Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Stingy Ex Is Rich With Regret: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 9

"Mom, Dad, I've always said it. Derek isn't cheap; he's just old-fashioned. He doesn't know the first thing about romance. He specifically chose your favorite restaurant for the engagement dinner. Look how much he cares about you both!"But when I pushed open the door to the private dining room, my smile died on my face. On the large banquet table sat a single plastic tray piled with dinner rolls and a jar of store-bought pickles.Derek Crawford stood at the head of the table, humming cheerfully to himself as he poured canned iced tea into the wine glasses."Derek."I stared for a moment, then turned away from my parents' burning glares and pulled him aside."Didn't I give you 200 thousand in our joint account? It's already past 1:00 pm. Where's the food?""I got the food. That's it right there."He pointed at the dinner rolls with the expression of a man who had done nothing wrong. "I drove all the way to the wholesale store for those. Cheap, filling, and there's plenty to go a

I had never struggled a day in my life growing up. But for Derek, I had smiled through client dinners I wanted no part of, toasting glass after glass until I lost count.I bowed my head and begged for contracts like I had nothing left to lose. My parents hated watching it. They told me I was worth more than that.I wiped my tears every time and told them Derek would never let me down. Instead, he kept telling me he wasn't ready to get married.One year bled into the next, and then the next. The girl everyone had once envied slowly became the woman people whispered about behind her back, the one who had waited too long.And now I was just tired.My phone lit up. Renee had posted on social media."He waited in line for three hours just to buy me this necklace. Who says old-fashioned men don't know how to love?"The photo showed the two of them at a nice restaurant. Renee was glowing. Derek had his head tilted toward her, and the way he was looking at her made my chest ache.The s

The blow landed like a thunderclap inside Derek's skull.He staggered backward, all the color draining from his face, and sank to the floor. His whole body was shaking. He kept murmuring the same words over and over, his voice barely audible."That's not possible. This can't be happening."Serena was supposed to marry him. How could she be standing at the altar with the CEO of Yates Group?Ursula hit the floor right beside him. "What did I do to deserve this?" She collapsed onto the ground as she wailed. "We were this close to having a daughter-in-law, and she ran off with someone else! I always knew that woman was trouble. I never trusted her for a second!"The guests murmured among themselves, their looks of contempt and curiosity cutting through the room like needles aimed squarely at the mother and son.Seated near the front were several prominent business figures from Ashville, people who had come as a courtesy to the Spencer family, hoping to make connections and lay the

The hand gripping my gown went slack and slid away. Derek's shoulders caved inward, and he repeated the same words over and over in a hollow voice."I'm sorry. Serena, I'm sorry."I lifted my hand in a tired gesture toward the security team. They moved in without ceremony and escorted Ursula, Derek, and the rest of the Crawford family out of the hall.…The wedding was over. Nathan and I walked into the suite together.He had clearly just stepped out of the shower, droplets of water still trailing down his hair and along the lines of his torso. Without the polished formality of his usual suits, there was a sense of ease about him. He was unhurried in a way I hadn't seen before.He crossed the room and stopped in front of me, his eyes settling on my face with an expression that told me he already knew I was uncomfortable."Are you ever going to explain what happened three years ago?"Nathan and I went back further than this arranged marriage. We had grown up as rivals, caught in

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