Chapter 3
Vivienne stared at the receipt.
Her arrogance disappeared.
Not completely.
Enough.
Dominic watched her shoulders drop half an inch.
“When did you collect it?”
She rubbed her lips together before answering.
“After Elena died.”
“That is not what you told me.”
“I said she gave it to me.”
“No.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“You said she didn't want to wear it anymore.”
Vivienne’s breath caught.
“That is a different story.”
Marcus looked toward his sister.
“You told me she gave it to you.”
Vivienne’s eyes snapped toward him.
Dominic noticed.
Marcus had believed the lie too.
Interesting.
Vivienne looked back at Dominic.
“Elena authorized me to collect it. That is giving it to me.”
Dominic’s hand tightened around the receipt.
“No.”
His voice remained even.
“It says give it to Aria.”
Silence.
The garden seemed enormous now that the guests had been escorted inside.
Vivienne looked toward the house.
As though measuring distance.
Dominic saw.
“You're not leaving.”
Her chin rose.
“You can't hold me here.”
“No.”
He looked toward the ring.
“But you can stay long enough for my attorney to document why property intended for my daughter has been hanging around your neck.”
Marcus stepped between them.
“This is becoming ridiculous.”
Dominic’s eyes moved to him.
Marcus’s voice softened slightly.
“You loved Vivienne an hour ago.”
Dominic stared at him.
“That is why betrayal matters.”
Marcus’s jaw flexed.
The estate attorney arrived soon after.
He reviewed the claim ticket.
The jewelry house still existed.
Its owner remembered Elena.
The man was elderly now, but his records were meticulous.
He agreed to speak over video.
Elena had brought the ring in personally.
Not for repair.
For engraving removal.
Dominic frowned.
“There was no engraving inside it.”
The jeweler shook his head.
“There was.”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
Dominic saw.
“What did it say?”
The jeweler checked the archived work order.
Two initials and a date had been added inside the band several months after Elena’s wedding.
Not Dominic’s initials.
Not Elena’s.
M.C.
Marcus Cross.
Every eye turned.
Marcus laughed once.
The sound came dry.
“You cannot possibly think—”
Dominic lifted one hand.
Marcus stopped.
The jeweler continued.
Elena asked for the engraving removed because she said someone had deliberately marked the ring without her permission.
Dominic looked at Marcus.
“When did you touch my wife's ring?”
Marcus’s face hardened.
“Never.”
Vivienne’s eyes moved toward him.
Again.
Dominic saw fear.
Not for herself this time.
For her brother.
The jeweler added one last detail.
Elena had left a second item with the ring.
A sealed red envelope.
It was collected at the same time.
Dominic’s gaze returned to Vivienne.
The jeweler checked the signature.
“Collected by V. Cross.”
Vivienne stopped breathing.
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“What was in the envelope?”
Her hands started shaking.
May you like
And this time, Marcus quietly whispered:
“Vivienne… don't.”
