AN: Follow up of sorts to chapter 17. Obligatory HEA is coming post. Any suggestions feel free to leave a review/private message. Thanks for your continued support.
"What Does She See in Him?"
She was powerful, beautiful, and brave.
She single-handedly ran a multi-billion dollar empire and took no prisoners.
She was a businesswoman, a fierce friend and a devoted mother.
She captured him from the first argument.
Gold digger, schemer, tramp.
Those were only some of the slurs they'd thrown at her and even he had wondered about her sincerity. But as he came to know her, he grew to love her determination, admire her passion.
Instead of dealing with hand fate dealt her, she took the deck and reshuffled.
She was passionate in her defense of her son's legacy, in her defense of her best friend.
But some of that passion was notably absent from their relationship.
She loved him, she said. Wanted to spend her life with him.
But as he looked into her eyes, he didn't see the same passion they held when she fought with Julian or protected Whitney from Chad.
They didn't hold the same fire that appeared at the mention of another man's name.
The man had broken her heart more times than he could count.
Throwing her undying love back at her again and again.
But yet the air crackled with chemistry, whenever they were near each other.
Of course, the man hated him intensely, angry at Jared for picking up what he'd thrown away so many times.
Determined to "protect" her and uncover some non-existent secret, he wormed his way into their lives. Time and time again, Gwen and Jared caught the two in compromising positions that were quickly explained away.
As their wedding day approached, she threw herself into their relationship even more, he tried to convince himself that she had finally chosen him.
He delivered the invitation to his rival himself only to find his wife home alone, looking at him with pity in her eyes.
He ignored it, and headed off to his bachelor party, his last night as a single man.
The next morning, as he stood at the alter waiting for the woman who would never appear, he finally asked aloud the question he'd wonder to himself a thousand times.
"What does she see in him?"