My Husband Insisted I Come To The Gala To Impress The New Owner. “Stay In The Back, Your Dress Is Too Casual,” He Muttered. When The Billionaire Arrived, He Barely Acknowledged My Husband’s Handshake. He Walked Straight To Me, Took My Hands, And Whispered, Eyes Shining: “I’ve Been Looking For You For 30 Years… I Never Forgot You.” My Husband Let His Glass Slip.

Even from across the room, there was something familiar about the way he carried himself—something that made my heart skip in a way it hadn’t in decades. “That’s him,” someone whispered nearby. “That’s Julian Blackwood, the new CEO.”

Julian.

The name hit me like a physical blow. It couldn’t be. After 30 years, it couldn’t possibly be him.

But as he turned slightly, scanning the crowd with those dark eyes I knew so well, I knew with absolute certainty that it was Julian Blackwood. The man I had loved with every fiber of my being when I was 22. The man whose child I had carried for three months before losing everything.

The man I had been forced to walk away from, leaving my heart buried in that college town where we had planned our entire future together. He was older now—distinguished in a way that spoke of success and power. But his face was the same.

The strong jawline. The intense eyes that seemed to see straight through people. The way he held his head slightly tilted when he was thinking.

My Julian. Who wasn’t mine anymore. And hadn’t been for three decades.

I pressed myself further into the shadows, my heart pounding so hard I was sure people could hear it. What was he doing here? What were the chances that he would be the new CEO of the company Fletcher desperately needed to impress?

Across the room, Fletcher spotted Julian and immediately began pushing through the crowd toward him. I watched in horror as my husband approached the man I had never stopped loving, his hand extended for a business handshake, his smile wide and predatory. Julian accepted the handshake politely.

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