The Ring That Sank, The Love That Drowned Chapter 07
At noon, Vivian’s team released a statement
claiming the recording was fake.
That afternoon, the director of the fellowship.
program publicly reposted the evidence and
confirmed that Vivian had voluntarily withdrawn
from the interview.
By evening, Vaughn Group shares had fallen 4%.
Spencer showed up outside Sinclair Group.
He didn’t come inside.
He simply stood in the snow, smoking one
cigarette after another.
My assistant asked, “Ms. Sinclair, should I have
security ask him to leave?”
I glanced outside.
Snow had collected on his shoulders, and he was
still holding the old silver bracelet.
In my previous life, I had waited for him the same
way.
I waited for him to come home for dinner.
I waited for him to show up on our anniversary.
I waited for him to stop outside my hospital room
just once.
He never turned back for me.
I closed the blinds.
“It’s cold out. Have security bring him some
coffee.”
My assistant blinked.
I added, “A paper cup is fine.”
Sinclair Group’s product launch had barely begun when the main screen suddenly went black.
A second later, a video of Vivian in tears filled the
screen.
She was sitting in a hospital bed with a bandage
wrapped around her wrist, her voice barely holding
together.
“I don’t blame Natalie. She just wants to win too badly. But I really can’t take being pushed like this
anymore.”
The reporters immediately erupted.
“Ms. Sinclair, did Ms. Hale cut her wrist because
you exposed her?”
“Do you admit that you cyberbullied her?”
“Has Mr. Vaughn already called off your
engagement?”
Spencer stood at the backstage entrance.
He clearly hadn’t expected this either. His face
darkened, but his first instinct was still to pull out
his phone and call Vivian.
I watched him.
When she answered, he said quietly, “Stop this.
Turn the feed off.”
Stop this.
He didn’t ask why she had lied.
He didn’t ask why she had hijacked my product
launch.
He only told her to stop.
Vivian cried into the phone.
“Spencer, I can’t take this anymore. I just want
people to know I’m not as awful as she makes me
sound.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he
spoke again, his voice had softened.
“I’m on my way.”
It was the same pattern I had seen countless
times in my previous life.
All Vivian had to do was cry, and Spencer would
leave.
I picked up the microphone.
“Everyone, since Ms. Hale wants to revisit the past
at my product launch, we might as well go through
it together.”
The screen changed.
Now it showed footage from backstage at the
proposal gala.
Vivian stood by the lake, going over the plan with
the emcee.
“Make sure the key sinks deep enough that she
has to dive for it. And keep the divers back.”
The emcee hesitated.
“What if something actually happens to Ms.
Sinclair?”
Vivian laughed.
“It won’t. She wants to marry Spencer so badly,
she’d risk her life to bring that key back up.”
She paused before adding, “Natalie cares too
much about appearances to make a scene in
public. The harder she tries to keep her dignity, the
easier she is to push around. As long as she goes
into that water, Spencer will think she still can’t
walk away from him.”
The room erupted.
The color drained from Spencer’s face.
He jerked his gaze toward me.
“You already knew?”
I ignored him.
The video kept playing.
The camera shifted, catching another man’s voice.
It was low.
It sounded impatient.
“Don’t take this so far that someone gets killed.”
It was Spencer.
The room exploded.
Camera shutters rattled like a downpour.
Spencer stood frozen.
He finally remembered.
That night, he hadn’t been completely unaware of what was happening.
He had simply assumed that loving him that much
meant I would somehow make it out alive.
And if I survived, then in his mind, it wasn’t a big
deal.
Vivian was still on the line.
She screamed from the other end.
“Turn it off! Natalie Sinclair, turn it off!”
I spoke into the microphone.
“Ms. Hale, I didn’t force you to do anything.”
“I’m simply returning the favor by showing
everyone the scene you all staged for me exactly
as it happened.”
Spencer took one step toward me, his voice
shaking.
“Natalie, back then, I…”
I cut him off.
“Mr. Vaughn, the launch isn’t over. Please don’t
disrupt the event.”
Security stopped him.
For the first time, he was the one kept outside.
He couldn’t get to me.
And he couldn’t take me away.