They Forced Me to Return the Heirloom Diamond—But My Wedding Ring Cost Only $9.99 Chapter 02
“She had the butler tell me this morning to empty the master bedroom by tonight. She said she wanted to redecorate before the anniversary banquet.”
Ethan turned his gaze to his mother.
Margaret’s expression shifted. “I just had someone clean. Why did you think I was making you move out?”
“The walk-in closet in the master bedroom was cleared out. Everything on the vanity was boxed up. Even the sleeping pills I kept by the bed were moved to the guest room.”
I placed a photo on the table.
In it, my suitcase had already been wheeled into the hallway by the maid.
“Mrs. Hart, you don’t usually need to turn my wedding photo face-down on the floor while you clean.”
Ethan picked up the photo.
His hand visibly paused.
That wedding photo was the only proper picture of the two of us together.
Ethan stood ramrod straight, not smiling.
I stood beside him holding white roses. On the day of the shoot, he had rushed over from work and stayed only twenty minutes. When the photographer asked him to move closer, he frowned.
I was young back then. I thought marriage would warm up over time.
So I put that photo on my nightstand.
For two years.
Ethan looked at it. His Adam’s apple moved.
“Who did that?”
No one answered.
Ivy whispered, “Maybe the maid made a mistake.”
I smiled.
“Miss Ross really lives up to your reputation as a guest of the Hart family. You can even read the servants’ minds.”
Ivy’s face went pale.
Margaret frowned immediately. “Tessa, don’t be so sarcastic. Ivy is just here to help.”
“Helping in the master bedroom?”
I picked up the anniversary banquet program from the table.
On the head table seating chart, the seat next to Ethan was marked with Ivy’s name.
My name had been moved to the third table in the women’s section.
I pushed the chart toward Ethan.
“Mr. Hart, is this also a misunderstanding?”
When Ethan saw it, his face went completely cold.
He pressed his hand flat on the paper, his fingertips resting on Ivy’s name.
Margaret finally couldn’t sit still.
“The anniversary banquet is about the Hart family’s image. Ivy knows the procedures, so it makes sense for her to sit closer and help. You haven’t been well lately, and the elders just want things to run smoothly.”
I nodded.
“Very smooth.”
I stood up and picked up my bag.
“Since someone else can handle the Mrs. Hart duties, I’ll be going.”
Ethan stood up almost at the same time.
The chair leg scraped the floor with a sharp sound.
Everyone at the table turned to look at him.
He ignored them and kept his eyes on me.
“Tessa. Explain yourself before you leave.”
“Isn’t it clear enough?”
I looked at him, my voice quiet.
“You didn’t give me a ring. You cleared my things out of the master bedroom. You moved my seat at the anniversary banquet. Ethan, what the Hart family is missing today isn’t just a ring.”
His expression darkened.
I didn’t say anything else.
Some things sound like begging when you say them out loud.
I didn’t want to beg for a marriage where someone else had already taken the lead seat.
Just as I turned, Ivy’s phone buzzed.
She quickly turned the screen off.
But Ethan’s eyes had already caught it.
A notification popped up — a “memory” with an old photo.
In the photo, Ivy stood backstage at the wedding, wearing a champagne-colored bridesmaid dress, smiling with her eyes crinkled.
She held up her left hand.
On her ring finger, the teardrop diamond sparkled under the lights.
The caption was one sentence.
“Some gifts come at just the right time.”
The date was the day of my wedding to Ethan.
The color drained from Ethan’s face, bit by bit.
That photo was like a needle, popping the forced politeness that filled the room.
Ivy reacted first.
She fumbled and put her phone face-down on the table. Her voice shook.
“That’s an old photo the system pulled up automatically. I’d almost forgotten about it.”
No one replied.
Margaret stared at Ivy’s hand, her expression shifting.
Aunt May craned her neck to see, but afraid of making things more awkward, she just picked up her teacup with an embarrassed look.
Ethan stood at the other end of the long table, his eyes fixed on Ivy’s phone.
“Open it.”
Ivy bit her lip.
“Ethan, they really are just old photos. You were drunk that day. Everyone was fooling around. I didn’t think anything of it.”
“Open it.”
Ethan spoke again, his voice even lower.
Ivy’s eyes reddened instantly.
She looked deeply wronged. Slowly, she turned her phone over, unlocked it, and opened the photo.
The image expanded on the screen.
Everyone sitting around the Hart family’s long table saw it clearly.
The ring was definitely on Ivy’s finger.
Teardrop center stone, diamonds around the band, and the subtle engraving of Hart family custom jewelry visible inside. There wasn’t another ring like it in the city.
Margaret’s face went white.
“Well… she might have just borrowed it for a moment.”
I couldn’t help glancing at her.
“Mrs. Hart, on her wedding day, the bride didn’t get to wear the ring — so the maid of honor borrowed it?”
