
Augusto’s expression froze.
A trace of guilt crossed his eyes.
For the first time, he couldn’t answer.
Serafina looked at him.
“Do you still not understand?”
Her voice trembled, not because she wanted to forgive him.
Because she was exhausted.
“You were always selfish.”
“You never saw me as a person.”
“You saw me as something that belonged to you.”
“Someone who would always wait.”
“Someone who would always forgive.”
She swallowed the pain in her throat.
“But what I achieved was never yours to control.”
“Just like now.”
“You make decisions.”
“You give orders.”
“But you never once ask what I want.”
Augusto’s face slowly changed.
“You never loved me the way I needed.”
“You only loved being loved by me.”
“That’s why you believed you could hurt me over and over again.”
“Your concern was never about me.”
“It was just an excuse to take away everything Ceciliana wanted.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I once thought all of this was worth enduring.”
“Because I loved you.”
“But now…”
She looked directly at him.
“I don’t love you anymore.”
“And without that…”
“You mean nothing to me.”
The words landed like a blade.
Augusto stood frozen.
He could accept anger.
He could accept her crying.
He could accept her accusing him.
But he never imagined Serafina would look at him with such absolute determination.
“You were the one who came to me first.”
His voice became unstable.
“You were the one who said you would never leave.”
“And now you think you can just walk away?”
His eyes turned red.
His hands tightened around her shoulders.
He was losing control.
Serafina felt tears gathering in her eyes.
Yes.
She had loved him first.
Yes.
She had once promised she would stay forever.
But that promise was never permission for him to destroy her.
She pushed him away.
He didn’t move.
So she bit down hard on his arm.
Augusto hissed from the pain.
But he still refused to release her.
He pulled her closer.
His voice broke.
“I’m sorry.”
“I was wrong.”
“Please forgive me.”
“I swear I won’t hurt you again.”
Tears streamed down Serafina’s face.
But this time, she did not surrender.
She stepped back.
She forced herself free from his hands.
“You still don’t understand what you did wrong.”
“You’re not afraid of hurting me.”
“You’re afraid of losing control.”
“You’re afraid of losing someone who used to obey everything you said.”
She stared into his eyes.
“The moment you chose Ceciliana…”
“Was the moment everything between us ended.”
Augusto’s pupils trembled.
Those words finally broke through the wall he had built around himself.
His grip loosened for a second.
Only a second.
But it was enough.
Serafina moved.
Her knee struck him hard.
Augusto bent forward from the pain.
She immediately pulled away.
Behind her, his broken voice called her name.
Again.
Again.
But she never turned around.
She only ran.
Farther.
Faster.
Toward a life where she no longer belonged to anyone but herself.
