The Man Who Always Won Lost at Love Chapter 06
“You don’t know?” Dante stared at me as if he were seeing me for the first time. “Ten years ago, you beat me by cheating. How could you not know?”
I frowned. “When did I ever beat you?”
That stopped him cold. “After finals at St. Aurelia Academy. You came in first.”
My mind went blank. “I came in first?”
Ten years ago, Grandma was already very sick.
She lay in her hospital bed, holding my hand as she made me a promise with a smile. “Leona, move up just
one more place this time, and I’ll find you again in the next life.”
I believed her.
During that time, I studied day and night, barely eating or sleeping.
Not long after the exams, Grandma passed away.
But when I finally saw the rankings, I was still in second place.
All these years, I had believed I hadn’t done it.
That was what I believed right up until today.
Now Dante was telling me I had actually come in first.
My eyes stung. “What made you think I cheated?”
Dante answered without hesitation. “Mireya saw it. She said you’d gotten the answers ahead of time. I even
pulled your name off the school’s academic honors display and moved Mireya into the top spot.”
Tears were already running down my face as I stared at him. “So the one time in my entire life I actually
came in first, you and Mireya erased it?”
Dante went a little pale.
I laughed. “I worked myself to the bone for that exam. Grandma and I made a pinky promise that if I moved up in the rankings, we’d find each other again in the next life.”
My voice started to shake. “When she died, I thought I’d let her down.”
Dante stared at me. “But Mireya, she-”
“Dante,” I cut in. “I used to think you were just obsessive. Now I realize you never truly trusted me at all. You would rather take Mireya’s word for it than ask me once.”
His face grew more strained. After a long silence, he finally said quietly, “Because I lost that time. When Dad
found out, he decided I was wasting too much time on the violin. He sold my violin and pulled me out of
lessons.”
So that was it.
Underboss Gian Vescari had raised his son with one rule: win.
The first time Dante lost first place, it cost him the violin he loved.
So he blamed me for all of it.
For ten years, he had told himself he would never lose to me again.
And all of it might have been built on a single lie from Mireya.
I felt sick. “Dante, you’re pathetic.”
I turned and went inside. A suitcase I had already packed sat in the corner.
Dante froze when he saw it. “When did you pack that?”
“Early yesterday morning. I didn’t sleep at all.” I wrapped my hand around the handle. “I spent the whole night
thinking about us. And eventually I realized this relationship had been one pointless competition from
beginning to end, so I walked away from it.”
Dante suddenly grabbed my wrist. “What happened before was my fault.”
For the first time, he had actually said it was his fault instead of saying, “Fine. I lose.”
“From now on, I can be the one who backs down first. I can apologize first. I’ll find out what really happened
ten years ago. Leona, give me a chance.”
I pried his fingers from my wrist one by one. “There’s no point. It’s too late.”
The motion–sensor light came on above us, while the stairwell below remained dark.
Dante stood by the doorway looking more wrecked than I had ever seen him. “Don’t leave tonight. It’s late. We
can talk tomorrow. I bought that salmon you like. I’ll make it for you in the morning.”
I looked at him.
The apartment was familiar. So was the man standing in it.
But the thought of staying even one more minute made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.
“I booked a hotel. You don’t need to worry about me.”
I picked up my suitcase.
It felt light, as if those eight years had finally stopped weighing me down.
This time, Dante didn’t follow.
The door stayed open behind him as the motion–sensor light above him slowly went dark.
I never looked back.
By the time I reached the hotel, my phone was dead.
After I checked in, the front desk clerk told me, “Breakfast starts at seven.”
I nodded, went up to my room, and plugged in my phone. The moment it turned back on, a flood of messages
came through.
Dante: [Leona, after you left, I finally realized you were never someone I should have been competing against.
I spent years taking my own trauma out on you. I want to find out what really happened ten years ago. Can
you give me one chance?]
I stared at the message for a while but didn’t answer.
I was too exhausted to think. I fell onto the bed and was asleep within minutes.
