Placeholder No More

[ I'm getting married this weekend. You should come grab a drink. ]

Three years after our split, my ex-girlfriend actually had the nerve to send me that text. I bled for seven years building an empire from nothing with Serena, only for her to cheat on me on the eve of our own wedding. But right now, I was lounging on a sun-drenched beach, deep into my honeymoon with my gorgeous wife, Jade.

Jade snatched the phone right out of my hand. A razor-sharp smirk tugged at her lips as her thumbs flew across the screen.

[ So sorry, he can't make it. ]

[ He died of cancer last month. Already cremated. ]

Chapter 1

[ You were the only girl my brother ever truly loved. Please allow me to send his blessings in his place: Happy wedding. ]

[ I took that pathetic joint wedding fund check he left behind and donated it to a stray animal shelter. Consider it building some good karma for the two of you. ]

[ On his deathbed, my brother said his biggest regret in this life was not marrying you. But he will always love you, and he wishes you eternal happiness. ]

Jade finished typing her masterpiece and tossed the phone back onto my chest. I scanned the screen, my jaw practically hitting the sand.

Jade smoothly straddled my lap. She leaned in dangerously close, a cold smirk playing on her lips. "What's the matter? Feeling sorry for your precious little ex-girlfriend?"

I shook my head, letting out a helpless breath. "No. But didn't you realize you're basically cursing me with this script?"

"Cancer, cremation, dying of a broken heart Did I really have to go out looking that pathetic?"

Realization dawned on Jade's face. A flash of guilt crossed her features. "Should I unsend it?"

I locked the screen and tossed the phone aside. "Forget it. It's fine."

Honestly, if it hadn't been for that text, I would have practically forgotten Serena even existed. After all, our breakup hadn't exactly been a masterclass in maturity.

Serena and I had been together for seven long years. From broke college kids to building a successful startup from the ground up. I actually thought we were heading down the aisle.

Until one perfectly ordinary afternoon, when I found undeniable proof that she was sleeping around.

I confronted her, my chest tight, breath hitching like I was suffocating. She just looked at me, unbothered, and dropped two deadpan words. "Got bored."

It wasn't until later that I found out the truth.

The guy she was screwing was her childhood crush, Mitchell.

And me? I was just the convenient placeholder. A temporary distraction to keep her bed warm while she pined over the guy she couldn't have.

A wave of icy numbness washed over me.

No begging, no dramatic screaming matches.

I just cut the cord and walked away.

We hadn't seen each other since.

I had no idea what her endgame was with this sudden wedding invite. Was she trying to flex? Or just getting a kick out of pushing my buttons?

It didn't matter anymore. Love, hatewhatever it was. Three years was more than enough time to wash that slate clean.

My mind drifted for a second, and a heavy sigh escaped my lips.

Jade caught it, instantly assuming I was still pissed about her little prank. She poked my wrist. "Hey, don't be mad. I'll go text her an apology."

"What?" I snapped back to reality. "Apologize for what?"

Jade's eyes flicked to my phone.

It clicked. A soft chuckle rumbled in my chest. "Seriously, it's fine."

She didn't look convinced. "Then why do you look like you just swallowed a lemon?"

"Nothing to do with you," I said. "Just remembered some old garbage, that's all."

Jade let out a quiet "Oh."

Right in front of her, I pulled up Serena's contact, blocked the number, and hit delete. "Forgot to do that years ago."

She blinked, still looking a little tense.

I decided to steer the conversation into lighter waters. "You were pretty quick to snatch my phone earlier. Don't tell me you were actually worried I'd crash the wedding? Is my wife getting a little jealous?"

"As if! Who's jealous?" Jade's vibrant spark instantly returned.

She pushed off my lap and shot to her feet. "Roman, you are unbelievably full of yourself!" She spun on her heel and marched toward our beach house.

Jade sprinted across the sand. The ocean breeze caught the sheer silk of her beach dress, whipping it around her legs. In the golden hour sunlight, the tips of her ears burned red as a ripe strawberry.

That gorgeous, sexy silhouette had my eyes glued to her. A smug grin spread across my face. Riding a sudden high, I trailed right behind her.

Stepping out of the shower later, the bathroom steam still clinging to my skin, I found Jade already in bed. She was lying flat, her back turned to my side. I toweled off my hair and slid into the mattress on the far edge.

The massive gap between us was wide enough to park a damn Ford F-150. Jade and I were technically an arranged marriagea corporate merger of sorts. But it wasn't exactly a cold, loveless business transaction.

Chapter 2

Three years ago, after the split with Serena, I hit rock bottom. My folks had been dead set against us dating from day one.

They warned me Serena didn't have a genuine bone in her body when it came to me. But I was stubborn. I poured blood, sweat, and every ounce of my soul into building that startup with her for seven years.

And in the end?

I lost everything.

To snap me out of my funk, my parents set me up with the daughter of an old family friend. Our families had business ties. Refusing wasn't really an option, so I agreed to a blind date.

Jade was effortlessly cool. The second she sat down, she flat-out told me her parents forced her into this, and she had zero interest in me.

I threw my hands up in surrender and said I totally got it. Then I ended up spilling the whole messy saga with Serena over drinks. Jade actually felt bad for me. After that, hanging out became shockingly easy.

After a few more hangouts, I realized Jade's brain ran on pure chaos in the best way possible. Getting dragged into her wild ideas was a rush. Day by day, the toxic baggage Serena left behind just faded out. So when our families pushed for the mergerthe marriageI signed the papers without a second thought.

The wedding went off without a hitch.

Honestly, I was never completely sure where Jade stood. Was she just playing the good daughter by marrying me? Or did she actually want this? It wasn't until this afternoon, when she ripped the phone from my hand and furiously typed out that text to Serena, that a tiny piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

She had to have wanted this.

The rustle of bedsheets pulled me back to reality. Jade rolled over to face me. I caught the faint gleam of her eyes in the dim moonlight. "What's wrong?"

Jade paused, letting my name roll off her tongue. "Roman. We're married."

"Yeah."

"So whatever happens, you don't ever step out on me. Or I swear to God, I'll make your life a living hell."

""

I blinked, caught off guard. Before I could even form a sentence, Jade flipped back around, presenting her shoulders to me. Watching her curl up into a tight little ball, I knew exactly what was going on. Serena's text was still getting under her skin.

Something shifted in my chest.

I closed the distance between us. I fiercely pulled her into my chest, wrapping a solid, heavy arm around her waist, locking her in place.

I leaned in, my breath brushing the shell of her ear. "I know," I whispered. "I'm completely yours. Nobody is taking me anywhere."

We rarely ever crossed into this kind of physical territory. Jade went stiff as a board before melting into my hold. She didn't say a word. Her breathing just slowly evened out.

We slept tangled up like that for the rest of the night.

The next morning.

The sun wasn't even up when my phone started buzzing on the nightstand. My eyes snapped open. Throwing a quick glance at Jade, who was still dead to the world, I slipped out of bed and padded out of the bedroom.

"What?" I answered, voice rough and annoyed.

Hearing my voice, Cole let out a massive exhale on the other end of the line. "Roman, man! I fucking knew you weren't dead!"

I rubbed my eyes, lost.

Before I could even ask what the hell he was talking about, Cole started running his mouth at warp speed.

The gist of it was that Serena had gone off the deep end.

She was standing there in her expensive wedding dress, and right in front of every single guest, she smashed her six-tier wedding cake to pieces.

She knocked over the massive champagne tower, screaming hysterically that she was going to tear up the earth to find my ashes.

The ugly spectacle of her meltdown had already plastered her face across the local gossip columns.

"Dude, you should have seen her. She looked utterly gutted. I legit thought something actually happened to you, so I had to call and check," Cole muttered, still reeling in disbelief. Then he demanded to know what the hell triggered it.

I gave him the rundown of yesterday's text fiasco. While I was at it, I pulled up the screenshot of Jade's brutal reply and sent it his way.

Cole barked a laugh the second the photo delivered. "Holy shit. Absolute legend. That is a straight-up kill shot right to the heart, man!"

"No wonder Serena lost her damn mind. If someone hit me with that, I'd be regretting my life choices until the day I died."

I just let out a noncommittal grunt.

Chapter 4

"Isn't this just to get back at me? Well, congratulations, you won. I haven't slept in days because I thought you were dead."

"I literally destroyed my own wedding with my bare hands. Are you satisfied now?"

My brow furrowed deeper with every word she spat out. I waited until she ran out of breath before I opened my mouth.

"You're overthinking it. I'm not trying to get revenge. Those texts were an accident."

Serena obviously wasn't buying a single word of it. "What kind of 'accident' types out paragraphs of detail like that?"

"None of your business." I wasn't about to stand there and explain myself to her. I pivoted on my heel to leave.

Two of Serena's bodyguards suddenly lunged forward, trying to forcefully shove me into the back seat of the SUV.

I backhanded their grips off me and planted a savage kick right into the car door.

The metal buckled with a deafening crash. "Serena, what the hell is your problem!"

Serena just stared back at me with a freezing smirk. "Isn't this exactly what you wanted? You wrecked my wedding just so we could get back together, didn't you?"

""

I was genuinely stunned by her unadulterated delusion. How had I never noticed she was a narcissist back in the day? After a heavy beat, I looked her dead in the eye and took a deep breath.

"Serena, seriously, get over yourself. One, you reached out to me first. Two, like I already said, those texts were an accident."

"And three, I'm married. I have zero interest in you anymore."

The second those words left my mouth, Serena's face went blank. Disbelief fractured her features. "You're married