She Left When I Was Broke, Regretted When I Was King.

Ethan's POV

The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead like angry wasps. I dragged the mop across the break room floor, watching dirty water swirl into patterns that disappeared as quickly as they formed. My hands ached. The blisters from yesterday's unloading shift had split open again, leaving raw pink patches on my palms that stung with every movement.

"Ethan, you good?" Marcus called from the doorway. "Your shift ended ten minutes ago."

I looked up, managing a smile despite the exhaustion pulling at my bones. "Yeah, I'm done. Just finishing up."

"Man, you look dead on your feet." Marcus shook his head. "How many doubles are you working this week?"

"Last one," I said, leaning the mop against the wall. "Taking some time off after this."

"About damn time." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Valentine's Day plans?"

My smile widened, becoming real. "Something like that."

The backpack in my locker felt heavier than it should. I'd checked it three times already today, terrified someone might steal it, though who'd break into a Walmart employee locker? Still, my heart hammered as I spun the combination lock. The navy blue gift box sat exactly where I'd left it, wrapped in a silver ribbon I'd practiced tying seventeen times last night.

Inside was a Dior handbag. Genuine leather. Gold hardware. The kind of thing I'd never touched before walking into that boutique downtown three weeks ago.

"This is the one," Lena had said six months back, stopping in front of a store window we'd passed on our way to the cheap theater. She'd pressed her hand against the glass, laughing at herself. "God, imagine being the kind of person who just buys something like that. Two thousand dollars for a purse."

"Maybe someday," I'd said.

She'd kissed my cheek. "You're sweet, but we both know that's not our world, babe. Come on, the movie starts at ten."

I've thought about that moment every day since. During every double shift, every tutoring session where entitled college kids paid me twenty bucks an hour to do their homework. I'd skipped breakfast most days. Lunch too. My jeans hung loose on my hips now, held up by a belt I'd owned since high school. The same three shirts cycled through my week, washed in Lena's sink because the laundromat cost too much.

But tonight, I had that purse.

Tonight, everything will be different.

The bus ride to Lena's apartment took forty minutes. I counted every one, watching my reflection in the dark window. When did I start looking so tired? The shadows under my eyes could've been bruises. My hair needed cutting. I touched my jaw, feeling stubble I hadn't had time to shave.

Would Lena care? She'd seen me worse. She'd held me after twelve-hour shifts, let me sleep on her couch when my roommate's boyfriend stayed over and I couldn't stand the noise. She'd never complained when I couldn't afford fancy dates, when dinner meant splitting a pizza, when I'd had to borrow forty