Love Died, I Left

Seeing that the lecherous heavy-set man already had his arm around Celeste Vane's waist, I ignored my friend's attempts to stop me and rushed over. "Look, Boss Knox, we're all just out here to have a good time. What's the point of giving the waitress a hard time?" The man's face paled when he saw who had intervened. "Miss Moore, it's you? We were just joking around. I wouldn't dare. I swear I won't do it again..." Seeing my furious expression, the once-rowdy crowd instantly went dead silent. But then, a delicate voice sounded from behind me. "It's fine, Seraphina Moore. It's only fair that I give an explanation for breaking something. I'll drink these three bottles." My heart skipped a beat. Before I could even react, Celeste grabbed a bottle and began chugging it. After just a few gulps, her eyes grew unfocused, and the liquor spilled from the corners of her mouth, soaking her clothes as she struggled to swallow. My friend, who had just caught up to me, looked on in stunned disbelief. Just as I was wondering what kind of act she was putting on, a figure rushed toward Celeste and firmly caught her swaying body. He shot me a chilling glare. "Seraphina, what do you think you're doing!" The furious man standing before me was my boyfriend of five years, Dominic Kane. I looked up at him in confusion. "What?" His voice was ice-cold. "You knew full well that Celeste worked part-time here, yet you purposely came to harass her! It was just a broken fruit platter, and you actually made her chug three bottles of alcohol to apologize? I've never met anyone more vicious than you!" I was too shocked to speak. After a long moment, I held back my indignant friend and asked, "Dominic, do you even know what happened? How can you say that?" A hint of disdain flashed in his eyes. "This is exactly the kind of cheap trick you would pull." A pale hand reached out, tightly gripping the hem of his shirt. "Dominic, Seraphina... she's just in a bad mood. Don't blame her..." Despite her unsteady footing and flushed cheeks, the woman flashed a smug, triumphant smile. Dominic turned back to her, his expression filled with heartache. "Be a good girl, Celeste. We're leaving." Without another word to me, he scooped Celeste into his arms and strode out of the club. The deafening music continued to pound in my ears, but the once-rowdy crowd in the club had completely frozen, staring at me with a mix of surprise and snickering amusement. "Hey, is that Seraphina, the heiress to the richest family over in Baybridge?" "What heiress? She fell out with her family a long time ago over that guy, Dominic. The only reason people still give her the time of day is because her family has deep ties here in Riversend!" "It just goes to show that being a doormat leaves you with absolutely nothing. The second Dominic struck it rich, he turned around and found true love. Yet here she is, still foolishly throwing herself at him." "You can't really say that, can you? The guy is clearly the one who cheated first. How can you blame the devoted girl?" "What do you know? The last time Dominic got drunk, he admitted that back then, it was..." The rest of the sentence was suddenly drowned out by a blaring surge of club music. I had no desire to listen anyway. The group of men who had been harassing Celeste earlier had also disappeared into the crowd. My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket. It was a coldly worded text message. Dominic: My tire blew out. Come outside and drive your car.