The Billionaire Who Saved Me After You Broke Me

Six years after the breakup.

I received a message from an unknown number.

It read:

Jade, how have you been? Are you in some kind of trouble? I heard you've been picking up side jobs lately. Do you remember that puzzle I gave you? There's money inside. Use it for now. Consider it a gift, freely given.

I dug the puzzle out from a dusty corner of my storage room.

Piece by piece, I pried apart the yellowing fragments.

Just as the message said, there was money hidden inside.

Thirteen thousand, one hundred and forty dollars. Not a cent more, not a cent less.

I stared at the stack of bills in my hand, hardly believing it.

My mind drifted back to the boy who once looked at me like I was his whole world.

The truth was, I was doing fine. I hadn't run into any trouble.

But if I could do it all over again, I would rather have never accepted that puzzle.

Never met Chad Harding.

……

There was no reason to keep money that no longer belonged between us.

I found the nearest bank and transferred the full amount back to Chad, using the account number I still remembered by heart.

On the way home, I picked up two begonia plants in full bloom to put in the yard.

I had just finished transplanting them when I heard the gate creak open behind me.

I turned around, and a familiar face came into view.

Chad Harding.

He must have tracked me down using the bank where I'd made the transfer.

His jaw was tight, his throat working as if he wanted to speak, but no words came.

The moment I recognized him, surprise flickered through me. I kept my voice cold.

"Can I help you?"

He walked straight up to me, pulled a bank card from the inside pocket of his coat, and pressed it into my hand.

"Jade, spend whatever's on this card. Think of it as my way of making things up to you."

I glanced at the card, already smudged with potting soil, and held it back out to him.

"I don't need it. I'm not short on money. Take it back."

Chad looked around the yard. The weathered apartment building. The furniture that hadn't been updated in decades.

Then his gaze dropped to the plain linen outfit I was wearing.

He pushed the card back into my hand.

"I know you've always been the type to tough things out on your own, no matter how hard it gets."

"But if you ever run into any kind of trouble, you can tell me. I'll do everything I can to help."

I was about to refuse again when a familiar voice cut through the air.

"Chad Harding!"

"You cheating piece of garbage! You actually have the nerve to show your face here? How shameless can you be!"

Lily Bennett came storming into the yard in three furious strides.

She planted herself squarely in front of me, swung her bag off her shoulder, and slammed it into Chad's chest.

"Get the hell out. Don't you dare come sniffing around Jade again."

"If I catch you here one more time, I swear to God I'll beat your ass every single time."

Then she grabbed the garden hose I'd been using to water the flowers and drenched him head to toe.

Chad stood there. He didn't argue. He didn't dodge. He just took it, like he figured he deserved whatever came his way.

I rushed forward and pulled Lily back, then fixed Chad with a cold stare.

He got the message. Without a word, he turned and walked out through the gate. Only then did Lily start to calm down.

A second later, she whipped around to face me, frustration burning in her eyes.

"Jade Perez, why are you even talking to him? Didn't he put you through enough back then?"

She jabbed a finger against my forehead.

"Don't you dare go soft on me. I will die before I let you go back to that lowlife!"

I couldn't help it. Lily's intensity pulled a laugh out of me, and I smiled.

"Relax. Him and me? That's never happening again."

The tension finally drained from Lily's shoulders. She let out a long breath, then waved me over to share the watermelon she'd brought just for me.