Six months had passed and it changed everything.
I walked into the Grand Sorelle Gala in a black velvet dress that hugged my body like a second skin. My hair was swept back in soft waves, skin glowing, heels sharp enough to kill. Gone was the girl who signed her freedom away in silence. In her place stood a woman who'd fought her way through grief and betrayal and stitched herself back together with ambition.
People stared. Whispers followed me like perfume. And I loved it.
Leo was in remission. My capsule collection had sold out within weeks. Julian Maddox called me his "secret weapon" at every press conference—though I made it very clear I wasn't anyone’s pawn.
And tonight, I was here to prove one thing that Alina Cruz was not someone you could toss aside. But my face squirmed in shock when I saw Kade at the entrance. And I wasn't supposed to see him again. Not like this.
Not with Julian beside me, his hand lingering on my lower back like he’d branded me. Not at a restaurant that practically screamed opulence—crystal chandeliers, white marble floors, and patrons who knew the weight of old money in silence, not noise.
And definitely not when I looked this good. It almost felt like a twisted cosmic joke.
My hand froze on the wine glass the moment Kade stepped through the door. His entrance sucked the air right out of the room—just like it used to. He always had that effect. That lethal mix of cold authority and effortless charm. He didn't have to try, he just was tall. Sharp-jawed. Eyes like a winter storm. Dressed in black like he was still in mourning. And maybe he was. Maybe we both were.
The man beside me leaned closer. “You okay?” Julian's voice was smooth, unreadable, but I felt it—the shift. He’d noticed the tension, even if he didn’t know its name yet.
“Peachy,” I whispered, forcing a smile.
But inside, my stomach turned. Because Kade had seen me. And he wasn’t looking away. His date said something. He didn’t hear her.
His eyes were locked on mine, and just like that—I was twenty-three again, standing in our penthouse, holding a pregnancy test with trembling fingers, waiting for a man who never came home.
I blinked and came back to myself. No. I wasn’t that girl anymore. I was Alina Cruz. Design director. Independent. Reborn from the ashes he left me in.
“You want to leave?” Julian asked, watching the way I tensed.
But I shook my head. “No. Let’s eat.”
I wasn’t going to run. Let him squirm.
EXCEPT Kade didn’t squirm. He strutted. Straight to our table. Of course he did.
“Alina,” he said, like the name still belonged on his tongue.
I looked up slowly, heart thudding behind my ribs. “Kade.”
He didn’t even glance at Julian. “Can we talk?”
Julian leaned back, lazy and amused. “She’s in the middle of dinner.”
“This won’t take long,” Kade replied coldly.
Julian raised an eyebrow but didn’t stop him. Coward. Or maybe he just wanted to watch the carnage. Kade stepped closer, dropping his voice. “Please.”
There it was—that word. That damn please that once melted every wall I’d built. I hated that part of me still ached to hear it. But I stood anyway. Julian didn’t stop me. He just watched. So I followed Kade to the hallway near the restrooms, a quiet corner with golden sconces and too much tension in the air.
“You look good,” he started.
“Don’t,” I said sharply.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t pretend this is casual. You walked out of my life a year ago and never looked back.”
“I looked back every day,” he said, jaw tight. “You just weren’t there anymore.”
“No. I was there. You just chose not to see me.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know how to face you. Not after... Leo.”
I flinched at the name. It still hurts. Our baby. The one we lost.
“You disappeared, Kade. You left me to grieve alone.”
His face cracked then. Just a little. But enough.
“I lost him too.”
“No,” I said bitterly. “You lost a son. I lost everything. My baby, my husband, my future.”
He stepped closer. “And now you’re with him? Julian?”
I laughed without humor. “Why do you care?”
“Because he’s not who you think he is.”
“Oh, and you are?” I snapped. “You think you can vanish, and the moment I move on, you get to swoop in like nothing happened?”
His voice lowered. “I’m not here to fight.”
“Then what are you here for, Kade?”
His silence was answer enough.
I shook my head. “You lost the right to ask questions the day you stopped answering mine.”
I turned to leave—but then he grabbed my hand. And I froze. Because despite everything, his touch still made my bones remember.
“You’re still mine, Alina,” he said, voice rough.
I yanked my hand free, heart breaking all over again.
“No,” I whispered. “I’m not.”
I WALKED back to the table, legs trembling, vision blurry. Julian was scrolling through his phone, as if he hadn’t just watched my entire world rip itself open again. But he looked up when I sat down.
“Need a drink?” he asked. I nodded. He ordered whiskey. For both of us. For once, I didn’t argue.
THE drive back to the city was silent. Julian didn’t ask questions. And I didn’t offer explanations. But I felt his eyes flick to me every now and then—curious, calculating.
When he finally spoke, it was just one word.
“Kade.”
I looked out the window. “Yeah.”
“How long have you been married to him…”
“For one year.”
“And you left?”
I scoffed. “He left me. Emotionally first. Then physically.”
Julian was quiet for a beat. “He still loves you.”
“Love means nothing without effort.”
“That’s poetic,” he said. “But I think you’re wrong.”
I turned to him. “Why do you care?”
He gave a ghost of a smile. “Because I don’t like being someone’s rebound.”
“You’re not.”
“Then what am I, Alina?”
I didn’t have an answer.
Maybe I didn’t want to.
THAT night, I stood in front of my closet, still wearing the dress Julian picked out for me. A deep red satin. Dangerous. Dramatic. The kind of dress you wear when you want to make someone regret letting you go. And clearly—it worked. But at what cost?
I reached for the zipper to take it off, but stopped when I saw the envelope on my nightstand. No name. Just black paper and my initials in gold ink. My chest tightened as I opened it. Inside was a photo of me. Tonight.
Caught under the glow of chandelier light, staring at Kade with heartbreak etched across my face. And at the bottom, a note in handwriting I knew too well…
“You looked beautiful tonight. But next time, don’t run. — K”
I sank onto the edge of my bed, fingers trembling. Because I didn’t know what scared me more. That Kade still knew how to find me… Or that part of me wanted him to.
