He Humiliated Me with Gifts, I Cut Him Off

Chapter 2

No sooner had Evelyn stepped out of the funeral home than her phone buzzed with a new text message.

It was Adrian. To punish her for 'being jealous' earlier that day, he'd canceled her shared payment access to his account.

And the ridiculous limit on that account was only forty dollars anyway.

A sharp, mocking smile tugged at Evelyn’s lips.

When she got home, she placed the signed divorce papers on the desk in Adrian’s study. Then she headed straight for her shift and started her delivery route.

She'd already drained every last penny of her savings to pay for her grandma's medical bills. The only way to scrape together enough for the funeral expenses was to work her fingers to the bone.

As she pedaled down the street toward her shift, old memories came flooding back unbidden.

Her mother had died when she was young, and her father disappeared after piling up enormous gambling debts, leaving only Evelyn and her grandmother to rely on each other for survival.

Later, she got a job at a street food stall to earn money for her grandmother’s treatments.

That was where she first met Adrian. He'd drunk himself blind, and threw up all over her uniform.

Instead of kicking him to the curb, she took him back to her tiny place and nursed him through the whole night.

She'd figured that would be the end of it, their paths would never cross again after that. She never expected Adrian to latch onto her and refuse to let go.

Out of nowhere, he started chasing her like a man possessed, pulling every trick in the book to win her over.

Evelyn never ran in rich social circles, but she'd heard all the gossip about Master Carter of the capital long before she met him.

She knew he went through women faster than he changed his shirts, that this was just another game for him. There was no way she was going to fall for his advances.

On top of that, her family was drowning in debt, and she had a sick grandma to take care of. Love was a luxury she simply couldn't afford.

But Adrian wouldn't take no for an answer. He even showed up at the street food stall to work alongside her.

He handed over every cent he earned that day, his dark eyes soft and full of devotion. "Evelyn, this is the money I earned myself. This is for Grandma's medical bills."

Her heart twisted, and she refused to take it. She even lashed out with cruel words, and even though she could see the hurt deep in his eyes, she forced him to leave anyway.

Then late one night, a drunk customer at the stall cornered her and wouldn't let her leave.

Adrian burst onto the scene out of nowhere and beat the creep senseless.

In the brawl, the drunk broke one of Adrian's legs before the Carter family pulled him out and rushed him to the hospital.

Evelyn was convinced she'd never see him again. But that same night, she heard a soft tap-tap on her window.

Adrian had snuck out right under his family's noses. Even with his broken leg leaving him limping badly, he'd come all that way just to see her.

Her heart melted completely. She finally admitted she'd fallen in love with him, and from that day on she was completely devoted to him, nothing and no one could ever tear them apart.

After that, things fell into place naturally. They started dating, then got married.

The first year of their marriage, Adrian really did treat her like a princess.

But just a year later, she had a devastating miscarriage. When he saw the stretch marks on her belly, he actually frowned. And just like that, he got bored with her.

He started turning up his nose at how frugal she was, sneering that she was too uncouth to bring out in public.

He didn't even try to hide it. He openly threw himself at his new assistant, Sophia, chasing her just as wildly as he'd once chased Evelyn.

Evelyn snapped. She started going on a revenge shopping spree with his card.

Every time Adrian spoiled Sophia with something, she'd go out and buy the exact same thing for herself just to keep up.

She never even actually wanted any of that stupid stuff. She just did it to make Adrian look at her again.

But all Adrian Carter gave her was a cold, contemptuous sneer. "Evelyn, turns out my mom was right. Girls like you from tiny, nobody's families only ever want one thing... my money! If you can't learn to behave, I'll just have to make you behave."

In that second, Evelyn's heart shattered into a million irreparable pieces.

She didn't even have time to process how fast he'd turned on her before her grandma's condition took a sudden turn for the worse.

And now, when she really needed his money, what did he do? He thought she was just throwing another jealous fit and cut her card off. Meanwhile, he was maxing out his cards, buying whatever Sophia wanted halfway across the world.

But Grandma was gone.

Her heart had gone completely numb. She didn't need his lousy money anymore.

She headed back to their house to pack her things. It turned out she barely owned anything that was truly hers.

In the entire year they'd been married, Adrian had barely bought her a single thing.

She hefted her lone suitcase, found a cheap temporary place to crash, and jumped right back into delivering takeout to make ends meet.

That was when she got a new order ping on her phone.

The delivery note said she had to bring a box of condoms, and promised a huge tip for the hassle.

The address was in a wealthy gated villa community on the edge of town, definitely an order from some rich person.

Evelyn figured if she played nice and did what they asked, she'd score that big tip. That would get her one step closer to affording the headstone and grave repairs for Grandma.

But the second the villa gate swung open, she froze dead in her tracks.

Hanging right on the wall was a happy couple photo of Adrian and Sophia. The living room was overflowing with fancy, expensive gifts, stacked so high they couldn't even fit them all on display.

A moving truck was parked right out front, and two movers were hauling even more boxes inside the house.

"Man, the guy who owns this place spoils his girl rotten! I heard even the cheapest thing here is at least a couple million!"

"Wait till you see the other truck full of luxury goods that's coming right after us. They said the stuff wouldn't fit in their old place, that's why they bought this whole new villa!"