Chapter 3My Best Choice

Before, those words would have sent me into a panic. I would have knelt, cried, and begged him not to leave me.

But now, I felt nothing.

I considered that slap payment in full for the time, five years ago, when he supposedly saved me from kidnappers.

A few days later, the jewelry store called to inform me that the custom wedding ring the Blackwood family had ordered for me was ready.

When I arrived, I saw Bob with his arm around Lily’s waist, trying on rings.

They were pressed close together, the picture of intimacy.

When he saw me, Bob scoffed and deliberately nibbled on Lily’s ear, making her blush and playfully swat his chest.

As if that wasn’t enough, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a deep, theatrical kiss.

When it was over, Lily shot me a triumphant look and murmured, “Stop it, people are watching.”

The professionally trained staff stood with their heads bowed, eyes averted.

Only my lips tightened in a grimace of pure, physical disgust.

Bob, misinterpreting my expression, smirked.

“Finally realize you were wrong? Then get over here and apologize to Lily on your knees.”

His words were cut short by a gasp from Lily.

“Bob, that ring is gorgeous! I love it!”

“Quick, let me try it on.”

The clerk shook her head apologetically. “I’m sorry, madam. This ring belongs to Miss Thorne. It’s a one-of-a-kind custom design. It cannot be tried on by anyone else.”

The clerk took the ring from the velvet tray and carefully slid it onto my finger.

Lily stared at my hand, her eyes flashing with greed and resentment.

Suddenly, her eyes filled with tears. “Miss Thorne, you know Bob and I are getting married in a week. Are you trying to humiliate me with this ring?”

A wedding in a week?

But Bob knew that in a week, it was my birthday banquet, where my father was going to announce my marriage and host the ceremony.

The wedding of the Thorne heiress was set to be the event of the year in Kingsbridge.

I looked at Bob. He avoided my gaze, explaining uncomfortably, “You’ll just have to hide somewhere. I’ll tell the wedding planner we’re changing it to a different theme and that Lily is the bride. After the wedding is over, I’ll spend a couple of extra days with you. You should be grateful.”

The way he acted like he was making some grand sacrifice made me want to laugh in his face.

I had never met anyone so utterly shameless.

A housekeeper’s daughter was going to steal my identity to marry in a lavish ceremony, and I, the actual bride, was supposed to hide in a corner like a rat?

Thank God I had cut my losses and already switched the groom.

Seeing my silence, Bob assumed he had me under his thumb again. “You won’t be needing this ring anyway,” he commanded. “Take it off and give it to Lily.”

“No!” I sneered. “Bob, where do you get the confidence that I would ever marry you?”

He blinked, then laughed as if I’d told the world’s funniest joke. “Do you hear yourself? Besides me, who would want a shameless, groveling doormat like you?”

Before I could react, he violently ripped the ring from my finger and tried to force it onto Lily’s.

But it was a size too small. After struggling for a moment, Lily started crying. “Miss Thorne, if you didn’t want to give it to me, you should have just said so! Why would you hurt me like this on purpose?”

Furious, Bob snatched the ring, stormed over to the restroom, and flushed it down the toilet five times.

He came out, wrapped an arm around the sobbing Lily, and shot me a look of utter disappointment as they left. “If Lily can’t wear it, then a venomous woman like you doesn’t deserve to either.”