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.

But even from a distance, I could see he wasn’t really listening to whatever Fletcher was saying. His eyes were scanning the crowd. Searching.

For something. Or someone. And then, as if drawn by some invisible force, his gaze found mine.

The world stopped. For a moment that lasted an eternity, Julian Blackwood stared directly at me across that crowded ballroom. His face went completely white.

I saw his lips part in shock. The businessman facade crumbled. And for one heartbeat, he was 25 again, looking at me the way he used to look at me when we were young and believed that love could conquer anything.

Then he was moving. Walking straight toward me as if the hundred other people in that room didn’t exist. Fletcher continued talking to empty air for several seconds before realizing Julian was no longer listening.

I saw my husband’s confusion turn to alarm as he followed Julian’s line of sight and realized he was heading directly for me. “Excuse me,” Julian said to Fletcher without looking at him. His voice was deeper now, roughened by years and success, but it still made my knees weak.

“I need to speak with your wife.”

Fletcher sputtered something about Julian making a mistake, about me being nobody important, but Julian wasn’t listening. He walked straight to where I stood, frozen in the shadows. Stopped just close enough that I could smell his cologne.

Something expensive and sophisticated. Nothing like the aftershave he used to wear in college. “Moren,” he said, and my name on his lips after 30 years made my eyes fill with tears I hadn’t given myself permission to shed.

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