CHAPTER FIVE

Brian's POV

I couldn't speak or even wrap my head around what the hell I was seeing. For a moment, I actually thought my mind was playing tricks on me. I hadn't seen her in a year, and maybe... this was just my subconscious getting the best of me. But as she moved through the crowd, greeting guests one after the other, I realized this was real.

Her smile was bright. Her eyes were filled with so much light. It felt like my legs were actually glued to the ground because I could not move. My heart was racing so fast. How exactly was this possible?

It made no sense.

Jolene, the same woman I had been married to for three years.

No.

I shook my head, still trying to convince myself that I wasn't seeing what was clearly before me. It was stupid, but I was still in so much denial.

She greeted most of the guests, carrying herself with so much grace, so much elegance. And when she got to where I was, I almost reached for her but quickly lowered my hands.

"Jolene," I called her name, and she just turned, smiled at me, and kept walking.

For a moment, I wondered if she actually recognized me, or maybe she thought I was just one of the guests. I didn't know what to think anymore.

I followed behind her like a desperate puppy seeking attention.

"Jolene."

I tapped her gently.

She turned around again.

"We need to talk about..." I couldn't even bring myself to form a proper sentence. I kept stuttering over my words.

"The partnership," I finally said. That was the only thing that came to my head. I had so much I wanted to talk to her about, but that was the only thing that left my mouth.

She smiled.

"My assistant will make sure to get back to you," she said before walking away again.

She acted like today was the first time she was seeing me, like she had never set her eyes on me in her entire life.

Maybe she didn't recognize me.

That was what I kept telling myself.

But I knew she did, and that was the worst part.

A lot of other people walked up to me, but I couldn't register one single conversation I had with anyone. It felt like I was slowly losing my mind. If this was a bad dream, I needed to wake up because I was going crazy.

She disappeared for a complete year only to turn up as the daughter of the man that owned a company that, without their partnership, my company—everything I had worked for, everything my father had worked for—was going to crash.

My life was literally in her hands right now. My palms were sweating, and I knew I needed to get out of this place. I moved through the crowd like a ghost. Chit-chat filled the air, and usually this was my kind of scenery. I would have been talking to new investors by now.

But tonight... I had no words to describe it. When I got back home that night, I just lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Sophia was fast asleep, and my heart wouldn't stop racing.

Jolene looked... exquisite because beautiful wouldn't even start to describe what that woman looked like. It was like I was seeing her for the first time, and she was magnificent.

I tossed and turned on the bed. My company was literally hanging by a thread, and the only hope I had was this partnership. And I knew it. Jolene was never going to give it to me.

———

Morning came sooner than expected. I wasn't sure I even slept. My entire body felt sore, and my heart wouldn't stop racing even after last night. For a moment, I didn't move. I just lay on the bed, hoping and praying that everything that happened last night was a dream, a very horrible nightmare.

"Oh my God!"

I heard a scream coming from the entrance of my room. Sophia walked in, her phone in hand and her face pale, like all the blood was drained out.

"Brian," she said my name in a panic. "What is this?" She pointed her phone to me. I stared at the screen. Every headline was talking about Jolene.

"Please tell me this is a fucking joke," she said as she paced restlessly.

I didn't say a word. I just kept staring at the ceiling, hoping she would shut up and let me think.

"Brian, say something!" she yelled at me.

I covered my face with my hands, trying so hard not to yell at her. It took every ounce of restraint in me not to tell the mother of my child to shut the fuck up.

When I couldn't tolerate it anymore, I just got out of bed, headed straight into the bathroom, took my bath, got dressed, and left the house. I didn't bother having breakfast. The car ride to the office felt like ages. Everything was a complete mess, and Sophia... God, she was making my life even more miserable than it already was.

When I got to the office, I canceled every meeting and every appointment that I was supposed to have that day.

I couldn't lose this partnership. Hell no. I was trying to think of anything, come up with the quickest solution to this problem.

Once upon a time, Jolene had loved me, and I knew she still did. No one gets over someone they've been in love with that easily. It doesn't just happen, and that was exactly what I planned on exploiting.

She might be the heiress, but she was once my wife. Even calling her that felt... weird.

I knew if there was any hope of saving my company, it depended on how right I played my cards from now on, but the good thing was I wasn't new to the game, and that was going to be my advantage.