Rick heard the murmurs too and turned, surprise flashing across his face.
“Agatha, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you came to cause a scene. I already told you I was proposing to Lois today……”
“Who you propose to has nothing to do with me anymore.”
I glanced down at the diamond ring and let out a cold, scornful laugh.
“I just feel sorry for Lois. Even her proposal ring is one I didn't want.”
Lois frowned slightly. “Agatha, you're mistaken. This ring……”
Rick cut her off with a derisive scoff.
“Agatha, why don't you flip the ring over and look inside. Is your name on it?”
My heart dropped. Only then did I think to turn the band over.
Engraved inside were Lois Sullivan's initials.
The ring had never been made for me. Not from the very beginning.
I turned to leave, but Rick grabbed my wrist.
“Agatha, just behave. Don't make a fuss.”
“I'll keep things the way they were. Set you up in a villa, keep you fed and clothed for the rest of your life. You won't have to worry about a thing.”
“The only thing you can't have is the status of wife.”
“Other than that, whatever you want, I'll give it to you. Five years as my girlfriend—I have to say, you performed very well. Quite memorable.”
His gaze drifted over me, lazy and appraising, like a man sizing up something he owned.
“You and Lois were best friends for years. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.”
I wrenched free of his grip and stumbled back a step, unable to believe what I was hearing.
“In your eyes, that's all I'm worth? Being the other woman?”
Rick laughed, short and cruel.
“Your mother was a mistress. Why can't you be one too?”
I froze where I stood, something sharp twisting into my chest.
After my mother's divorce, she'd been forced into being another man's mistress. It was the most painful secret I'd ever carried.
I had never told a single soul.
Only when things between Rick and me were at their best, when marriage felt close enough to touch, did I finally lay it all bare.
I never imagined he'd turn it into a blade and drive it straight back into me.
“My mother is my mother. I'm me. It's not the same……”
Beside him, Lois's laughter grew sharper.
“How is it any different?”
“A whore trying to put up a chastity arch. You knew full well Rick didn't want to marry you, and you still clung to him like a leech.”
“Agatha, doesn't that make you even cheaper than your mother?”
Her eyes roamed over me with that same lazy contempt, then stopped at my chest.
“What's that?”
Before I could react, she snatched the necklace from around my neck and ripped it free.
“Give it back.”
Panic flooded through me instantly.
But Rick stepped in front of me, blocking my way.
“She just wants a look. What's the rush? It's not going to kill you.”
I looked at Rick, nearly begging.
“Please, make her give it back. It's the only thing you ever gave me……”
If even that was taken from me, then those five years I'd thrown away were nothing but a complete and total joke.
Rick stared at me for a moment, something almost amused flickering behind his eyes.
“You really do treasure that thing.”
“It's the key to a safe.”
He'd held me in his arms back then and told me the safe was filled with everything he'd prepared as my wedding fund.
My mother had become a mistress and stopped caring about me entirely.
To be with Rick, I'd nearly severed ties with my father.
Because he felt for me, Rick had promised to fill a safe with my wedding fund for the day I married him.
He'd even had the key made into a pendant and hung it around my neck himself.
He'd said, “Agatha, this is the confidence I'm giving you. Your backing and your safety net.”
