After the Seventh Sunset A Billionaire's Regret

The Henson familythe wealthiest in Ashfordsent people to find Winona Henson while I was helping her chase chickens around the farm.

They said she was the Henson family's missing heiress, gone for five years, sole inheritor of a fortune worth billions.

This is the Henson family's compensation for these past five years. We hope you'll accept it.

I knew what it really washush money, meant to sever whatever bond existed between Winona and me.

Winona's eyes went red-rimmed. She grabbed my sleeve, her face crumpling with hurt and desperation.

"I'll go backbut only if he comes with me!"

The entourage exchanged uneasy glances, no one daring to respond. I wiped the chicken droppings off my hands, and right in front of Winona, I took the black card.

"Winona, go back on your own."

"I'm used to living down south. It's too dry and cold up north. I don't like it."

Winona, it's not that I never went back with you.

It's just that I died too horribly last time. This time around, I've learned my lesson.

The December wind cut through the air, damp and biting.

Winona clung to my sleeve, her lashes glistening. "Dominic Delgado... are you really throwing me away?"

The same words as my past life. The same look in her eyes.

But this time, I wouldn't soften.

I looked past her, up the ridge where a dark wall of people in suits stood waiting, and pried her fingers loose one by one.

"Winona, you never belonged here."

"Have you forgotten? You're just a stray I picked up off the side of the road."

The moment those words landed, the wet shimmer in her eyes flooded crimson.

She hated hearing that more than anything.

When I first found Winona, she could barely string a sentence together. I asked her name, where she was fromshe just shook her head, blank and lost.

I had no other choice. I kept her with me.

Some of the village kids started calling her "Goldie," said she was a dog that followed me everywhere.

Winona despised it, but she couldn't shut their mouths.

"Lena, it's okay."

"Their mouths belong to them. As long as we know the truth, that's all that matters."

My late grandfather taught me that.

I passed it on to Winona.

And now I was the one throwing those same words back in her face.

"Dominicdo five years together really mean so little to you? Is this all our love is worth?"

Her voice shook when she spoke.

In my past life, I'd felt the same way. I thought five years of love shouldn't be bought off so cheaply.

So even knowing what awaited me in Ashfordthe Henson family's scrutiny, their contempt, their crueltyI still chose to stand beside her and face it together.

"Winona, people die without money. But without love? They actually live easier."

"You've spent five years with me. You know how much money matters. What's on that card could keep my grandmother and me comfortable for the rest of our lives."

I didn't want to drag this out any longer. I called past her shoulder to the people on the ridge.

"What are you standing around for?"

"Or are you waiting for your precious Miss Henson to crawl into the car herself?"

The words fell like a bladecold, final.

Winona snapped.

She ripped the card from my hand, bent it until it cracked in half, and hurled both pieces into the muddy pond beside us.

Then she threw herself against me, arms locked tight, clinging like she'd die if she let go. "Dominic, I don't want to leave!"

"I just want to be with you! I promised your grandmother I'd take care of youyou said we'd have a son and a daughter together, that we'd work hard and save up and move to the city!"

"Now I can give you the best life imaginable. Why are you suddenly like this?"

Five years. In five years, Winona's dependence on me had sunk bone-deep.

She believed she couldn't live without me. Believed I was the only one she'd ever need.

That was only because the Winona standing here didn't rememberback in Ashford, she had a fianc waiting for her.

That fianc of hers had waited five agonizing years for her return.

If she'd known the truth back then, she never would have chosen to take me with her.

"Winona, enough."

"We were kids playing house. You actually took it seriously?"

The arms wrapped around me fell away.

"Dominic, how can you be so heartless?"

Her accusation came through tears, as if I were the villain who deserved to be torn apart.

But Winona, you don't know.

In my past life, I believed we'd have our happily ever after too.

It wasn't until you remembered the man you truly loved that I realized how foolish I'd been.

The moment my grandmother and I died in that city so far from home, all I could think wasif I ever got another chance, I would never go back to Ashford with you.

Word spread through our little mountain village like wildfire that Winona was the daughter of the wealthiest family in Ashford.

Everyone showed up at our courtyard wearing their most ingratiating smiles, crowding in for a look.

"Dominic, you've really hit the jackpot! Don't forget about us country folk when you make it big!"

"That's rightI heard the Hensons only have the one daughter. Doesn't that make you heir to a fortune?"

"I always said Lena didn't look like she belonged in a backwater like this. See? Turns out she's a real-life princess!"

The courtyard buzzed with chatter, everyone talking over everyone else.

I glanced at the crowd, walked to the water pump, rinsed my hands, and splashed some water on my face.

"Show's over. Go home."

"Winona's already gone."

I knew exactly why they'd gathered at my door. They wanted to squeeze something out of Winona. After all, even the dust that fell off someone like the Henson family patriarch could feed an ordinary household for a year.

Everyone was stunned that I hadn't left with her. The murmuring swelled around me.

I didn't bother engaging. I shut the door.

"Dominic..."

Grandma's frail voice drifted from the bedroom. I rushed in.

The moment I saw herthe woman who, in my past life, had frozen to death on the steps of the Henson mansiontears slid down my face.

"Oh, sweetheart, why are you crying?"

"Is it because Lena wouldn't take you with her? Are you upset?"

I shook my head.

"Then tell Grandma what's wrong. Grandma will fix it."

I shook my head again and helped her sit down.

"Grandma, I'm the one who chose not to go with her."

"I want to stay by your side for the rest of my life."

She smiled tenderly and rubbed the top of my head, pulling me close and stroking my back.

"Silly boy..."

She began humming a soft melody, an old lullaby that carried me down into sleep.

But the dream waiting for me was the past life I could never escape, no matter how hard I tried.

The first day I followed Winona back to Ashford, I stood at the gates of the Henson mansion clutching the dried fish, cured meat, and free-range chicken Grandma had packed for me.

That was the moment I learned what it meant to not belong.

I gripped Winona's arm like she was the only lifeline I had.

She gave my hand a gentle squeeze and smiled. "Don't be scared. I'm right here."

Those were the words I used to say to her.

When I first found Winona, she was covered in injuries. Her right knee was the worstbadly damaged. She limped everywhere, and other kids never let her forget it, mocking her, pushing her around.

Back then, I'd step in front of her, shield her, fight her battles. "Don't be scared. I'm right here."

Grandma and I worked ourselves to the bone to pay for her treatment, buying her the best and most expensive rehabilitation equipment we could find.

She'd always tear up and promise she'd repay us someday. She said once she was better, she'd be the one to take care of us.

Eventually, she made good on that promise.

But she also broke it.

"So you're Dominic?"

The woman addressing me was Winona's mother, Claire Winfield.

Fifty years old, yet time hadn't left a single mark on her.

Nothing like our aunt back home, who looked every bit her age.

I gave a timid nod. The expensive carpet beneath my feet might as well have been lined with needles, each step stinging.

"My grandma asked me to bring these local specialties. Let me just"

I crouched down and began pulling items out one by one, just as Grandma had instructed. Winona bent beside me, passing each gift along.

But when I looked up, I was met with near-identical expressions of disgust.

They covered their mouths. They wrinkled their noses. As if what lay before them was something filthy.

My heart went cold.

Winona saw their faces and snapped, "Someone come take these. Now."

No one dared defy the family's little princess. At her command, several people scrambled forward and carried everything away.

Winona pulled me to my feet, her expression hard, and introduced me to the room with unmistakable finality.

"This is my boyfriend. Dominic."

"He is my future husband. If any of you can't accept him, then you don't accept me."

The vast living room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.

No one dared speak. The atmosphere was suffocating.

Then a quiet sigh rose from somewhere in the crowd, and a path parted on its own.

I followed the sound and found a man in a tailored suit watching Winona and me in silence.

"Winona. You said he's your future husband."

"Then what am I?"

The first time I laid eyes on Grant Heath, I understood that a man could be that impossibly refined, that devastatingly handsome.

He looked like a movie star who'd stepped right off the screenradiant, magnetic, impossible to ignore.

It was also the moment I learned that he and Winona had grown up together, childhood sweethearts since they were small.

Their bond ran so deep that even after Winona vanished for five yearsher fate unknown, her life uncertainGrant had stayed exactly where he was, waiting.

"Winona, I waited five years for you. Do you have any idea what those five years were like for me?"

"Winona, how could you forget me?"

"And how could you fall in love with a man like him?"

Winona's hand slipped from mine without her seeming to realize it.

That was the first time I ever saw conflict on her face.

Winona settled me into a villa just one street over from the Delgado house.

That night, she held me tight as we lay in bed, painting pictures of the future.

"Dominic, this is going to be our home from now on. Don't worryI'll make things right. I promise."

"I told you. You're the only one for me."

Those words were an anchor, steadying the restless sea inside my chest.

Winona hadn't recovered her memories, but the instincts for running her company were still there. She fell back into work seamlesslyhome, office, homea clean three-point routine. I barely heard her mention Grant at all.

Worried I'd be lonely, she brought my grandma to Ashford.

Every day, Grandma and I cooked up something new for Winonaher favorite dishes, little surprises. She always ate with the happiest smile on her face.

After dinner, the three of us would go up to the rooftop and watch the sunset.

Back home, our favorite spot had been the hill behind the farm. She'd told me once that she wanted to watch sunsets with me for the rest of our lives.

Those few months were the happiest I'd ever known.

We no longer worried about money. We were finally living the life we'd always dreamed of.

But then Winona's work grew busier and busier. Days would passsometimes several in a rowwithout Grandma or me seeing her at all.

On the rare occasions she did come by, she'd stay only a little while before leaving again.

The sunsets became something I watched alone.

Some nights I'd sit on that rooftop staring at nothing until the sky turned black, still waiting for Winona to come watch the sunset with me.

She never came.

Then Winona's birthday arrived. She said she wanted to bring me back to the Delgado house, and once again I stepped through the doors of that terrifyingly enormous mansion.

I wore a suit that didn't fit right on my body. Around me, eyes raked over me with undisguised contempt.

I gripped Winona's arm.

But this time, she didn't say, "Don't be scared. I'm right here."

She said, "I'm going to go change. Wait here for me."

I wanted to follow, but she was already heading upstairs before I could get a word out.

The next second, I saw Grant Heath.

"Did you know Winona's been undergoing memory recovery treatment?"

"She's almost remembered me."

A shrill ringing filled my ears, and something inside me snapped.

A violent shove sent me crashing to the ground. Grant's stiletto heel drove into the back of my hand, grinding down until it felt like it would bore straight through.

"Ahh"

The elegant music and the roar of conversation around us swallowed my cry whole.

I lay there on the floor, watching Winona glide through the crowd in her exquisite gown.

"Winona!"

Grant smiled and waved her over, falling into step beside her.

They danced one song after another to thunderous applausethe picture-perfect couple, as if the universe had made them for each other.

I felt like a thief caught peering through a window. Numb and hollow, I turned and stumbled out of the Henson estate.

Outside the door, Claire was seeing off guests.

"Winona and Grant's wedding is set for the fourth day after New Year's. You're all invited."

Amid the chorus of congratulations, Claire added, "The Henson estate isn't the kind of place just anyone can waltz into."

I knew exactly who anyone meant.

It was only one block away, but the walk home felt like it took forever.

That night, for the first time, Winona didn't come back to the villa.

Something came up at the office. I won't be coming over today.

I knew she was lying.

But there were words I needed to hear her say to my face.

She didn't come for half a month.

The day she finally showed up, her expression was dark as a storm cloud.

"Dominic, Grant told me he came to Millbrook looking for me. He even said he saw you."

"But you hid it. You told me you'd never seen him. Is that true?"

It was the first time Winona had ever been angry with me. The way she looked at meit was the way you look at a stranger.

I forced down the tears burning behind my eyes and lifted my chin. "I didn't."

I wouldn't confess to something I hadn't done.

"I never saw anyone come to Millbrook looking for you!"

"You're still lying!"

Winona's voice cracked like a whip. She thrust her phone forward and hit play.

The video showed villagers from Millbrook, one after another.

"Oh, sure, I saw him. City fellow. I even pointed him the right way."

"That's right! I told him the person he was looking for was at the Delgado place. I remember thinking it was strange he didn't take Miss Henson home with him."

"Must be that Dominic kid hiding her on purpose!"

One voice after another, all of them pointing the finger at meaccusing me of keeping Winona hidden away.

I had no defense. All I could do was clutch Winona's sleeve and repeat that I hadn't done it.

"Dominic isn't that kind of person, Lena!" Grandma pulled me into her arms and faced Winona head-on, grabbing her hand, begging her not to believe the villagers' gossip.

But those dark eyes held not a single trace of warmth.

"My name isn't Lena. It's Winona."

She shook Grandma off. Even when Grandma stumbled and fell to the ground, not a flicker of emotion crossed her face.

It hit me all at oncethe woman standing before me wasn't my Lena anymore.

She was Winona. Grant's Winona.

"If I'd known it would come to this, I never would have brought you to Ashford!"

One merciless sentence, and she'd handed down my death warrant without so much as a trial.

"You've remembered, haven't you, Winona?"

Grant's words echoed back to me, and I understood. She had recovered her memories.

That was why she'd disappeared for half a month.

Because she'd remembered who she was supposed to love. Who she was supposed to marry.

And it wasn't me.

"You really didn't have to put on that whole performance for me. If you'd just said the word, I wouldn't have clung to you."

Winona glanced down at me, her expression detached, devoid of anything resembling emotion.

"It wasn't a performance."

"Dominic, Grant waited for me... for five years. I can't betray her."

I lowered my head and laughedcouldn't help it. Tears slid from the corners of my eyes.

"Her five years count as five years, but mine don't?"

Winona's step faltered, just barely. Then she walked out of our home without looking back.

"Consider the house compensation for you and your family. The Hensons will cover your living expenses going forward."

"And from now on... don't come looking for me."

After that, the villa became my cage. And eventually, my grave.

That year was the darkest of my life.

The pain from the dream bled into reality. I thrashed awake.

I sat up, looked around the room, and let out a long, slow breath.

It was just a dream.

In this life, I hadn't followed Winona.

A sudden, frantic knocking erupted at the door.

I pushed it open. The hand I'd tucked behind me was slick with sweat.

The person standing outside was none other than Winona.