Ex-Husband's Regret

"Hi" for some weird reason, I squeaked the word.

Coming face to face with Ava was like coming face to face with your secret crush. I was all of a sudden sweaty and nervous. Instead of answering, she pulled me into a tight hug. It was a warm hug. It felt like hugging a soft and fluffy teddy bear.

"It's nice to officially meet you, Harper. Welcome to the family" she whispered right before she stepped away.

Gabriel then led me to the out-door setup that had multiple foods on the table. He moved me so that I was sitting right beside him.

Did he get that I hated his proximity for a reason?

Within seconds, everyone was digging in.

"So, Harper, what do you do?" Gabriel's mom asked.

I swallowed, when everyone turned to look. I hated it when attention was focused on me.

"I'm an interior designer," I replied, while trying to maintain eye contact.

If there was one thing my mother taught me, it's that eye contact was important, especially when it came to people from our world. The rich and influential viewed avoiding eye contact as a sign of weakness. My mother instilled in us to never show that weakness, no matter what.

"That's just perfect," Ava added. "I've been dying to change things in a few of the Hope houses. Maybe you can help with that."

Lilly, ever the curious little thing, catches that quickly. "What are Hope houses?"

is the one that answers. "She's the founder of

was of his mother. You could also

then her face clears as if a light bulb just went

know about the Hope Foundation. It's one of the biggest children's foundations in the country. No one knew who the founder is for the longest

space. I, on

so familiar," Lilly told Ava. "You're Ava Sharp, though you changed your last name. Your foundation is worth millions of dollars and you're the richest woman in the

like a sponge absorbs water. Anything to do with money, Lilly probably knows

all this, sweetheart?" Gabriel's dad asked

shrugged like it wasn't really

a billionaire when + grow up

to me and I almost

"Actually, anything to do with

you encourage this?" my

in her way? Anything I can do to support and help her with achieving them, I will do it in a

clearly see she was fighting back tears. "She's just like her daddy. Gabriel also used to obsess over numbers when he

for a moment I forgot that he was a grown-up man. It's like

like this, so different from the cold man