The Ex He Can Never Have BackChapter 1
After five years together, Jesse Swanson finally agreed to marry me.
On the day of the wedding, I was over the moon. My best friend, serving as my maid of honor, was so happy she burst into tears.
"Girl, you actually made it into that blue-blood family!"
But the wedding car never came. What I got instead was a phone call dripping with apology—a breakup call.
"I'm sorry, Addie. I fought for us, I really did. But my mother still refuses to let me marry an actress."
That day, the news exploded across Harbor City: Jesse Swanson, golden heir to the Swanson empire, had courted and discarded Adela Sullivan, the city's reigning Best Actress.
I disappeared from the public eye for three years. When I resurfaced, I was an internationally acclaimed painter with a prestigious gold medal to my name.
Camera flashes popped like fireworks. The reporters were just as ruthless as they'd been three years ago.
"Ms. Sullivan, in three days Jesse Swanson will be marrying the newly crowned Miss Harbor City, Alice Winters, in what's being called the wedding of the century. As his former flame, do you have anything to say to him?"
I let the corner of my mouth curve upward, lifted my left hand so the diamond on my ring finger caught the light, and smiled with perfect ease.
"I'm already married. I owe him a debt of gratitude for not marrying me back then."
That night, the proudest man Harbor City had ever known stumbled toward me reeking of liquor, eyes bloodshot, and blocked my path.
"Adela Sullivan, who gave you permission to marry someone else?"
……
Even after five years of dating, when Jesse Swanson said he wanted to marry me, I still couldn't believe it.
We stood on a bustling Harbor City street, and I gripped his hand so tightly my knuckles ached, desperate to confirm I wasn't dreaming.
"Jesse, your mother... she really agreed to let me into the family?"
Something flickered across his face—a flash of unease—but in the next breath, his expression hardened with resolve, and he pulled me into the bridal boutique on the corner.
There it was, waiting behind the glass display: the pristine white wedding gown I'd fantasized about a thousand times. Tiny crystals covered the bodice like a scattering of stars, so brilliant they hurt to look at.
Jesse stood before it and slowly lowered himself to one knee, his eyes full of love.