Accueil / My Lover Didn't Put a Ring on Me / Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 9

Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 9

Chapter 1

Reid's POVNobody expected me to end things with Maren Hale on my 35th birthday.The room went quiet at first, but the silence only lasted until someone caught the look of flat impatience on Maren's face. Then the laughter hit like a wave."A rock waiting for him? People really do start hallucinating after 35. Aging is a hell of a thing.""He is just playing hard to get because she turned him down again, right? It's textbook manipulation."Every pair of eyes in the room swung toward me, including the male model Maren had just slipped her ring to, who covered his mouth and shook with barely contained laughter."All right, bets in! I give him three minutes before he takes it back!""One minute. A million on it.""I'll match half!"The betting pool on how quickly I'd fold was an annual tradition at these birthday parties by now. Plenty of people resented me for costing them money over the years, and the ones who won never thought any higher of me for it.I let out a bitter laugh

Chapter 2

Reid's POV"I'll wait for you until I'm 35."That was the promise a 25-year-old Reid Harding made to Maren Hale.That year, to get back at her mother for using an arranged match to drive Roman away, Maren transformed overnight from Harborfield's most promising heiress into a woman who burned through lovers like cigarettes.When I met her, I had two dollars to my name and was busking on a street corner. Something about me must have touched whatever softness was left in her, because she leaned against the wall and listened to me sing all night.Her eyes were glassy when she finally spoke. "Come with me. I'll give you a hundred thousand a year."I found out later that her family had cut off all her cards to bring her back in line. That hundred thousand was every cent 25-year-old Maren had to her name.To keep affording me, she stubbed out her cigarette and went back to Hale Industries. Her family beat her bloody for it, and she still smiled through the bruises just to keep me from

Chapter 3

Reid's POVGreg wanted to talk me out of it, but I shut him down with a single sentence."Greg, I'm 35. I want to get married."The screen of my phone was still lit up with a message from my mother."Everyone back home is talking. They're saying you threw yourself at some woman who doesn't even want you, and the stress of it put your father in the hospital again."Please, I'm begging you, how much longer are you going to drag this out? It's been ten years. Does it have to be her?"I tilted my head back, forcing down the sting behind my eyes. Then, I opened the chat and typed back a reply. "Mom, I'm done waiting. Phoebe Mercer asked me to marry her. I said yes."Phoebe was a former student of my mother's, and just as I had spent ten years chasing Maren, Phoebe had spent ten years waiting for me.Greg sighed and added my name to the top of the layoff list. "Fine. I put you on there, but if Ms. Hale doesn't approve it, that's not on me."I thanked him and went home to start packi

Chapter 4

Reid's POVThey found Roman at the estate in the western suburbs in under half an hour.That estate was private property belonging to Maren's mother. During my early years with Maren, I had been locked inside it more times than I could count, though Maren never knew about any of it.Maren threw me into the basement. "Stay down here and think about what you did."The storm outside was brutal that night, and the noise coming from upstairs, where Maren was comforting Roman, was just as loud. I sat there and listened for a long time, and at some point a fever started burning through me without my noticing.Somewhere in the haze, a group of men were shoved into the room with me.Maren stood on the other side of the door, looking at me through the bars. "I promised Roman that everything he went through today, I would make you pay for in kind."Don't worry, I won't think less of you for it. Seven days from now, I'm going to propose to you in front of the whole city."I couldn't believ

Chapter 5

Third-Person POVMaren froze where she stood.The bouquet in her hands felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Dozens of pale pink roses trembled in the cold wind, a variety she had chosen specifically because they looked like the rose nebula over Mount Carlisle. Reid had mentioned wanting to see it countless times over the past ten years.She pressed a hand to her chest, right over the old scar. It ached the way it always did when she couldn't keep her thoughts still, a dull burn that never fully faded and only got worse with time.It brought her back to another gray winter day, four years ago. She had been driving Reid to Mount Carlisle when a friend on the phone mentioned, without any warning, that Roman had gotten married abroad.She lost focus for just a second, and the car hit a patch of ice and veered straight toward a snowplow parked on the shoulder."Maren!"Reid's panicked scream cut through the air. Before she could react, he had already unbuckled his seatbelt and thr

Chapter 6

Third-Person POVThe man wearing the groom's boutonniere pulled her into his arms. "Maren, thank you for putting together such an incredible ceremony for me. I can't believe you did all this for me!"The voice pressed against her was sweet and soft, nothing like Reid's.It was Roman.Maren's smile froze on her face as she stared at the groom's suit she had custom-made for Reid, now stretched across Roman's body. He had never watched his figure the way Reid did, and the tailored waist bunched and strained around his midsection.Scattered laughter rippled through the crowd below.Maren grabbed the lapel of the jacket with a tight frown. "This wasn't made for you. Take it off."Roman had never been humiliated like this in front of Maren before, and a flash of jealousy twisted across his face before he could hide it. In the end, he swallowed hard and caught her by the wrist."Maren, I know I shouldn't have shown up wearing the groom's suit. Reid would be so jealous if he found out.

Chapter 7

Third-Person POV"Hello? Reid?""Maren?"Roman's voice came through the phone instead. Maren's expression went flat, and every trace of warmth drained out of her tone. "What do you want?"Roman faltered, clearly caught off guard by her attitude, but pressed on anyway. "Maren, a pipe burst at my place. Can you help me out?""Help you how?"He hesitated, stumbling over his words for a long time before getting it out. "Could I maybe come stay at your place?"Maren let out a short, humorless laugh. "Are you dreaming, Roman? I thought you were smarter than this. The only reason I agreed to that engagement was to put on a show and force Reid to come back on his own. But apparently you can't even manage something that simple."Roman went quiet, but she could hear something like glass shatter in the background, which gave away just how upset he really was.Maren didn't let up. She kept driving the knife in, one cold word after another, as if hurting him could somehow make up for even

Chapter 8

Reid's POVMeanwhile, I had no idea about any of this. I was far from Harborfield by then.Phoebe drove Mom and me all the way back to my hometown. She handled every detail of Dad's funeral herself, from the arrangements to the service to making sure he was laid to rest with dignity.The funeral lasted three days, and the gossip about me never stopped the entire time. Some people had the nerve to mock me right there in front of Dad's portrait."Well, well. If it isn't the guy who spent ten years to be some Harborfield billionaire's side piece. What happened, she finally got tired of you and you came crawling back home?""This is what happens when you spend your life as someone's kept man. Karma catches up, and it caught your father instead. Poor old man, cursed with a son like you.""35 years old, used up and tossed aside, and now he needs someone to pick up the pieces. Phoebe, sweetheart, think about what you're getting into!"Mom was ready to chase them all out, but Phoebe hel

Chapter 9

Reid's POVThe smile vanished from Phoebe's face in an instant.It had only been a month, but Maren had lost a lot of weight. The skin under her eyes was bruised from what looked like weeks without proper sleep.She walked straight toward me, and the first thing out of her mouth was an accusation. "Reid, it's been one month. One. And you already found someone new? You couldn't even wait?"My relatives were frowning, and Phoebe stepped forward, but I patted her hand and held her back."Maren, you didn't come all this way just to say that to me, did you?"She shook her head. A long pause followed, as if forcing out every word physically hurt her. "I came to apologize. Reid, I was wrong. I love you. Come back to me, and I'll marry you. We'll build a real life together."When she finished, she lifted her chin and looked at me with the absolute certainty that I would forgive her and leave with her.The sheer absurdity of it hit me all at once. I let out a dry laugh. "Excuse me? Wh

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