"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?"

I laughed at myself, dry and quiet.

"That's because I was a fool. But never again."

I didn't wait for the roar on the other end. I hung up first.

"Drive to Goldenwood Villa."

The smile on Denys's face faded a notch.

"Hold on. Cora, you just signed the marriage certificate with me, and now you want to go back to the house you shared with Les? What does that make me?"

I shot him a puzzled look.

"I'm going to grab my things and move them out. Is that a problem?"

Denys instantly broke into a grin and swung the wheel around.

"Oh, that's more than fine. Babe, I'll help you pack."

Packing or not packing didn't matter to him.

There was plenty of money, Denys figured. Worst case, they'd just buy everything new.

But the chance to swagger onto Les's turf and rub it in his face? Just the thought of it felt deliciously good.

By the time everything was loaded, it was already nine at night.

Truck after truck rolled out, five full moving trucks in all.

When Les came home, he found an empty living room, and me, suitcase in hand, on my way out the door.

He grabbed my wrist, stunned. "Cora, what kind of game are you playing this time?"

"I told you. We're done. It's none of your business."

Les let go at once and sneered.

"So we're doing the runaway-from-home routine, are we?"

"Fine. I'll clear the path for you. Go ahead and leave. If you don't, I'll think less of you."

I didn't answer. I tightened my grip on the suitcase and walked faster.

Constance piped up beside him, all fake concern. "Les, aren't you going to stop her? What if Cora really leaves?"

Les sneered with absolute certainty.

"Ten years. Every time she got angry, she pulled this same act. I'm used to it."

"You want to bet? Three days, tops, and she'll come crawling back, begging me to let her save face."

Constance stepped into the villa, and the next second her eyes went wide with shock.

"This... why is the whole house cleaned out?"

"Les, are you sure Cora is coming back?"

Only then did Les lift his head from his phone. When he saw what was in front of him, he froze solid.

Even in our worst fights, I'd only ever walked out with a suitcase. I had never stripped away every single thing I'd bought.

Now the enormous villa had nothing left but the floor tiles. Every furnishing was gone.

Even the air conditioners and the chandelier overhead had been ripped out.

Les couldn't manage a smile anymore.

He immediately called to verify. "Go check for me. That blurred-out marriage certificate in Cora's social media feed, is it real or fake?"

Not long after, the other end sent over a crystal-clear photo of the certificate.

"Mr. Sanchez, it's real."

"Miss Henson registered the marriage at the courthouse with that man today. His information is right there on it."

Les looked down, enlarged the unblurred photo on the certificate, and got a clear look at Denys's face.

His expression went ghostly white in an instant.

"How... how could it be him?"