“Ethan, I just want to ask you—why did you suddenly break off the engagement with Lily?”
Truth be told, over the years Mrs. Miller had treated me well. She often brought us fresh organic produce from a farm, and sometimes even slipped me some pocket money. Whenever she had something good to eat, she would send it over. Once, she even traveled overnight just so I could have fresh eggs.
“Mrs. Miller, I gave Lily $28,000 for the wedding jewelry set.”
“To this day, I haven’t seen the jewelry. The diamond ring you mentioned wasn’t bought for me. As for who it was for—you should ask her.”
Looking at her weary face, I couldn’t bring myself to say harsh words about her causing a scene at my office. I didn’t have the heart to tell her outright about Lily and Jason either. So I chose my words carefully, hoping she would leave.
“That can’t be. Lily told me when she asked for the money that it was to buy you an engagement ring.”
“She even sent me photos!”
Mrs. Miller pulled up the photos of Lily buying the ring and handed me her phone.
I studied them closely, then chuckled.
“That’s not my hand. My wrist bone has a mole.”
I raised my wrist to show the small dark mole. Everyone saw instantly that the ring wasn’t for me.
Mrs. Miller froze, comparing the photo again and again in disbelief.
“Mrs. Miller, some things you really should ask Lily about.”
I patted her shoulder and turned to leave, but she grabbed my wrist with surprising strength.
“You’re not going anywhere. We need to clear this up right now.”
“I’ll call Lily.”
She dialed five times in a row, but no one answered.
Meanwhile, Lily was still out somewhere, likely drinking with Jason.
I sighed, pulled out my phone, and showed her Jason’s social media feed.
“Mrs. Miller, she’s with Jason. The diamond ring was for him—and it was bought with my money.”
The entire room gasped. After all, gossip was everyone’s favorite.
Mrs. Miller glanced at the post, scrolling with a frown, her brows knitting tighter.
“Ethan, if you don’t want to marry Lily, just say so. Don’t make up lies to ruin her and Jason’s reputation. They grew up together—how could they do something inappropriate?”
Confused, I took my phone back and saw Jason had deleted all his posts. Posts that had been there yesterday were gone overnight.
“The money for the ring was from me, and I also gave Lily $30,000 in wedding funds. If you’re not marrying her, then you should at least return that.”
Her words struck me like thunder.
Thirty thousand? I hadn’t seen even thirty.
“Mrs. Miller, I never received any $30,000 wedding funds!”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Impossible. I transferred it to the account Lily gave me.”
“Here, look—the receipt is still here.”
Suspicious, I checked it. The account name was mine. But I had never received that money.
“Mom!”
I turned and saw Lily, whom I hadn’t seen for days.
“Mom, it’s just a ring and $30,000. I’ll earn it back. If a man doesn’t want to marry me, what can I do? I can’t force him.”
Pulling her mother close, her few light words sealed the accusation that I had taken both the diamond ring and the wedding funds.
