Reborn to Reclaim My Fortune from My Ungrateful Daughter

4:

The wedding went ahead anyway, but the only guests who stayed were the ones determined to eat back the cash they'd handed over in envelopes. So it didn't even rise to the level of a joke. At best it was a group dinner.

I heard Stacy cried her makeup right off her face.

I didn't care. But on their wedding night, I went straight to the newlywed apartment I'd bought for Stacy.

Just as I'd expected, Stacy and the three Jameses had already moved in. With no passcode and no key, they'd simply pried the lock open, and since there was no way to buy a new one in the middle of the night, the door was only pulled shut without latching.

I pushed it open and walked in.

Right in time to see the three of them coaxing Stacy to stop crying.

The moment she saw me,

Stacy's tears cut off instantly.

"Well?"

"You were pretty full of yourself at the wedding. What are you here for now?"

"Don't tell me you think you can turn my wedding into a circus and then swing by in the middle of the night to apologize, and I'll just forgive you?"

Before I could say a word,

Wanda Fox took my hand and started smoothing things over.

"We're family now. Stacy was only joking at the wedding today, she didn't mean anything by it. Since you can see where you went wrong, don't fight with her anymore. Just talk to her nicely."

Roy James joined in.

"That's right. Stacy is a rare, good girl. If you fall out with her over one joke, you're the only one who'll regret it."

I nodded along.

"You two aren't wrong. Stacy really is good to you. Much better than she's ever been to her own mother."

I said it calmly, but Stacy still rolled her eyes in fury.

"If you're going to apologize, then apologize properly. Don't stand there being snide."

I shook my head and said, smiling,

"I'm not here to apologize today, and I'm not here to make peace. I'm here for money."

5:

"Money?"

The four of them frowned and exchanged looks.

Stacy caught on first. Her eyes lit up.

"You mean you're here to work out how much you'll give me every month?"

"I've already thought about that. Fifty thousand a month works for me, because I—"

I had no interest in hearing Stacy's plans for my money.

I waved a hand and cut her off.

"I'm not here to give money. I'm here to collect it."

"I only drank one mouthful of tea at that wedding, but I paid for half of it, which comes to three hundred and thirty thousand. And back then the Jameses gave me two hundred thousand in betrothal money. So you still owe me a hundred and thirty thousand."

"Don't tell me you don't have it. You collected today's cash gifts yourselves. I came at night on purpose, so you couldn't cry poor on me."

The second I said it,

all four of them were stunned.

The first to recover was Robin.

"Aunt Priscilla, what's that supposed to mean?"

"We agreed the betrothal money was just a formality. You'd return double after the wedding and add a million for the dowry. What's this now, going back on your word?"

My smile widened.

"The answer's right there on the table."

"The betrothal money and the dowry I promised to return were for my daughter and son-in-law. You call me Aunt Priscilla. Why on earth would I give it to you?"

"If one 'Aunt' from you were worth that much, you'd have been the richest family in the country long ago."

Stacy, of course, wasn't going to pay. She started raving again, all mindless fury and no logic.

I didn't want to disturb the neighbors, and I wanted to get to bed early, so I took out my phone right away.

"If you won't pay, I'll call the police right now. If that doesn't work, I'll sue. One way or another, I'm seeing this through to the end and getting my money back."

I clearly wasn't joking.

And all three Jameses had respectable jobs. If I really called the police and blew this up, the embarrassment would be one thing, losing their jobs would be another.

So after a brief standoff,

Roy pulled out his phone, face like a storm cloud, and transferred the hundred and thirty thousand to me.

Stacy tried to stop him and was too late. But she grabbed hold of me.

"Since you've taken the money, you have to sign this agreement."