All Chapters of His Millions Never Reached Me: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

On my first day at the private society program, the receptionist checked the enrollment list, then stared at my canvas tote for a long time."Two years ago, the limited-edition handbag Mr. Lockwood bought for his mystery girlfriend made the society pages. You're really bringing this to class instead? Aren't you worried people will laugh?""I sold the bag.""To buy another one?"I shook my head."Grandma needed heart surgery last year. We were short twenty-six thousand dollars on the hospital deposit."The receptionist's expression changed.I awkwardly pulled the strap of my canvas tote higher on my shoulder.Duncan had been overseas at the time, and I was afraid that waiting for Diana Cross, his executive secretary, to approve an emergency transfer would take too long, so I sold the bag.I had only carried it once anyway.A handbag sitting in a closet mattered less than Grandma getting her surgery.The receptionist lowered her eyes to finish my registration, then told me the

During the second month, Ms. Palmer asked everyone in styling class to bring the most meaningful gift they had ever received.Miranda brought her grandmother's pearls.I brought an old gold bracelet, the first gift Duncan ever gave me.Class hadn't even started when Mallory and Diana arrived.The Lockwood family sponsored this session of the program, and they had come to select student assistants for an upcoming charity gala.Mallory saw the bracelet and laughed."You still have that thing?"Then she told the entire class the story.When Duncan was pursuing me, he had placed two things in front of me: a wooden keepsake box he had spent two months carving by hand, and the gold bracelet. He told me to choose one.I barely glanced at the wooden box before taking the gold. From that day on, everyone in the Lockwood family knew exactly what I wanted: not Duncan, but his money.Mallory told the story well, and several people laughed.I smiled awkwardly with them while tightening m

"Diana gives me five hundred dollars a month."There was silence on the other end for two seconds.Then Duncan's voice turned sharp."Diana. Bring me the household accounts."Diana was beside him.The small crash in the background was a coffee cup slipping from her hand.But when she spoke, her voice was already controlled."Mr. Lockwood, the five hundred Ms. Lennox mentioned is only the cash allowance transferred to her personal account."Clothing, jewelry, vehicles, travel, and household spending have always been paid through the corporate household account."She doesn't review statements, so she may have misunderstood."Within a minute, several expense reports appeared on Duncan's phone: designer gowns, luxury watches, trips, hundreds of thousands of dollars, all charged under Nora Lennox's name.Duncan's tone eased slightly."Nora, Diana has complete records.""But I've never seen any of those things," Nora said."I'll audit the accounts," Duncan said.He paused."B

On Nora's first day living at the Dale house, Stella locked her bedroom door."I don't want a new mother."The housekeeper stood outside looking helpless, but Nora simply set dinner on the floor beside the door."Good. I didn't come here to be your mother."There was silence inside."Then why are you here?""To work."If you don't like something, tell me."If it's reasonable, I'll change it. If it isn't, we'll discuss it."The door opened a few inches, and a small hand reached out to take the dinner.Warren stood at the top of the stairs. He didn't comment on her method; he simply handed her two cards."The black card is for household expenses. Your salary goes on the white one."Nora asked automatically, "Food for the children? Clothes? Does that come out of my salary too?"Warren frowned. "Why would it?"Managing this household is your job."Paying household expenses is my responsibility."Nora slowly placed the cards in separate compartments of her wallet.For the f

The Lockwood audit lasted a full week.Every month, the household account under Diana's control received five hundred thousand dollars.Through cooperating vendors, she created fake invoices for gowns, jewelry, and travel, then moved the money into companies she controlled.During the audit, Diana tried to erase core records under the cover of a systems upgrade.This time, Duncan had already removed her access and transferred the servers to an independent forensic-accounting team.Backups restored the deleted entries one by one.Even Diana's commissions from resale dealers were documented.The five hundred dollars Nora received each month had been deliberate, a token amount.Whenever Nora asked for more, Diana could point to hundreds of thousands in fabricated household expenses and prove that Nora was insatiably greedy.Many bags and pieces of jewelry Mallory had received over the years had also been charged to Nora.When auditors confronted her, Mallory went pale. "Diana to