Bride Number Ninety-Nine: My Groom Married Her First Chapter 07

Bride Number Ninety-Nine: My Groom Married Her First Chapter 07

On my third day in Florence, the divorce lawsuit was formally filed.

Antonio met me at the airport.

When he saw the wound on my hand, he asked nothing.

He simply handed me my ID badge for the church restoration project.

“Welcome back, Eleanor.”

Three years earlier, he had already offered me this position once.

Back then, Calloway Group had been in the final stretch before its public listing.

Grant had gone months without sleeping properly.

The moment I stepped even slightly out of sight, he would wake from nightmares, clutching me and refusing

to let go.

So I’d given up the opportunity.

But later, he started staying out all night regardless.

The person who could settle him now was Hazel.

I spent ten straight hours in the restoration studio.

When I turned my phone back on, hundreds of messages flooded the screen.

The most recent were all from Grant.

[When are you coming back?]

[As for the shares-I’m willing to let that go.]

[The ring’s already fixed.]

[Whatever kind of wedding you want? We’ll redo it.]

At three in the morning, another came through.

[Eleanor, my stomach’s been hurting today.]

Once upon a time, if he said he wasn’t feeling well, I’d drop everything and run to him.

I stared at that line for a long time. Then I closed the chat without answering.

A week later, Grant showed up at the entrance of the restoration institute.

He clearly hadn’t slept properly in days-shadows under his eyes. But he was still wearing the black coat I

loved most.

Seeing me step out of the church, the tension in his brow finally eased.

“Had your fun?”

He walked up and brushed the limestone dust off my hair. His tone was like we’d never separated.

“Come home.”

I stepped back. His hand froze in midair.

“Grant. I’ve already retained a lawyer for the divorce.”

“I haven’t agreed to it.”

He caught my wrist and forced the mended ring onto my finger.

There was a clear solder mark on the inside of the band now. Our two names still split apart at either end.

“See. It’s fixed.”

Grant looked down at the ring, his voice going soft.

“I had a new dress made too.”

“No mystery box this time. No Haze. Just us.”

I slid the ring off and placed it in his palm.

“I don’t want to get married.”

The smile drained slowly from his face.

“Over a game?”

“Because you made me wait seven years, and then on our wedding day, you put me behind another woman.”

“I never married her!”

“You walked her down the aisle. You put my ring on her finger. You kissed her in front of me. And you told

everyone that if she wanted to marry you, you would.”

I looked at him and asked, word by word:

“Isn’t that enough?”

His breath caught.

“She was unstable that day. I was only trying to calm her down.”

“Then why did you use me to comfort her?”

He fell completely silent.

In the distance, the church bells rang.

A flock of white doves swept across the square, blotting out the afternoon light for a moment.

His eyes suddenly reddened, and he reached out to hold me.

“Eleanor, I know you’ve been hurt. I’ll change. Is that all right?”

“I’ll send Haze away. I’ll never see her again.”

“If you don’t like weddings, we won’t have one. If you want to stay here, I’ll stay with you too.”

His voice was as gentle as it had ever been. Like the boy who once held me in the rain, seven years ago.

But my heart no longer sped up because of him.

I pushed him away.

“It’s too late.”

“Grant Calloway. It’s not that you’re only just learning I can be hurt.”

“You simply never thought it mattered-until the moment I walked away.”