After My Ex Ruined My Wedding Dress, I Married His Rival

I slept better than I had in months.

The morning after the engagement party, I woke up in my own apartment — the lease I'd signed two days earlier, the one Easton didn't know about — and lay in bed staring at the ceiling. No texts. No missed calls I cared about. Just quiet.

I got up. Made coffee. Opened my laptop.

There was an email waiting from a consulting firm I'd turned down six months ago. They were circling back. Still interested. High-profile retail expansion project. The kind of work that would put my name in rooms I'd only watched Easton fumble his way through.

Six months ago, I'd said no because Easton had a pitch meeting that same week and he'd needed me to prep him. He got the contract. Wallace Enterprises got the credit. I got dinner at a restaurant I didn't pick.

I read the email twice. Then I hit reply.

"I'm available. Let's talk."

I sent it before I could think too hard.

Delphine called an hour later. "You sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Liar."

I smiled. "I slept fine."

"Good." She paused. "Easton's been calling me."

I set my mug down. "What did he say?"

"That you're upset. That you'll calm down. That I should tell you he's sorry and he wants to talk."

"What did you tell him?"

"That he should lose my number."

I laughed. It surprised me. I hadn't expected to laugh today.

"There's something else," Delphine said. "Your dad called me. He wants to introduce you to someone."

I frowned. "Now?"

"He said it's been arranged for a while. Some CEO. Friend of a friend. He wanted to cancel after last night, but I told him you'd probably want the distraction."

I should have said no. I should have said I needed time. But the apartment was quiet and my phone kept lighting up with texts from numbers I didn't want to see.

"Fine," I said. "When?"

"Thursday. Dinner. Midtown."

"Okay."

Delphine was quiet for a moment. "You don't have to do this."

"I know."

"But you're going to."

"Yeah."

She sighed. "Wear the black dress. The one with the neck."

"I know which dress, Delphine."

"Just making sure."

I hung up and stared at my laptop. The consulting firm had already replied. They wanted to meet next week.

I smiled.

---

Thursday came faster than I expected.

I met my father at the restaurant entrance. Marcus Shaw looked me over, his expression careful. "You sure about this?"

"No," I said. "But I'm here."

He nodded. "Romeo Knight. Good man. Built his company himself. No family money. He's early."

Of course he was.

We walked into the private dining room. Romeo stood when we entered. Tall. Dark suit, no tie. He shook my father's hand, then turned to me.

"Jimena," he said. "Thank you for coming."

His voice was quiet. Deliberate. He didn't smile too much.

We sat. My father stayed for one drink, then made an excuse and left. I didn't blame him.

Romeo waited until the door closed. Then he looked at me. "Your father told me what happened."

I tensed. "Did he."

"He didn't give details. Just said the engagement ended." Romeo paused. "I'm not here to ask about it."

I blinked. "You're not."

"No." He picked up his water glass. "I'm here because I wanted to meet you. I've wanted to for a while."

I didn't know what to say to that.

"Tell me about your work," he said.

So I did. And he listened. Not the way people listen when they're waiting for their turn to talk. He asked questions. Good ones. He remembered details I'd mentioned five minutes earlier. He never looked at his phone.

When I mentioned the consulting project, he tilted his head. "That's the Apex retail expansion."

"You know it?"

"I turned it down last year. Too much ego in the room. But you'll handle it better than I would have."

I stared at him. "You don't know that."

"I do," he said simply.

We talked for two hours. He never mentioned Easton. Not once.

When we left, he walked me to my car. "I'd like to see you again," he said.

I hesitated. "I just got out of something."

"I know."

"It was ten years."

"I know that too." He looked at me steadily. "I'm not in a hurry."

I got in my car. He stepped back. I drove home and sat in my apartment for twenty minutes trying to figure out what had just happened.

---

The second date was dinner at a quieter place downtown. Romeo asked about my family. My work. The things I liked that had nothing to do with anyone else.

I asked him why he'd never married.

"I was waiting," he said.

I frowned. "For what?"

He looked at me for a long moment. Then he smiled slightly and changed the subject.

When I got to my office the next morning, there were white peonies on my desk.

Not roses. Peonies.

I stood there staring at them. My assistant looked up. "They just arrived. No card."

I picked up my phone and texted Delphine.

"He sent peonies."

She replied immediately. "Not roses?"

"Peonies. Like the ones I keep on my desk."

There was a pause. Then: "Jimena. He noticed your desk flowers."

I set my phone down. I looked at the peonies.

And for the first time in ten years, I felt something I didn't recognize right away.

It took me a moment to name it.

Hope.