He Married Her While I Waited at the Altar, I Called My Mother While She Called Me Back Chapter 08
“Stella, right? Welcome to the team.”
My colleagues were very welcoming, and no one knew my past.
No one called me a clown here.
Work was busy so busy I didn’t have time to think about anything else.
I left the house at 7 a.m. every day and returned to my apartment at 9 p.m., falling asleep the second my head hit the pillow.
Late into the night of my third week, Riley sent a message.
“Your guy went to your hometown.”
“How did he know the address?”
“You left your old driver’s license at his place once. He tracked it down using the address on it.”
“And then?”
“Your dad chased him out with a broom.”
My dad is a veteran. He’s sixty years old now, and his temper is even fiercer than when he was
young.
Riley sent a voice memo relaying what her boyfriend told her.
“You humiliated my daughter in front of two hundred people! You made her cut ties with her family! And you have the nerve to show up at my door? Get the hell out!”
I listened to it twice.
Each word was heavier than the last, but they were all the things I hadn’t been able to say for myself over the past three years.
“Your mom finally came out and said one thing to him.”
“What did she say?”
“Just leave. She’s not here. And we wouldn’t tell you where she went even if we knew.”
“What did he say?”
“He said: ‘Ma’am, I’m begging you, just let me say a few words to her.””
“Your mom said: ‘She waited for you for three hours, and you never showed. Now you’ve been standing here for two hours, and you think you’re the victim?””
“Then your mom slammed the door shut.”
I put down my phone, staring at the ceiling of my apartment.
Riley sent another message.
“He stood outside your house in the rain.”
“For how long?”
“About two hours. Your mom saw him from the window but didn’t open the door.”
Two hours.
He thought two hours was enough.
It wasn’t even close.
A few days later, Riley brought more news.
“Hailey racked up over $200,000 on his credit cards in half a month. All designer clothes and bags.”
“When you were managing his finances, what was his company’s monthly revenue again?”
“Don’t even bother doing the math.”
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“He found out about that investment.”
My hand paused.
“What investment?”
“That $500,000 angel round he got last year. He bragged about it for six months, claiming he
closed the deal himself.”
“Yeah.”
Last week, that investor met with him and asked how Stella was doing.”
I went silent.
I was the one who quietly set up that investment connection for him.
I was the one who pulled three all-nighters to write that business plan.
I never told him, because he didn’t like women interfering with his business.
I never did anything he didn’t like.
I never spoke of things he didn’t know about.
“What was his reaction when he found out?”
Riley paused.
“My boyfriend said he went home, locked himself in his room, and called your old number
thirty-seven times.”
“Every single one went to a disconnected line.”
Thirty-seven times. Just like the thirty-seven missed calls he gave me that one day.
He really liked that number.
But he never once asked me what my favorite number was.
My phone rang again.
It wasn’t Riley.
It was a local Bayview City number.
“Hello, is this Ms. Stella? I’m Attorney Davis from the Hayes Law Firm. A client has retained me to
contact you regarding a financial dispute and to negotiate repayment.”
“What is your client’s name?”
“Mr. Julian Sterling. He stated that he owes you a certain amount of money and wishes to arrange a
repayment plan.”
He was starting to pay back the money.
Not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he finally realized I was never coming back
And someone who isn’t coming back will absolutely take legal action.
“Please let him know that I’ve kept the TOU for the $200,000 and the transfer record for the
$36.000″
“There’s no need to meet. Just proceed through legal channels.”