Chapter 3

To thank Alex for his help, I took him out to dinner after I was discharged from the hospital.

We were in the middle of dinner when Alex handed me a photo.

"Doesn't this look a lot like your family's heirloom sapphire bracelet?" he asked.

I studied it closely and was almost sure it was mine.

"Where did you get this?" I asked.

"I saw that woman wearing it at the family dinner the day I got back," Alex replied.

There was only one person Alex would refer to as "that woman", Victoria Lane.

Victoria was Alex's stepmother. She was already fifty, but she always wore way too much perfume and dressed to impress, trying to look younger than she really was.

Word was, she was notorious for her wild flings with younger men.

Images popped into my head, and just the thought was enough to make me nauseous.

Ryan, you bastard. Looked like I was right.

Just as I was chatting with Alex, I caught sight of Ryan through the restaurant's glass window.

He was arm in arm with a woman caked in makeup and draped in a fur coat.

It was none other than Victoria, Alex's stepmom.

I rushed out and grabbed Ryan by the arm.

He was laughing it up with Victoria, but the second he saw me, his smile vanished.

He frowned, staring at me. "Why the hell are you here?"

I smirked at him. "Why can't I be here?

"Care to explain what the hell is going on?"

"What's going on? I'm just out here talking business with Ms. Lane. But what are you doing with Alex?" he shot back.

He always turned the tables on me.

Back then, I thought it was because he cared, but now I realized he was just feeling guilty.

"Ryan, not everyone is as sleazy as you. I'm just having dinner with Alex to thank him for saving my life. But you? What are you doing?" I snapped.

Victoria sneered, her tone full of mockery, "Oh, sweetheart, don't be so naive. Everyone knows how things work these days.

"Seriously, when a man and a woman go out alone, you really think it's all innocent?

"Here's my advice: just turn a blind eye and let it go. When I'm done having my fun, your precious husband will come running back to you."

"Victoria, how can you do this to my dad?" Alex shot back, his voice full of anger.

She laughed, her eyes sparkling with pure spite. "He's paralyzed. He ain't moving. Why shouldn't I hit the town? You're expecting me to play nurse like your dead mom? I'm not that foolish. Loosen up, Alex. You're hot. Come have fun with me."

As she spoke, Victoria reached out to touch Alex's face, but he jerked away, disgust written all over his face.

And that was when I saw it: my family's heirloom sapphire bracelet, glittering on Victoria's wrist.

I'd already suspected she had it, but seeing it with my own eyes was a whole different story.

"Ryan, what the hell is this? That's my family's heirloom bracelet!" I snapped, my voice shaking with anger.

"Honey, it's not what it looks like," Ryan stammered, his eyes darting everywhere but at me.

Victoria grabbed Ryan by the arm, then slipped the sapphire bracelet off her own wrist.

She said, her voice thick with sarcasm, "Ryan, didn't you say you bought this bracelet for me?

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered wearing it. A bracelet like this doesn't deserve to be on my wrist."

With that, Victoria suddenly smashed the sapphire bracelet onto the floor. She moved so fast, I didn't even have time to react.

By the time I realized what had happened, the bracelet was already shattered into several pieces.

The bracelet might not have been worth much in terms of money, but to me, its sentimental value was beyond measure.

My grandmother had entrusted it to me on her deathbed, wanting me to keep it as a special memento.

She told me it had been passed down through our family for generations and was said to bring good fortune.

I never imagined it would end up shattered like this.