He Let Me Down, I Married A New Man

Chapter 2

Cedric's car was blocking the middle of the road. He slammed the door and strode toward us, his tie crooked, his hair a mess from the wind.

Vivienne leaned out the window in alarm. "Cedric? What are you doing here? I thought you had a meeting tonight..."

He didn't seem to hear her. He yanked open the back door, his eyes locked on me and me alone.

"The wind's too strong on the water tonight. It's not safe. Don't go."

In my previous life, he'd been stuck in meetings until evening and never once cared about this banquet.

It clicked immediately.

He had come back too.

The old me would have seen him this frantic and believed he was worried about me.

But I'd already heard what he said to me at the very end.

Whatever I once felt for him had long since gone cold.

I stayed where I was, my voice steady.

"Cedric, you remember what you said before you died. Don't you."

The color drained from his face.

I let out a quiet sigh.

"People don't lie on their deathbed. If that's what you really thought, then why bother stopping me tonight?"

After he was gone, I'd replayed that sentence over and over in my head.

If I hadn't turned Dominic Hale down to his face that day, if I'd accepted his attention instead—

Cedric would never have gambled everything he had trying to go head-to-head with the Hale family.

And Dominic hadn't even been ruthless about it, not really.

He'd simply smiled, complimented what a devoted couple we were, and then the Shaw family was finished.

Every partner pulled out overnight. Every deal dissolved. The company folded so fast there wasn't even time to catch a breath.

Everyone in their circle was too smart to stay associated with a sinking ship. No one would touch the Shaw name.

That was the price of turning him down.

Dominic Hale didn't need to lift a finger. A word from him was enough to take everything we had and send us crashing from the top straight into the dirt.

We wore each other down until resentment was all that was left. Until those late, sleepless nights when neither of us could stop wondering, what if I'd said yes to Dominic Hale? Would everything have been different?

The news about the Cross family calling off the engagement came the very next day.

The words were polite enough, but the meaning was crystal clear.

"Mrs. Shaw, our families have known each other for years, but given the current situation... Nathan's only just secured his position on the board. He really can't afford any complications right now. I hope you understand."

Life after the bankruptcy was harder than I'd imagined.

We moved out of our home and into a cramped apartment in a run-down neighborhood on the north side of town. The heating barely worked in winter. In summer, the mosquitoes were relentless.

I didn't dare complain. Not once.

Vivienne never said it out loud, but I could feel the resentment simmering beneath the surface.

She'd sit for hours, clutching the necklace Nathan had once given her, staring at nothing.

She used to be the brightest person in any room, always talking, always laughing. After the move, she wilted a little more each day, like a flower slowly dying of thirst.

Once, I suggested she go out, maybe see some of her old friends.

She looked at me, her voice flat.

"Jo, do you have any idea what they say about me behind my back? About the girl whose fiancé's family called off the engagement? I'd rather stay here than go out there and be whispered about."

The words hit me like a slap. My face burned.

I tried to talk to Cedric about it, but I realized he'd been avoiding me for weeks, barely coming home at all.

Before everything fell apart, he'd never been the talkative type, but at least he was kind to me.

After the bankruptcy, he left before dawn every morning and collapsed into bed the moment he got home. Days would pass without him saying a single word to me.

One night he came back drunk from a business dinner. I rushed over to help him.

He shoved me aside, squinting at me for a long time through half-closed eyes.

Then he laughed, a single, hollow sound.

"Jo, tell me something. If you hadn't gone to that yacht party, where do you think we'd be right now?"

He didn't wait for an answer. His head lolled to the side, and he was out.