Derek looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes, and beneath the desperation, there was something calculated. He thought the crowd was on his side now and that I would fold the way I always had.This time, I let him finish. I waited until the murmuring around us had settled, and then I spoke."Derek, the money that got your company off the ground came from three days I spent on my knees outside my parents' bedroom door, begging for it. Your first client signed because I drank until I landed in the hospital with stomach ulcers after entertaining him. Everything you built has my blood on it."Ten years. Everything I gave you, everything I endured for you, would be enough to buy a hundred of that necklace—the real one, not whatever that is in your hands."And now that you have nothing left, you want me to be gracious about it?" I leaned down closer to him, keeping my voice quiet."Whatever grace I had left, I spent it the night you used my money to throw Renee a party. I spent it when you
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