No Place for You

The day before our engagement, Stellan Graves came shopping with me, but his mind was clearly elsewhere.

I bought a chili dog from a street stall and held it up to his mouth only for him to swat it out of my hand, sending it flying to the ground. Fury flashed across his face as he snapped, "Ivy Stein, the Graves family needs a woman who can actually show her face in public. Stop buying cheap trash like this. You're embarrassing me. How do you expect my parents to accept you like this?"

I picked up the food in humiliation, threw it into the trash, and nodded meekly for the sake of our four years together in college. "As you wish."

…

However, the very next day, he switched his fiancee to Amelia Lane.

"Ivy, Amelia tried to kill herself just to marry me. She's in the hospital now. Once she's stable again, I'll come back and marry you."

Four years later, he showed up at my tiny apartment with a diamond ring in hand. "Ivy, Amelia has already agreed to divorce me. We can finally be together. I told you before—once Amelia lets go of her obsession with me and stops hurting herself, I'll come and marry you."

I frowned at Stellan's so-called heartfelt expression. I must have had terrible luck that day. Who'd have thought I'd run into this wacko when I'd come back to my place on a whim?!

"Move," I demanded, shoving him out the door. "You're blocking the way. I need to pick up my kid from school."

Four Years Too Late

Stellan followed close behind me, his voice sharp with accusation. "I already checked. No other man came to this place in the past four years, so how could you actually have a kid? I know you're angry. I'll take you home now. Even if your family's poor and only survives by raising chickens, I've already convinced my parents. They won't look down on you anymore."

I turned and frowned at him. "I already told you. My family doesn't just raise chickens. We've got several mountains full of them."

Stellan scoffed. "Chickens are still chickens. Don't ever bring that up in front of my parents. It's small-time and embarrassing."

I gave up arguing with him.

There was no point trying to reason with a city snob like him. He had no idea what free-range, all-natural chicken raised across entire mountains was actually worth.

We'd made our fortune off it years ago.

I picked up my pace. If I were any later, I'd miss picking my son up from school.

Stellan kept following. "I can take you to my family home right now. The villa's huge. Amelia hasn't moved out yet, but there's more than enough space for you. Just be polite to her. She's sensitive, so give in to her a little. Don't upset her."

"Excuse me?" I stared at him in disbelief. "You've come to bother me before divorcing, and you expect me