You Left Me: The Finale

CORAL

The next day, Coral was sifting through the portfolios of several ultra-luxurious wedding dress designers that the wedding planner had emailed to her.

She was sprawled out on the floor, scrolling through her laptop and occasionally rocking Nicholas in his bouncer while Morris looked on from the couch, all curled up with a mug of hot coffee.

Nicole was predominantly invested in her cartoon, but occasionally, she would come and hover over her mother’s shoulder, marveling at the beautiful dresses.

“Mama, can I have that dress?” she pleaded, pointing to one of the designer’s example projects.

“Mija… You’d better stay rich your whole life if this is the sort of thing you want.”

It felt good to be able to give her children more than she ever had as a child.

Coral pulled Nicole into a hug that made the little one squeal with delight before she insistently pointed to the dress again.

“But can I?” she asked. “Can I have the dress?”

“Mama will see if she can have a custom version made just for you.” She booped Nicole’s nose, and laughter bubbled up from the little girl. “Mama is getting a custom dress too.”

“Wow,” Morris said, moving to eyeball the dresses on the screen. “These are pretty intense…are you sure you need this?”

“What do you mean?” Coral asked, genuinely confused as to why her bestie was raining on her parade.

“It’s just…” She trailed off, obviously looking for a way to word her thoughts without offending Coral. “You and Nikolai have already gotten married before; it just seems like a whole lot of fuss for a second wedding.”

Morris cringed, and Coral knew full well that Morris was anxiously waiting for the Coral bomb to explode at her, but instead, Coral took a deep breath.

Coral wasn’t stupid, despite how she sometimes appeared to have a flighty or materialistic personality.

She knew full well that having a huge fantasy dream wedding looked completely excessive to everyone else when a simple courthouse wedding to essentially undo their divorce would be so much simpler.

But simple was not in her nature.

Coral loved luxury, and she loved to feel like royalty, even if she didn’t need it. This wedding was so much more special to her than the first.

She wanted to make it a storybook occasion that Nicole would keep as one of her earliest memories of her parents…not all the fighting that came before.

There was no denying how ugly things were between her and Nikolai when they first navigated co-parenting, and Coral hoped and prayed that Nicole was young enough to forget that.

She had so very much to say about it, but her pride wouldn’t let her get it all out.

“I know it may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it is to me,” Coral admitted. “The first time Nikolai and I were married, I was just a trophy wife. Now, I am my own person.”

“Coral, I—” Morris started, but Coral raised a quiet hand to ask her to stop.

“This is my first time being married to him as my own woman, as a mother, not just his plaything,” she asserted. “I want this to be our real wedding.”

NIKOLAI

Nikolai adjusted his sleeves once more—he never liked trying on fancy suits; he wanted his measurements taken, sent off to the designer, and for the tailor-made suit to be delivered to him right away.

He generally trusted the designers to do their jobs, and if he got a suit he didn’t like? He’d just toss out the garment and cross the designer off of his list.

Coral, however, had other plans.

She wanted him out of the house so she could browse dress stylings in peace, so she sent him with Landon and Jeremiah to try on suits.

She had said that she wanted to know what style he chose, so she could have her dress matched to it, which made sense, but he didn’t know why he had to take the Weirds.

Didn’t he have any friends of his own?

Oh right…no, he didn’t.

Nikolai had learned long ago that friendship, when a person was as rich as he was, could never be as simple as grabbing a beer with the guys.

Any so-called friends, who Nikolai has had since building his fortune, have been beggars and hangers-on—sycophantic liars, who only pretended to care to get a taste of the good life.

Well, that was not a good life to Nikolai.

Sure, Nikolai could charm other businessmen and dominate the field, but the only person he had truly cared for before his children were born had been Coral.

And he damn well didn’t treat her like it the first time around.

If he had placed his trust in her from the start, like she was always begging him to do, their marriage would have never ended, and he wouldn’t be having a wedding planned now.

That’s why he was willing to jump through all the hoops she wanted. It was his fault they were having a new wedding in the first place; it had to be everything she wanted.

As he rounded the corner of the vast hallway, he could already hear the annoying music blaring from Nicole’s cartoon.

It made him smile.

As little as he cared for cartoon dogs and pink monkeys, Nikolai was endlessly grateful that his daughter was a part of his life.

He could deal with some annoying kids’ shows.

He pushed the door open, and as soon as Coral’s gaze landed on him, she snapped her laptop shut, her eyes wide like saucers.

“Hello, Morris.” He raised a brow. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Mama’s going to buy me a princess dress!” Nicole danced her way over to him, and his heart melted when she wrapped her little arms around his shin.

“Oh, is she?” He looked back to Coral, still a bit confused.

“I’m trying to pick a designer for my wedding dress,” Coral explained, not without her usual attitude. “And you’re not allowed to see.”

“Well, I don’t know if it counts toward the bad luck if it’s not your actual dress,” Morris offered. “Since you’re just looking through their portfolios right now.”

“Shut up!” Coral shrieked, tossing a pillow at Morris. “We can’t take that risk!”

“Normally, I’m not one for supervision, but with our track record?” I huffed. “Better safe than sorry.”

“Thank you for being so understanding.” Coral smiled, getting up off the floor to move toward him.

His heart could have burst when she wrapped her arms around his neck—he’d never forget to appreciate having her close again.

He rested his hands on her hips and held her closer. “You know I’m doing my best.”

“Oh, gag me.” Morris huffed, collecting Nicholas from his bouncer. “Come on, kids! Let’s go get ice cream, so your parents can have a little alone time.”

“Ice cream!” Nicole screamed, hopping up and down. “I want chocolate!”

“Thanks, Morris,” Nikolai called after her.

“Mhm,” she grunted. “Don’t mention it.”

Now that he had her alone, the smirk on Coral’s face told Nikolai everything he needed to know.

He damn well intended to savor the moment.

CORAL

Coral was taking a morning jog—attended by bodyguards, of course—when the paparazzi swarmed her to ask all kinds of questions about the impending wedding.

Coral was happy to answer them, but only just enough to create the sort of mystique that would have the media outlets buzzing about her big day.

She loved to be the center of attention, and she was glad to be the media’s focus for a good reason for once.

Until a familiar face pushed her way through the crowd.

Alice.

“Coral!” she called out, as Coral pretended to ignore her. “Coral, I’m so sorry, please forgive—”

WHAM!

Before Coral even had time to think about it, she had decked Alice right in her traitor bitch face.

…On live television.