A Reborn Bride Pearl Emerging from Dust by Sally Garcia

"Exactly. You only get what you give, right?"

"No one's gonna bend over backwards for someone who treats them like dirt."

"Maybe at first, yeah, but if you keep giving and you get nothing back, sooner or later, you're gonna stop."

"People only keep trying if the other person is trying too, you know?"

"Honestly, I think Norton's the better catch. Can you imagine? A six-figure check? That's more than I'll see in my life!"

"The Jewell family couldn't scrape together that much if they sold their whole estate. Guess those brothers just don't measure up.”

"It's not even about money. If they just showed some real effort, even if they didn't have a dime, I bet Calliope would be happy. But they waste it all on that adopted girl, never on the real daughter. Why should she like them?"

"Yeah, I think she did the right thing this time. No point in giving endlessly for nothing."

The whole time, all they

Everyone knew what was

couldn't argue, really. He'd never actually given Calliope anything memorable, now

the table. He knew he should've stopped Valerian sooner. Still, it stung seeing Calliope defend those guys who weren't

your brother. Cut

him, cool as ever. "When have

hold back. They couldn't handle

pulled his car around and hopped out,

awesome! Seriously, thank

you like it!" Calliope grinned. "If you're happy, I'm

as well. They're upstairs. Want

Valerian,

they could answer, cut in,

We can't