The Ring That Sank, The Love That Drowned Chapter 09
The day Vivian went live, she set up a camera in
front of her hospital bed.
She wore no makeup, and her lips were unnaturally
pale.
“I admit I made mistakes, but Natalie Sinclair isn’t
nearly as innocent as everyone thinks. She’s been
working with Reid Calloway behind the scenes
because she wants to destroy Vaughn Group and
destroy me.”
She sobbed until she could barely catch her
breath.
“I just fell in love with the wrong man. I never
should have fallen in love with Spencer.”
The viewer count shot up.
Ten minutes later, Spencer appeared in the
doorway.
He had no idea the livestream was still running.
To play up the victim act, Vivian had set up two cameras, one of them in the corner of the hospital
room.
She had forgotten to shut that one off.
Spencer stood by the door holding a document.
“Why did you lie to me about the fellowship?”
Vivian’s expression changed.
The live chat went silent.
Spencer tossed the document onto her bed.
“Natalie didn’t take your spot. Your mother wasn’t
critically ill either. You withdrew because you had
secretly signed with a gallery overseas and
thought the fellowship had too many restrictions.
Then the gallery backed out, and you came home
and told me Natalie had ruined your future.”
Vivian lunged for the equipment to end the
livestream.
But Reid’s team had already captured and
archived the feed.
She fumbled with the controls, her voice turning
shrill.
“Yes, I lied to you. So what? Spencer Vaughn, can
you really say you had no idea?”
The color drained from Spencer’s face.
Vivian laughed through her tears.
“You found the emails. You saw the proof Natalie gave you. But every time I cried, you stopped
looking. You liked that I needed you. You hated
how clear–eyed Natalie was whenever she stood in
front of you.”
The hospital room went dead silent.
The livestream chat erupted.
Spencer stared at her, his voice so hoarse it barely
sounded like him.
“I had doubts.”
Vivian’s laugh turned vicious.
“Exactly. You just kept assuming Natalie would
never leave.”
Then, as if something inside her had snapped, she let everything spill out.
“It was the same with the lake. You heard what we
were planning. All you said was not to get anyone
killed. And now you’re pretending you’re some
devoted lover?”
Spencer stood there as though the words had
gone straight through him.
I could never have said those things to him.
Coming from me, he would have dismissed them
as resentment.
It took Vivian saying them for him to finally
understand.
The livestream was abruptly cut off.
But it was already too late.
Vaughn Group shares plunged again.
Every brand Vivian endorsed dropped her, and her
studio came under investigation.
The Vaughn matriarch called me herself.
There was no longer any condescension in her
voice.
“Natalie, letting this get any bigger helps no one.
Come back, and there will still be a place for you in
this family as Spencer’s wife. I’ll make Vivian
return the brooch.”
I was sitting in my lawyer’s office with the
agreement terminating my engagement in front of
- me.
“Mrs. Vaughn, I wouldn’t touch any of it now.”
Her breathing sharpened.
“Natalie Sinclair, don’t forget that you don’t get to
come and go from this family whenever it suits
you.”
I signed my name.
“Then I won’t be coming back.”
At that exact moment, Spencer opened the door.
His eyes were bloodshot, and the emerald brooch
was in his hand.
The moment he saw me signing, he stopped.
“Natalie.”
I handed the agreement to my lawyer.
“Send it to Vaughn Group.”
Spencer’s voice was raw.
“Can you please not sign it?”
I looked at him.
“It’s too late.”
He stepped closer, almost begging.
“Yell at me. Hit me if you want. Just don’t be this
quiet.”
I smiled faintly.
“Spencer, after something hurts long enough,
there comes a point when you go quiet.”
The last trace of hope in his eyes disappeared.
When the lake finally thawed, Spencer had
someone retrieve the diamond ring from the
bottom.
They brought up something else with it.
It was a rusted key.
There was a name engraved on it.
The name was Natalie Sinclair.
Spencer took the key to the crystal box that had been prepared for the proposal gala all those
years ago.
It wouldn’t open the box.
The emcee was brought in and hemmed and hawed for a long time before finally telling the
truth.
“Mr. Vaughn, the box was never locked. The key was only a prop. Ms. Hale said Ms. Sinclair wanted to marry you so badly that she ought to suffer a little, so she’d understand that becoming Mrs. Vaughn was something she had to earn.”
Spencer stood by the lake for a long time after hearing that.