"I'll give you however much money you need. It's only a matter of time."
"Please don't break up with me, okay?"
But I pried his fingers off, one by one, without mercy.
"No."
"Denys Stephens, I don't love you anymore."
Yet ten years later, Les Sanchez came back worth hundreds of millions and cornered me at the mouth of the alley.
He tried to talk me out of it. "Break things off with that Les Sanchez. He's got someone on the side. He'll never be the one you end up with."
"As long as you're willing to come back to me, I'll wait. No matter how long it takes."
Remembering that earnest, devoted face of his, I drew a deep breath and made the call.
"You once said that if I agreed to get back together, you'd give me a castle. Does that still stand?"
Hearing that I'd actually accepted, Denys shot up out of his chair.
"You've come around?"
He paused, then let out a rueful, helpless laugh.
"Cora, oh, Cora. Ten whole years, and here I thought you'd changed. Turns out money is still the only thing that moves you."
In answer, I sent him a location pin.
Then, calmly: "Are you coming or not? You've got twenty minutes. I won't wait past that."
I heard the jingle of keys on the other end. "I won't need twenty minutes. I'm on my way."
Ten minutes later, a black Rolls-Royce pulled up in front of me, the window sliding down.
It revealed Denys's striking face, all sharp lines and clean angles, like something carved.
"What's this? Weren't you up on your high horse, refusing to come back to me? Did Les Sanchez kick you to the curb?"
"Cut the chatter."
I snapped back at him, in no mood.
"Didn't you say you wanted to marry me? Grab your ID. We're going to the courthouse right now."
Denys's jaw dropped, stunned.
It took him a long moment to recover.
"Cora, are you serious? This isn't just some impulse?"
I rolled my eyes.
"You're the reason I don't have a husband, so you're going to make it up to me with one."
When I really thought about it, fate had a cruel sense of humor.
If my ex, Denys Stephens, hadn't deliberately gotten close to me back then, hadn't set out for revenge—
If he hadn't made himself Les Sanchez's superior on purpose—
Hadn't deliberately stalled his deals and choked off his future—
Hadn't even staged an elaborate scheme so that Les would witness our history with his own eyes—
Then Les and I would never have had such a chasm between us.
It seemed that, after all the twists and turns, I really couldn't escape Denys Stephens.
When we walked out of the courthouse, Denys and I each held a little red marriage certificate.
He was grinning ear to ear, pulling me in and kissing me again and again.
And as usual, I posted the announcement on my social media feed.
But two minutes after it went up—
Les Sanchez's call came through.
"Cora, isn't this a little much, what you're doing?"
"Constance and I haven't even finished our wedding, and you're already posting some ridiculous nonsense. Delete it. Now."
"I know you're not happy that you weren't the bride at today's wedding."
"But just because you're in a bad mood doesn't mean you get to spread this kind of rumor for attention, does it?"
"Even if you were going to register a marriage, it wouldn't be until Monday. What's with the bad photoshop?"
"Besides, I'm standing right here. So who exactly did you run off and marry? Don't be ridiculous."
I let him finish every word, then answered, my voice cold.
"Are you done?"
"If you're done, then shut up. Who I marry is none of your business."
"Les Sanchez, didn't you already take home your real wife?"
"The moment the two of you held that wedding, whatever was between us was over for good."
Les froze for a beat, then let out a scornful, sneering laugh.
"You? Leave me?"
"If you could really walk away from me, why would you have stayed by my side for ten years, hanging on my every word?"
