Chapter 4 - The Engagement Ring Wasn't Hers to KeepVanessa agreed to meet Ethan at a private restaurant.
I wasn't there.
I didn't need to be.
He later told me what happened.
Vanessa arrived wearing the engagement ring.
She sat across from him.
"You embarrassed me."
Ethan stared at her.
"You sprayed my mother with a hose."
"I thought she was trespassing."
"You called her a tramp."
"I apologized."
"You laughed."
She looked away.
"You were supposed to be poor."
Ethan frowned.
"What?"
She froze.
He continued.
"You said my mother was a nobody."
"I didn't know."
"That's what everyone keeps saying."
He leaned forward.
"What if she really were poor?"
Vanessa didn't answer.
"Would you still have treated her like that?"
She whispered:
"I don't know."
"That's the problem."
She removed the ring.
"I love you."
Ethan looked at it.
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"Then why did your father investigate my assets?"
She froze.
"Who told you?"
"So it's true."
Vanessa began crying.
"It wasn't me."
"Your father did it."
"He was worried."
"About what?"
"Our future."
"Or your family's debt?"
She looked down.
Ethan stood.
"How much?"
"What?"
"How much did your family need?"
She cried.
"Twenty-three million."
He nodded.
"And you thought marrying me would solve it."
"No."
"You knew about my trust."
"I suspected."
"That's enough."
She stood.
"Daniel..."
"Don't."
She froze.
"You don't get to call me that like everything is normal."
She began sobbing.
"I did love you."
Ethan looked at her.
"Maybe."
He placed the ring on the table.
"But love doesn't excuse cruelty."
Then he walked away.
When he returned home, I was waiting.
"How did it go?"
"It's over."
I nodded.
"Are you okay?"
"No."
I touched his shoulder.
"That's normal."
"I loved her."
"I know."
"It hurts."
"I know."
He looked at me.
"Did you ever go through this?"
I smiled sadly.
"Once."
"What happened?"
"I survived."
He smiled.
"So will I."
Then my phone rang.
It was security.
Someone was trying to enter the property.
"Who?"
"Vanessa's father."
Ethan looked at me.
"Let him in."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because he didn't come to apologize."
"How do you know?"
I looked at the security camera.
George was holding a folder.
And behind him were two attorneys.
"He came to negotiate."
Ethan frowned.
"Negotiate what?"
May you like
I smiled.
"The price of silence."
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