They Forced Me to Return the Heirloom Diamond—But My Wedding Ring Cost Only $9.99 Chapter 05
The housekeeper opened the door.
Ivy stood outside.
She wore a white cashmere coat. Her hair was damp from the rain. In her arms, she carried a dark blue velvet box.
Her eyes were red. When she saw Ethan, she seemed to finally break.
“Ethan, I brought the ring.”
She opened the box.
The real Hart family wedding ring lay quietly inside.
Ivy stood in the doorway, her wet eyes on Ethan.
The velvet box was open. The diamond sparkled under the entryway light.
The scene was absurd.
I — the actual Mrs. Hart — was dragging my suitcase out the door.
She — the one who’d kept my wedding ring for two years — was returning it in the rain like she was giving back lost property.
The housekeeper stood by the door, not knowing whether to come or go.
Ethan didn’t reach for the box.
His eyes rested on the ring for a moment, then moved to Ivy’s face.
“Who told you to come?”
Ivy’s face paled.
“I didn’t want you to misunderstand, so I brought it myself.”
She pushed the box forward.
“Ethan, I really didn’t mean to keep it. I’ve had it at home for two years. I never wore it.”
I looked at the ring.
The diamond was clean. The band was clean.
It didn’t look like it had been worn often.
But I remembered the social media post. I remembered her message: “I’ll hold onto it for you.” I remembered that at every Hart family gathering, she saw the plain ring on my finger and never said a word.
Ethan took the box.
Ivy visibly relaxed.
“I knew you’d believe me.”
Ethan said nothing.
He placed the ring box on the entryway table.
The sound was soft.
“Liam.”
Liam stepped forward immediately.
“Have the ring appraised. Check everything — the inner engraving, purchase records, who signed for it, maintenance records.”
The blood drained from Ivy’s face.
“Ethan, what do you mean by that?”
He looked at her.
“You said you never wore it.”
Ivy’s eyelashes fluttered.
“I really never did.”
“Then let them check.”
When those two words fell, tears welled in Ivy’s eyes again.
“You never used to treat me like this.”
Ethan’s brow twitched slightly.
Ivy seemed to catch that. Her voice dropped.
“You once said I understood you better than anyone. Back then, you didn’t want an arranged marriage. You didn’t want the family to force you to marry someone. The day you got drunk, you grabbed my hand and said, ‘I wish you were the bride.’”
The living room went silent.
I gripped my suitcase handle tighter.
Ethan’s face changed.
Ivy looked at me. There was hurt in her eyes, and something broken from being cornered.
“Tessa, I really didn’t mean to hurt you. Ethan was so drunk that day. He mistook me for the woman he wanted to marry. He put the ring on my finger himself.”
She raised her left hand.
There was no ring on it now.
But she held that finger up deliberately, as if it still wore an invisible mark.
“I know he married you. I know I should have stepped aside. So I left the country for two years. I never bothered you. But now you’re blaming me for everything, and that hurts me too.”
Ethan said in a low voice, “Ivy.”
She looked at him.
“Did I say something wrong?”
She walked step by step into the living room. Rain dripped from her dress onto the floor.
“Ethan, if you really don’t care about me, why did you hold onto me on your wedding day? Why did the ring end up on my finger? Why, for the past two years — every anniversary banquet, charity event, business dinner — has your mother thought of me first?”
She turned to me, her eyes red and wet.
“Tessa, I didn’t take anything. A lot of things never even made it to you in the first place.”
The words were light.
But they hurt more than all the explanations before.
Because she was telling the truth.
A lot of things never made it to me.
The ring. The wedding. Ethan’s attention. The Hart family’s approval.
I looked down at my empty finger and suddenly saw no reason to stay.
“You two talk.”
I dragged my suitcase toward the door.
Ethan stepped in front of me.
“Don’t go.”
“Ethan.”
I looked up at him.
“You need to deal with her right now. Not me.”
His face was dark.
“You’re part of this too.”
“I’ve already dealt with myself.”
I took the night market ring out of my bag.
I’d been clutching it the whole time. Its sharp edge had left a faint red mark on my palm.
Ethan’s eyes dropped to it.
I placed the ring in his hand.
“Here.”
His palm went stiff.
That $9.99 ring lay beside his expensive watch — so cheap it was almost laughable.
When Ivy saw it, a faint flicker of mockery crossed her eyes.
I pretended not to notice.
“For two years, the Hart family needed a Mrs. Hart who wore a wedding ring. I wore it for you.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Not anymore.”
His fingers slowly closed around the ring, as if afraid of dropping it.
His throat moved.
“Tessa, I didn’t ask you to cover for anyone.”
“You didn’t ask me to.”
I gave a small nod.
“So I don’t have to anymore.”
The rain outside grew heavier.
I dragged my suitcase out of the entryway.
This time, Ethan didn’t stop me.
He just stood there, clutching the cheap ring, like someone had pulled out the bone that held him upright.
Ivy was still crying.
“Ethan, you saw it yourself. She doesn’t care about this marriage. If she did, would she leave so easily?”
Ethan looked up.
His cold stare made Ivy stop.
“She doesn’t care?”
He held the plain ring in his palm and lifted it toward Ivy.
“She wore this to twenty-seven Hart family events with me.”
Ivy’s face froze.
“You held her ring, sat next to my mother, and arranged her seat at the head table.”
Ivy opened her mouth. “I…”
“Ivy.”
It was the first time Ethan had called her by her full name.
“Stop pretending you’re innocent.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but the entryway was so quiet that only the rain could be heard.
“The truly innocent one just left.”
I walked out under the eaves. The driver held an umbrella for me.
The rain blurred the lights behind me.
I didn’t look back.
As the car left Harbor View, I saw a figure running after it in the rearview mirror.
Ethan stood in the rain without an umbrella, still holding that cheap plain ring.
Rain ran down his hair. He looked like he wanted to call out to me but stopped when the car turned out of the gate.
I looked away.
My phone vibrated.
It was a photo from an unknown number.
In the photo, Ivy sat beside Ethan backstage at the wedding, bending down to adjust his cuff.
The wedding ring was already on her finger.
Below the photo was a line of text.
Miss Clark, do you really think that ring was just put on the wrong finger?
