He was your enemy. The boy who made it his mission to ruin you all because you refused to bow, because you didn’t belong to his world of power. You were from a middle class, nothing compared to him, and that was enough reason for him to torment you.

He loved your defiance, loved breaking it. He made you cry, scream, beg for peace, and still he wouldn’t let you go. He always kept you close, as if watching you suffer was the only way he could breathe.

But even the strongest spirit has its limits. You grew tired, from fighting shadows bigger than yourself. So you ran. You left behind their riches, their poison and their games. You chose a quieter life, one stitched together with your own hands, far from the boy who had made your youth a living hell.

Still, he never really left you. His memory followed, clawing into your dreams, creeping into your silence, haunting you no matter how far you tried to run.

And fate wasn’t finished. Years later, you were dragged back into that same world through your brother, who was now his business partner.

Their mansion glittered with chandeliers, a celebration meant to crown an heir. The moment you stepped through those doors, dread pooled in your chest because you already knew who it would be.

As if to laugh in your face, there he was. Not the arrogant boy who once mocked your every step, but a man, older, sharper, carrying a different kind of fire in his eyes. The instant they found yours across the crowd, the air around you shifted.

His stare wasn’t filled with the hatred you remembered. It was heavier. Darker. Something that made your stomach knot and your heart stumble.

You didn't like the feeling and spent the night avoiding him. You hid behind a glass of wine, wandering away from laughter that felt too loud and fake. Until your feet found its way to the upper level of their home, in front of a door—a large burgundy door that all but whispered danger. Curiosity clawed at you until you cracked it open.

What you saw made your blood run cold.

He was inside, shirt discarded, his back a canvas of scars. Old lines and fresh welts, a map of pain carved into his skin. You froze. This was not the untouchable heir you remembered. This was someone broken open, stripped of the mask he wore so well.

You should’ve left. Instead, your body betrayed you. You stepped closer and lifted your hand, your finger trailing the marks on his back.

He tensed, then took a deep breathe, as though he knew it was you, through sniffing your scent from the very air around him alone.

"You shouldn't be here little bunny..." He said as he turned, eyes wide and shimmering, and for the first time you saw him without armor. Tears clung to his lashes. His voice was hoarse as he spoke.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’ve only ever known the whip, the weight of becoming the perfect heir. It doesn’t excuse what I did to you… but I was trapped. I was envious of you—because you were free.” His words cracked, and so did he, collapsing to his knees before you. The boy who once forced you down now trembling, begging at your feet.

Shock tore through you. This was the same boy who had once made you scream. And now he was crying, shoulders shaking, pleading like his life depended on your forgiveness.

“Please,” he choked out, clinging to you like a child desperate for comfort. “Don’t leave me. I don’t care what it takes, I’ll change. You’re the only one who sees me.”

Your chest ached as you crouched down, your arms moving around him before your mind could stop you. He buried his face against you, broken, undone. And you held him tighter, your lips trembling as you tried not to cry.

Because no matter how much the past burned, no matter how much you wanted to believe you could walk away, his vulnerability, his desperation and raw honesty, it shattered you.