A Divorce He Regrets

Chapter 5:

For years, I had tried to penetrate their inner circle or gain their favor, to close a deal that would elevate my standing, but each time I thought I was close to garnering their attention, something always got in the way. Canceled meetings, vague excuses… but tonight, I felt different. I was almost certain they’d take notice of me. The Vince Project… it was my golden ticket. I hadn’t sacrificed it for nothing, and tonight was the night it would all pay off. I could feel it.

The Golden Ball was everything I knew it would be—and everything the women in my life had dreamed it would be—luxurious, dazzling, filled with the who’s who of high society. And to my chagrin, Eliza clung to me like I was some trophy, her manicured nails digging into my arm, posing for pictures as if we were already on the front cover of a glossy magazine.

Her laugh was too loud, too rehearsed, and the media swarmed, taking pictures of New York’s most glamorous couple. Every photo the media took made her grin wider. It irritated me. Everything about this charade irritated me. But I kept up appearances, nodding and smiling in all the right places.

Then came the whispers—the Grahams had arrived. They began quietly at first, but soon increased as the anticipation of the powerful family’s entrance rippled through the crowd.

I could feel my heart pounding as the announcement echoed through the hall that the Grahams would be present in a matter of minutes.

Vanessa and my mother were instantly by my side, whispering with barely contained glee.

“Did you hear?” Vanessa gushed, eyes sparkling with excitement. “The Grahams’ long-lost daughter has been found, Alexander! She might even be here tonight!”

Sure, that had been what she was excited about. Not the prospect of bagging one of New York’s most eligible bachelors. I felt the urge to roll my eyes. She’d probably realized that having her sights on Dominic was a lost cause. I hadn’t wanted to be the one to tell her she was being delusional, and I was glad she’d come to her senses.noveldrama

I nodded absently through their chatter, barely registering their words. Vanessa was already fantasizing about befriending the woman, and I had to admit, any connection to the Grahams would cement our family’s status permanently. But then the whispers around us grew louder, and I turned to see Dominic Graham—heir to the empire—walking into the room, the epitome of power and control.

But it wasn’t him that made my heart stop. It was the woman on his arm.

The woman Dominic Graham had entered hand in hand with…

C𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 🅐t g𝓪l𝑛ovєls.𝓬○𝓶

Raina…

No way…

She looked… different. Better than she ever did with me, I must say, and the sight of that nearly had me winded.

My ex-wife.

The woman I had been searching for—no, desperately trying to track down for years.

She hadn’t just vanished into thin air. She had resurfaced here—with the Grahams. And not just anyone from the family, but Dominic, the crown prince of high society himself.

How long had she been with him? What was she doing, cozying up to the Grahams after disappearing like a ghost?

Standing beside Dominic like she belonged there?

Questions swirled in my mind, none of them making sense. Raina was in a place she didn’t belong, with people I’d only dreamt of associating with.

.

.

.