(Yuri's POV)
The heavy, metallic scent of rain hung low over the park, mixing with the sharp, bitter sting of the cheap whiskey that had long since stopped numbing my throat.
The green paint on the old wooden bench was peeling, flaking off under my fingernails as I gripped the edge with everything I had. My knuckles were white. The world around me spun in a slow, sickening tilt, a hazy blur of dark green trees and grey gravel.
This bench. This exact spot.
I closed my eyes, but the darkness offered no safety. Instead, it played the memories back in blinding, agonizing detail. I could see Jane sitting right here, her long hair catching the gold of the afternoon sun, her head thrown back as she laughed at some stupid joke I'd made.
She used to have this habit of hitting my chest lightly whenever I teased her too much. Her hand was always so small, so warm against my shirt.
"You're an idiot, Yuri," her voice echoed in my mind, light and full of life.
"Yeah, but I'm your idiot," I had replied, pulling her into my lap. She would pretend to struggle, rolling her eyes with that signature diva dramatic flare, but within seconds, she would melt completely into my chest, her arms winding tightly around my neck.
She fitted perfectly there. Like a piece of a puzzle that had finally found its home after years of searching. When I held her, the noise of Section E, the chaos of our lives, the shadow of my family—everything just vanished.
And now, look at me.
I opened my eyes, a harsh, choked sob escaping my lips. I lifted the bottle, pressing the cold glass against my cracked lips, and swallowed another burning gulp. It tasted like ash.
I was entirely drunk, my mind a chaotic mess of liquor and regret, sitting quietly in the mud while the shadows lengthened around me. My vision blurred as heavy, hot tears finally spilled over, tracking burning paths down my face.
I had destroyed the fortress we built. I had taken the one person who trusted me implicitly and used her as a pawn in a petty, ego-driven war against Aries.
Suddenly, a sharp crunch of dry leaves cut through the ringing in my ears.
I turned my head slowly, my neck feeling heavy, my vision swaying violently. A figure stood at the edge of the path. My breath caught in my throat, the bottle slipping from my fingers and thudding softly into the grass, spilling the remaining liquor into the dirt.
"Jane..." I whispered.
She stood under the dimming light, her coat buttoned tightly up to her chin, her expression completely unreadable. For a fraction of a second, my drunk brain thought it was a hallucination—a cruel trick born from my desperation. But as she took a half-step back, her eyes narrowing in deep, unadulterated disgust, the reality of her presence slammed into me.
Seeing me like this, she didn't say a word. She didn't scream. She didn't yell. She just turned around, her boots clicking sharply on the stone as she prepared to leave me behind in the dirt.
Panic, cold and sharp, cut through the fog of the alcohol.
"Jane!" I scrambled off the bench, my knees hitting the wet ground before I could even find my footing. I pushed myself up, my heart hammering violently against my ribs as I stumbled down the path after her. "Jane, please!"
She didn't slow down. Her back was rigid, a wall of pure frost separating us.
"Just a few minutes, Jane..." I begged, my voice breaking entirely, reduced to a pathetic, bleeding rasp that echoed miserably through the empty park. "Please. Just listen to me."
To my absolute shock, her footsteps stopped. She stood perfectly still on the gravel path, the wind whipping the hem of her coat around her legs.
For a long, terrifying beat, she didn't move. Then, slowly, deliberately, she turned back around to face me. Her eyes were completely dead, devoid of the warmth that used to keep me grounded.
The moment her gaze locked onto mine, the last remnants of my pride crumbled to dust. My legs gave out, and I fell straight down onto my knees right on the sharp gravel between us. I looked up at her, my hands trembling as I pressed them against the dirt, the tears pouring freely down my face.
"I am sorry," I choked out, the words thick and heavy in my throat. "I am so, so sorry, Jane. I know a sorry is not enough for what I have done to you. I know I tore your trust into pieces, but please... trust me, I really love you. You are my whole life. I can't imagine a single second of my life without you."
Jane remained perfectly still, her face a mask of absolute indifference.
"I accept I was like that with my anger and ego," I sobbed, the gravel cutting through my jeans and into my knees, but I welcome the physical pain. It was nothing compared to the agony in my chest. "I thought... I thought hurting you would be a better way to hurt Aries. I wanted him to suffer, and I didn't care that I was destroying you in the process. I was a fool, a complete, pathetic fool, I know that. You can hit me, Jane. You can scold me, you can ruin me... but please, don't ignore me. I can live without my name, without my money, without anything... but you. Please give me a chance to make everything better between us. Let us be together again. A fresh start. A completely new start."
I reached a trembling hand toward her, my fingers stopping inches away from the toe of her boot, praying for a single sign of mercy.
Slowly, the tight line of Jane's lips relaxed.
The corners of her mouth curved upward into a small, faint smile. A massive, suffocating surge of hope flared to life in my chest. My heart practically leaped into my throat. She still loves me, I thought frantically. She's going to forgive me.
My eyes tracked her hand as she slowly reached inside the deep pocket of her winter coat. When she pulled her fingers out, my breath hitched. It was the custom porcelain doll model—the intricate, delicate piece I had spent weeks designing for her on our first anniversary. She had kept it. Even after everything, she was still carrying a piece of our history with her.
I looked up at her with huge, hopeful eyes, the tears still fresh on my cheeks, ready to beg her to let me hold her again.
But before a single word could leave my mouth, the small smile vanished from her face, replaced by a expression of pure, unyielding ice.
With a sudden, brutal motion, Jane raised her hand and threw the porcelain doll straight down onto the hard gravel between us.
CRASH.
The delicate ceramic shattered with a sharp, explosive sound, bursting into a hundred tiny, jagged white fragments that rained down across the dirt, scattering right over my bleeding knees. The beautifully painted face was completely obliterated, turned into unrecognizable dust.
I froze, my mind completely short-circuiting as I stared at the ruins of the gift at my feet.
Jane stepped forward, her shadow completely eclipsing me as I knelt in the dirt. When she spoke, her voice was lower than the winter wind, entirely stripped of any human warmth or affection.
"Some things are not likely to be mended, Yuri," she said, her words dropping like heavy blocks of stone into the silence. "First, you mend that. Then, we can talk."
She didn't give me a chance to answer. She didn't look at the tears streaming down my face. She simply turned on her heel and walked away, her long coat billowing behind her as she left me entirely alone in the dark, kneeling beside a pile of broken porcelain.
------------------------------
(Jane's POV)
My heart felt like a massive block of lead sitting heavily behind my ribs as I walked through the iron gates of the park. After the complete disaster at the mansion—Jeana's fake, suffocating motherly act, the shouting, and the heavy tension that seemed to follow my sisters and me like a plague—I felt like the walls were closing in on me.
I needed a space where I could breathe without thirty pairs of eyes analyzing my every movement.
My feet, moving entirely on a cruel sort of instinct, had guided me straight here.
This was the park where I used to come with Yuri.
Every single corner of this place held a ghost. I tried to keep my eyes locked straight ahead, forcing my face into the calm, unshakeable mask that everyone expected from Janine Jace Maraino. But as I rounded the bend near the old oak tree, my footsteps completely faltered.
A lone figure was slumped over the green wooden bench. Even in the dim, fading light, I recognized the messy dark hair and the specific, heavy slouch of his shoulders. It was Yuri.
I took a few slow steps closer, my eyes narrowing. He looked absolutely pathetic. His jacket was stained with dirt, his shirt was rumpled, and his eyes were heavily bloodshot, overflowing with thick tears that left dark tracks down his pale face. He looked sad, completely drunk, and entirely broken.
For a single, agonizing second, a sharp, violent pain flared to life in the center of my chest. The old part of me—the girl who used to curl up in his arms and trust him with her life—wanted to run across the grass, pull his head onto my shoulder, and wipe those tears away. Seeing him look so utterly ruined nearly made my own knees buckle.
But then, the memory of his cold, calculating betrayal slammed into my mind like a physical blow. I remembered the way he had looked at me when he used my love as a weapon to destroy Aries. I remembered the tears, the heartbreak, and the sheer plan he planned for me me through without a single shred of remorse.
No, I told myself, my jaw tightening as I forced my heart to turn to absolute stone. He deserves this. He deserves every single drop of this misery. Do not be weak, Jane
I gripped the fabric inside my coat pockets, spun on my heel, and started living out the park immediately. I didn't have the energy to deal with his dramatic self-pity.
"Jane!"
His voice ripped through the quiet park, raw, panicked, and entirely broken. I heard the frantic, clumsy scraping of his boots against the gravel as he threw himself off the bench. I didn't stop. I kept my gaze locked onto the exit gates, my pace quickening.
"Jane, please!" he yelled behind me. I ignored him completely, my heart hammering a frantic, painful rhythm against my ribs. I could hear his uneven, heavy breathing getting closer, his heavy footsteps stumbling as the alcohol made him clumsy.
Then, his voice dropped, losing its frantic edge and turning into a desperate, bleeding whisper that carried a terrifying amount of genuine agony. "Just listen to me once, Jane... please."
The sheer, unfiltered pain in his whisper hit me like a physical force. Because I was still a human being, because I couldn't completely erase the ghost of the boy I had loved with every fiber of my being, my feet came to a sudden halt.
I stood still for a moment, drawing a deep, freezing breath into my lungs to steady the trembling in my own hands. Then, slowly, I turned around to face him.
The moment I did, Yuri completely fell apart. He dropped straight onto his knees right on the sharp, damp gravel path, looking up at me like a beggar pleading for a scrap of food. His face was bright red, soaked in tears, his hands shaking violently as he looked up at me.
"I am sorry," he choked out, his chest heaving as he tried to find his voice. "I am so, so sorry, Jane. I know a sorry is not enough for what I have done to you... but trust me, I really love you. You are my whole life. I can't imagine a second of my life without you."
I stood tall, looking down at him from my full height. My face remained completely frozen, a flawless mask of ice, but inside, a violent storm was ripping through my soul.
"I accept I was like that with my anger and ego," he sobbed, his hands clutching at the dirt as he stared up at me with absolute desperation. "I thought of hurting you would be better to hurt Aries. I was a fool, I know that. You can hit me, scold me... but please, don't ignore me. I can live without anything, but you. Please give me a chance to make everything better between us. Let us be together again... a fresh start, a new start."
I looked at him, and for a fraction of a second, I felt a strange, detached sense of pity. Somehow, though I didn't even fully understand why myself, my hand drifted deep into the pocket of my coat. My fingers curled around the smooth, cool porcelain doll he had gifted me so long ago. I had carried it with me today, a lingering remnant of a past that no longer existed.
I slowly pulled the doll out, holding it between us.
The moment Yuri saw the doll, a massive, brilliant flash of hope ignited in his eyes. He looked up at me like a drowning man who had just been thrown a lifeline.
He thought I was holding onto our love. He thought this meant an automatic path to forgiveness.
But my heart was completely cold now. The girl who would have comforted him was dead, killed by his own actions.
With a deliberate, unyielding force, I raised my hand and threw the porcelain doll straight onto the gravel.
CRASH!
The doll shattered instantly, bursting into a hundred tiny, jagged white fragments that rained down across the dirt, landing right in front of his knees. The face of the doll was completely obliterated, turned to dust.
Yuri froze, his face going completely pale as he stared at the ruins of his gift.
I stepped closer, my voice dropping into a dangerous, icy calm that surprised even myself. "Everything can't be mended, Yuri," I said, pointing a cold finger down at the broken pieces. "First, you mend this. Then, we will think about our relation."
I couldn't stay there a single second longer. The mask was beginning to crack. I knew that if I stood there looking at him on his knees for another moment, I wouldn't be able to control my own tears.
I turned away sharply and marched out of the park, my chest heaving as I forced my legs to move faster and faster.
The moment I cleared the park gates and made it a safe distance down the empty, tree-lined sidewalk, the dam completely broke.
I collapsed against a concrete wall, sliding down slightly as I began to cry hard. Violent, agonizing sobs tore through my throat, my hands flying up to cover my face as the tears flooded down my fingers.
"Why... why does this have to happen to me?!" I screamed into the empty street, my voice choked with pure, raw agony. "Everything was perfect! Why?! Why did he have to ruin it?!"
I cried until my chest burned, until my eyes were swollen and my throat was completely raw. The pain of his betrayal felt like a fresh wound all over again, bleeding out onto the cold concrete.
But as the minutes passed, the sobbing slowly began to taper off. The overwhelming grief began to recede, and in its place, a familiar, boiling heat began to rise from the depths of my soul. I lowered my hands from my face, wiping the tears away with a brutal, aggressive swipe of my sleeve.
I straightened my spine, standing up to my full height. I looked back in the general direction of the park, my eyes narrowing into a fierce, dangerous glare. The vulnerability was gone. The weeping girl was pushed back down, and the bold diva inside me took the reins.
"Did you really think a few tears and falling to your knees would fix this, Yuri?" I muttered to the empty air, a cold, mocking smirk playing on my lips as I smoothed down the front of my coat. "You threw me to the hell just to satisfy your pathetic ego. You broke my heart into a million pieces, just like that doll."
I turned my back on the park for good, my stride turning entirely confident, powerful, and unshakeable as I began the walk back to the mansion.
"You want a fresh start? You want a new beginning?" I whispered, my voice dripping with pure, unadulterated steel. "Then you better get ready to crawl through hell, because Janine Jace Mariano is not going to forgive you this soon. You haven't seen anything yet."
------------------------------
✍️ Author's Note
My absolute darlings, my incredible readers! 💖✨
Oh my goodness, please tell me I am not the only one who needs a box of tissues right now! 😭😭
Writing this sequence honestly ripped my heart out, threw it into a blender, and then tried to paste it back together! The sheer, unadulterated angst between Yuri and Jane is just on a completely different level in this chapter!
Seeing Yuri completely reduced to begging on his knees in the dirt, and our ultimate queen Jane showing absolutely no mercy as she shattered that porcelain doll... wow. 💔🔥 It was a moment of pure, devastating power!
I am absolutely dying to read your thoughts on this major turning point! Please, please leave your comments down below and let me know: Do you think Yuri deserves a chance to piece together those broken fragments, or should Jane make him suffer through the deepest levels of hell a little longer before even looking his way? 👿💬
Your comments are my absolute lifeblood, and seeing your brilliant theories and reactions is what keeps me motivated to write late into the night! 🥺❤️
And now, my sweet family, I want to take a very important, deeply personal moment to talk to you all about something incredibly special to me... 🌲✨
I have officially launched my brand-new book: "Hell University 2: Legacy of Secrets"! 🎓🏚️🔒
I know that some of you might be looking at the title or seeing the announcement from afar and thinking, "Oh, is this just going to be another boring sequel? Is it just going to be a repetitive story only about Acein that doesn't bring anything fresh to the table?"
🫣 But my beautiful, loyal readers, I am asking you to trust me on this completely!
🙏🖤 Put your faith in my keypad and go check out the story right now, because I promise you from the bottom of my soul, it is going to be an absolutely wild, thrilling, and addictive ride! 🌪️🔥
"Legacy of Secrets" is not just a standard continuation—it is starting exactly from the dark, jaw-dropping, and terrifying cliffhanger where the original Hell University and Amnse stopped this time! 🛑⏳
The shadows are returning with a vengeance, the secrets are far more lethal, and the mystery is going to keep you guessing until the absolute last page. You are finally going to get the answers you have been craving, alongside a whole new legacy of danger that will leave you completely breathless! 🔍💀
Please go show some massive love and support to my brand new baby! Add it to your reading lists, leave your precious comments on the chapters, and vote! 🌟📚
Seeing my amazing community from this book supporting me in my next creative chapter means more to me than words can ever express. I am holding my breath hoping you all will dive back into the shadows with me! 🥺👉👈
Thank you for always being my strength, my inspiration, and the absolute best readers an author could ever dream of having. Let's conquer this new, dark universe together! 🦅🖤
Until the next update... keep your heads held high, stay absolutely fierce, and never let them see you break! 📖✨
Sending you all the biggest, warmest, and most emotional hugs in the world! 🌙💖👋
See you soon ❤️
Love you all 😘
------------------------------