CHAPTER {7} Where's Your Husband?

{HERMIONE} 8 MONTHS LATER.

“Oh my fucking God, Zara. This is literally the best red dress I’ve ever worn in my entire life.”

I can’t stop looking at myself. It’s been eight months of coding like a mad person, barely leaving my room. 

Zara has been handling the marketing, and now the launch is finally today. 

My heart is racing so fast it feels like it’s trying to jump it's way out of my chest.

I don’t even know how to stand in front of an audience. Stage fright could knock the oxygen out of my system. 

But as the app owner, I still gotta do it without excuses.

I need to finally show the world my face.

I glance at my phone. Two hours left before I’m on stage. My chest feels heavy. 

Anxiety, joy, anticipation, happiness, everything all at once, like I can’t even separate them.

The bathroom door slides open, and Zara comes out with a towel pressed against her wet hair.

“Zara, we’re going to be late,” I say, grinning at her through the mirror.

“Oh yes!” she screams, throwing her towel aside. 

“We’re about to be fucking popular, bitch. They can put up with us.”

We both start laughing. We've worked so hard for the past eight months.

She hands me her earring. “Help me fix this.”

I take it and clip it into her ear, but my fingers stop for a second because that’s when I remember him. 

The man who shattered me and threw me away like I was trash.

He never let me wear my jewelry myself. He always wanted to do it. Even when he had no clue how they worked, he’d fumble with it for so long, refusing to give up. 

Sometimes he’d spend hours just trying to get one earring in.

And now? He’s nothing but a ghost in my head. A man I despise so much, I could spit on the ground he walks on.

“All done,” I say flatly.

“Thanks, babes,” Zara replies, rushing into her black gown.

I grab my clutch. “Zara, I’m not driving today. I need to save my strength for the speech.”

She looks up at me and smiles. “Alrightyy, I’ll drive.”

“No, don’t worry about that. Hunter will drive us. Told him last night. In fact, he should be here any minute.” I glance at my wristwatch.

Zara smirks. “Awnnnn. You know…I think Hunter really, really likes you.”

“Zara?” I cut her off with a smile.

Then my phone buzzes in my hand. Hunter’s calling. “He’s already here. Let’s go.”

Zara takes a deep breath, grabs her bag, and grins at me. “Let’s do this!”

~~~

They call my name and my stomach churns with fear.

Zara squeezes my hand. “It’s red carpet moment, babes.”

I laugh, but it's a very shaky laugh. We step forward together, and the curtains part. 

Then the lights hit my face so harshly I almost stopped walking.

I reach the stage and hold the mic to my mouth, but my fingers are slippery with sweat.

My eyes move around, the cameras flashing like gunshots.

I see tech billionaires in their expensive suits, investors staring at me like they’re waiting to see if I’ll crash or soar. 

My face is everywhere. On the huge screens around the hall, on live feeds shooting straight to social media. I’m trending before I even open my mouth. And that's really terrifying.

My throat dries up. I swallow, but nothing goes down. 

All the lines I memorized, the speeches I crammed for weeks, waiting for this day, they're all gone. My head is suddenly empty.

The hall goes dead quiet. All eyes drilling into me.

My heart is pounding so loud I swear the sound could be heard through the mic.

I glance at Zara. Her brows pull together in confusion. “What’s wrong?” she mouths.

I look back at the audience and I can feel my feet shaking inside my heels like they’re ready to give up on me. I shut my eyes for one desperate second.

Then I remember the last time I struggled with my words. I was with Adam. That one night I wanted to confess how I felt about him but I didn't have the words to say.

“If you don’t have the words to say, then speak from how you feel in your heart,” that's what he said to me.

I breathe in and let it out. 

“Ok. My name is Hermione Bennett.” My voice finally cracks out.

“I’m the founder of D-Egnite, a tech brand built for one reason—To help young minds launch their dreams with massive success.”

“Most of us have experienced people telling us we couldn’t do anything. That we were wasting our time on a dream that seems too big, chasing something that would never happen. And we would almost believe them. Almost.”

I was in such a situation years ago.

“But here I am. And if you’re sitting out there right now with a dream that feels too big, too impossible, I want you to hear me out. You can launch it. You don’t have to wait ten years for someone to finally notice you.”

“That’s why I built the L.Y.D App—Launch Your Dreams. To connect young minds with fresh investors who believe in new ideas.”

I click the remote and the slides appear behind me. It has our numbers and screenshots of what our free version has achieved.

“We started free, and you’ve seen what it’s already done. People got noticed. Projects got funded. Lives changed easily.” 

I pause, my voice steady now, echoing around the hall in everyone's ears as they listen attentively.

“Today, we launch L.Y.D Pro.”

“This time… it's not just about finding investors, but also getting advice and mentorship from industry leaders who will guide you, sharpen your mind, and help you present your launch in a way that attracts the right people to you, superfast.

And it’s just a five-dollar subscription per month.”

I motion to Zara. “This is Zara Blake, my partner, my firecracker marketer who made sure this idea actually reached the right people that need it.”

“Together, we’re proud to finally launch L.Y.D Pro. And we declare it open for Interested subscribers.”

The crowd explodes into claps, whistles, cheers. My heart finally settles as I take a deep sigh of relief and pride.

“Zara,” I whisper, “show me the live feed.”

She pulls it up, and the big screen flashes subscribers in real time.

“Two hundred subscribers already,” she gasps, her eyes wide.

The number jumps again. Then again.

“Oh my God, Hermione—we’re at eighteen hundred subscribers!” Zara shouts, almost bouncing beside me.

It took self-control to restrain myself from covering my mouth in amazement.

My chest is so full and I think I might shed tears.

Everything I've ever dreamed of since I was a teenager, even while in a prison cell. It's finally happening. Faster than I ever thought possible.

AN HOUR LATER.

Investors crowd me, shaking my hand one after the other. Their words blur together in my ears.

“Congratulations, Mrs. Bennett,” one man in a black suit beams, gripping my hand tight. 

“Seventy-nine million dollars on launch day! That’s fucking incredible!”

I let out a shy laugh, almost not believing it myself. “Thank you… thank you so much.”

Another leans in, handing me his card. “How do we book an appointment with you? I need my team to get in early.”

I nod, my jaw’s already hurting from too much smiling as I accept the card, “There will definitely be a page for that.”

My eyes move to the giant screen. The live feed scrolls so fast I can barely catch the words, but one comment makes my heart swell.

The CEO of the L.Y.D app is a woman? Wow!

My cheeks burn. For the first time in my life, I feel like myself.

I glance at Zara beside me. She’s glowing, her grin is wide enough to split her face. We finally did this.

A man suddenly walks in. He looks like he's in his early forties maybe. 

Something about his face scratches at my memory, but I can’t figure it out. He extends his hand, eyes fixed on me.

“Congratulations, Mrs… uhh, Bennett? You broke the internet today.”

“Thank you,” I say, steadying my voice as I take his hand.

He tilts his head. “But Bennett? I thought it was Hilton?”

“I didn’t know he had such an outstanding developer in his household.”

My chest slams against my ribs. His words land heavier than all the applause that has been going on in the hall.

Then his eyes glance around, searching everywhere.

“Where’s your husband, Adam? Haven’t seen him around.”