The Engagement Ring He Forgot, the Fortune He’ll Never Touch cahpter 01

The Engagement Ring He Forgot, the Fortune He’ll Never Touch cahpter 01

My fiancé left our anniversary dinner early after a call from his childhood sweetheart.

He looked irritated as he walked away.

“I already went through hell with you.”

“Sierra just got fired and she’s falling apart. Can’t you just be the bigger person for once?”

I stood frozen in place and forced a stiff smile.

That line again. I already went through hell with you.

Ever since we’d survived the darkest period of our startup three years ago, those words had become his get-out-of-jail-free card.

When I was burning up with a dangerously high fever and needed to get to the hospital, he drove off to pick up his drunk childhood sweetheart instead.

“I lived in that leaking basement with you, didn’t I? Can’t you just call a cab to the ER yourself instead of making a scene?”

I had been working overtime for a full month. The stress got so bad that stomach pain left me drenched in cold sweat.

But he still took care of Sierra, spending hours making chicken noodle soup for her because she had cramps.

“I spent six months eating expired instant food with you.”

“And now you’re upset over one bowl of soup?”

And now, as I watched him rush out of the restaurant without a single glance back, I calmly called over the server and paid the bill.

He had probably forgotten. Today was the day I’d agreed to marry him.

A bitter smile tugged at my lips as I slipped the diamond ring from my finger.

If being with me had really been such a hardship… then he didn’t deserve to

come anywhere near the fortune that was waiting for me down the road.

[Send over that custom necklace. Sierra’s in a terrible mood after getting fired. She needs something to take her mind off it.]

[I stuck by you when you were in that deep depression. Are you seriously going to throw a fit over a necklace?]

Bennett Whitmore’s message glowed on my phone screen.

I stared at those words so hard that my fingertips began to tremble.

He always did this—rewriting history, packaging himself as some self-sacrificing savior.

But he’d forgotten why I fell into severe depression in the first place.

It was because I was securing investments for him.

I’d drunk with potential investors until I suffered stomach bleeding and spent half a month in the hospital.

It was because I was trying to repair the financial disaster caused by his bad decisions.

I sold my grandmother’s heirlooms and survived on three hours of sleep a night for six straight months.

And now, he was using the money I’d nearly died earning to comfort another woman.

I didn’t reply.

Instead, I slammed my foot on the accelerator.

I made a U-turn and headed for the villa we’d received the keys to just last month.

Our future marital home.

The moment I pushed open the front door, every light inside was blazing.

I froze in the entryway. My blood ran cold.

Sierra Vance was wearing the custom wedding gown I’d finalized after revising the design draft thirteen separate times.

She stood in front of the massive floor-to-ceiling mirror.

Bennett was kneeling beside her, carefully arranging the train of the dress.

At the sound of the door opening, Sierra’s eyes immediately reddened.

“Adelaide, please don’t misunderstand.”

“I was just so upset about getting fired today.”

“Bennett said the dress was beautiful and thought maybe trying it on would help me feel a little happiness…”

“I’ll take it off right away.”

She said she would. But her hands tightened around the fabric.

A tear landed on the back of Bennett’s hand.

He immediately rose to his feet and shielded her behind him.

“Adelaide, what are you doing back here?” His voice was sharp with irritation.

“And wipe that look off your face.”

“Sierra’s already going through enough. Do you always have to be so damn judgmental?”

I stared at my wedding gown, the dress I’d treasured more than anything, crushed beneath her feet.

When I spoke, my voice was colder than ice. “Take it off.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Bennett barked the words and strode forward, grabbing my wrist.

“It’s just a dress.”

“When our startup was at its lowest, I stuck it out in that leaky basement with you. I ate moldy bread with you.”

“Now you’re throwing a tantrum because Sierra tried on a wedding dress for a few minutes?”

His expression darkened with disgust. “When did you become this shallow?”

Shallow? What a joke.