Billion Dollar Breakup: Unattainable Ex

"Payment received. One billion dollars." The whole wedding hall went dead silent. Adrian's eyes cut straight to me, cold and annoyed. I'd loved Adrian for ten years.

And I'd finally lived to watch him marry the one that got away. I stared at that long string of zeros in my account, heart slamming. I shot to my feet and laughed. "Congratulations!

Happily ever after, a whole houseful of kids!" They got married. I was happy. Truly. Happier than both their mothers combined.

What none of them knew: the second he said "I do," my tenyear guardduty assignment paid out.

And three years from now, the man who'd sell off his company and drive all the way to my ranch, begging me to start over. That would be him. Chapter 1 "Payment received.

One billion dollars." That flat, chirpy bankapp voice rang out across the wedding hall. Every head snapped toward me. Up on the stage, the groom and bride heard it too. Adrian.

Scarlett. They'd just traded rings. The officiant had barely finished pronouncing them married.

Adrian's handsome face creased into a frown, like he couldn't figure out what I was doing. Scarlett's mouth curved.

Like my little meltdown was the funniest thing she'd seen all year. Except I hadn't done anything.

I glanced around, something tugging at me, and looked down at the phone clenched in my palm. A banking alert. Account activity. My fingers shook a little as I opened the app.

Rows and rows of zeros, floating there like bubbles. My head went light. I let out a shout and stood straight up. That did not go over well. "Quinn, what are you doing?

It's Scarlett and Adrian's wedding day. Are you really going to keep making a scene until you've ruined it for everyone?" "Right? What was she even thinking, showing her face here.

No shame at all." Scarlett's besties, tripping over themselves to defend her. Adrian looked at me too, long and cold, a warning buried in it. He kept his anger on a leash. "Quinn.

Don't make a scene." The wedding. Right. I came back to myself, surfacing out of the giddiness. I looked around. Every face aimed my way was curled with disgust.

And I still couldn't drag the corners of my mouth back down. A billion dollars. I had a billion freaking dollars.

Chapter 2 "Haha, I'm so sorry, everyone, big day, look at me, what is wrong with me, I just got carried away, such a happy occasion, and the ceremony's done anyway, so I won't keep you.

Congratulations to the happy couple. Happily ever after, a houseful of kids. Sorry, so sorry.

I'll get going." I held my phone, eyes glued to that gorgeous line of zeros, my heart turning cartwheels. Couldn't care less what any of them thought of me.

I walked out of the hall, steps light and unsteady all at once. Behind me, somewhere, a voice asked if I'd lost my mind. Please. A billion dollars just fell out of the sky.

Let's see you keep it together. Senior year, a few mean girls locked me in the school bathroom on purpose. Dead of winter.

Wrapped in a coat soaked through with icy water, shaking so hard I nearly stopped breathing. Somewhere in the fog, a thing calling itself the System asked to bind with me.

It said it could get me out. Finish its tasks, it said, and a billion dollars would be mine. I was too frozen to think straight, way past caring about a billion or ten.

I said yes on the spot. Only later did I find out the task: guard Adrian. Watch over him until he married the one that got away, Scarlett Vale.

Then the job was done, and the System would pay me my billion. I looked at Adrian, all handsome and gentle, and figured loving a guy like that wouldn't be the worst thing.

I fell in headfirst. Right up until six months ago, when a car accident put me in a hospital bed and I called him. Call after call. Nobody picked up. I lay there.

Nobody came for me. And on Scarlett's feed: the two of them, hand in hand, under the Northern Lights in Norway. Later he brought her home.

All because she and I had one little argument, and his precious first love let two tears fall.

He announced to everyone that he'd dumped me, then married Scarlett at lightning speed. And me? I chased him five years. Stood by him five years. Ten years, start to finish.

And I never once measured up to Scarlett. Not by a hair. I looked at my balance. The memory loosened its grip. I've got a billion bucks. What the hell am I moping for.

I was wired half the night. Just as I finally drifted off, that familiar ringtone yanked me awake. I jolted upright and grabbed the phone. The screen lit up. Adrian. The name stung.

I didn't want to answer. My hand moved before my brain caught up. I gave myself a quiet little sneer, then got curious. What was he calling me for, on his wedding night?

The call connected. For the first time ever, I didn't speak first. He was quiet too.

Just as my patience ran out and I went to hang up, Adrian's low voice came through. "Quinn." He said my name. Ten years around him. I could hear the exhaustion in it.

And the anger underneath. "Why are you calling me tonight?" I'd meant to hang up on the spot. But that billion, freshly landed in my account, and I didn't want anything going wrong.

So I bit it back. A pause on his end. Then, cold: "I told you. We'd part on good terms. So why would you humiliate Scarlett in front of everyone?" I blinked.

My brows drew together. "Excuse me?" Wow. I could not believe my ears. Scarlett stole the boyfriend I'd been with for five years.

Then, sweet as poison, she mailed me an invitation and all but begged me to be there. Chapter 3 She was the one who came looking to make my life miserable.

And somehow I was the one humiliating her? Is this a joke? "These past years, I've wronged you. Whatever you want, I'll make it up to you however I can.

But you shouldn't have humiliated Scarlett at the wedding." "And how exactly did I humiliate her?" "The ceremony had just ended and you went tearing out of there like a lunatic.

After you left, the whole room was talking about how she stole your boyfriend. Scarlett is under enormous stress right now. I've told you, this wedding meant everything to her.

Did you spare one thought for how she feels?" They actually made me laugh. Scarlett. What a delicate little flower.

I squeezed the phone, drew a slow breath, tried to keep my voice level. "First off, I didn't want to come to your wedding. Scarlett begged me to.

You came to me together, remember, and told me the wedding wouldn't feel complete without me. If anyone was staging a humiliation, it was her, aimed at me.

And in the end all I did was leave a little early. I didn't do a thing." A beat of silence on his end. Then, sourer than before. "Scarlett only wanted your blessing.

She was going to apologize to you herself after the ceremony.

And instead you humiliated her, in front of everyone." "Apologize?" A cold laugh slipped out before I could stop it. "Apologize for what? For stealing my boyfriend?

And come on, Scarlett, who looks down her nose at the entire world, is going to apologize to me? Adrian. Are you still asleep, or am I?" "Don't talk about Scarlett like that.

I told you, all of it was my call. It had nothing to do with her. If you want to blame someone, blame me. And I said it from the start. You and I were only ever a trial run.

I never got over Scarlett." I pulled in a breath, floored by the sheer bottomless favoritism. "So? What else have you got?

You can't seriously expect me to apologize to her." "I do." Flat. Ironclad. "You should apologize to Scarlett. You ruined our wedding." My fingertips went tight.

Don't lose it, I told myself. The money's in the account. One night of biting my tongue is nothing. No point stirring up trouble at a moment like this. "Scarlett has depression.

Her moods are very unstable. She can't take any more hits." Adrian tacked it on like a footnote. "Right. Scarlett has depression. Scarlett is beautiful and delicate and adorable.

And I'm the one who deserves to get used and lied to." "Quinn…" His voice faltered. "Enough. Save it. Is Scarlett next to you? Put me on speaker.

I'll apologize." Rustling through the phone. Then, after a moment, Scarlett's voice. Sweet, with a little catch of tears in it. "Quinn, I don't blame you.

It's just, Adrian, he—" I nearly gagged, and cut her off. "Drop the act, it's nauseating. I got a little carried away today, so sorry to have crashed your wedding, truly.

Here's to you and Adrian. Long life together, happily ever after, a minivan full of kids. A cheater and his snake, locked together for life. Goodbye. Ugh. Never again." I hung up.

Hands on my hips, breathing hard, so furious my whole chest ached. Chapter 4 I chased Adrian for five years. Was with him for five more. Ten years, start to finish.

And he took everything I felt for him and used it as leverage, hurting me again and again, all for his precious Scarlett. This was the last time. The actual last time.

His call came through again. I switched the phone off without a second thought. Whatever. The money's in the bank. I am done waiting on that man for the rest of my life. I was busy.

You have no idea how busy rich people are. First thing in the morning I went into the office and bought the whole company the most expensive bubble tea on the menu.

Slipped a few of my favorite coworkers the newest flagship phones and smartwatches, on the quiet.

Then I picked up my resignation letter and slapped it down on my boss's desk. "Here's to a booming business. I quit." Clean. Done.

My boss stared at me like I'd lost my mind, then finally scraped together one sentence. "What, you win the lottery?" I arched a brow. "Something like that." I strode out through a whole office of stunned, baffled faces.

I had a billion dollars. Work a ninetofive? Not in this lifetime. Never again. Resignation done, I drove straight to a real estate office.

At first they clocked me as some young girl and barely bothered. The second they heard I wanted to close on a place right now, the attitude did a full oneeighty.

I picked the bestlooking agent in the room, Marcus, and told him I wanted to buy ten houses. His eyes went dead straight. I rubbed my chin. "It's only ten houses.

Is that a lot?" Marcus's lips twitched, and he gave me a thumbsup, impressed and clearly out of his depth. "Not at all, not at all.

All together it's barely pocket change." A decent place in LA runs a few million. Ten of them, maybe twenty, thirty million all in.

Then I spotted two more I liked out in the suburbs. Big ones. Start to finish, I spent a little under two hundred million. Those few days were a blur of paperwork.

Lucky for me, Marcus was sharp and reliable, and it all closed fast. I put every house up for rent. Good locations, so they pull in a few hundred grand a month.

The other eight hundred million just sits in the bank, throwing off tens of thousands a day in interest. First time in my life I understood how far money actually stretches.

I looked at the stack of deeds still warm in my hand, and the balance in my banking app, a number longer than my face, and ten years of gloom lifted clean off me.

Money really does cure ninetynine percent of what ails you in this world. This time, I was a true believer. Houses handled, I found the best travel agency in town.

Traveling the world was my dream when I was a kid. The paperwork for going abroad came together fast. Plane ticket, booked. I hadn't really looked at my phone in days.

When I opened it, the thing had blown up. A wall of unread messages. Most of them asking how I was holding up. Mentally.

Everyone who knew me knew the whole tangled mess between me, Adrian, and Scarlett. Add in how I'd behaved at Adrian's wedding, and plenty of them had decided I'd cracked.

I skimmed past them. My eyes landed on a reunion invite from the class president. I grew up here in LA. I've got no shortage of friends in this city.

And no shortage of people just waiting to see how pathetic the dumped ex's life turned out. Before I take off, I should give them all a proper goodbye. To their faces. Chapter 5