He Framed Me for a Ring That Was Never Real Chapter 02
I did not want to explain anymore, so I hung up.
I tossed my phone onto the couch and stared at the empty living room. For the first time, the home I had decorated with my own hands felt cold.
The lock clicked, and Spencer came home.
He kicked off his shoes and saw me sitting on the couch. He did not look surprised. If anything, he seemed relieved.
“What’s wrong? Still mad?” He came over and tried to put his arm around me like he always did.
I moved away.
“Spencer, why did you say that?” I searched his face for even a trace of guilt.
There was none.
“What else was I supposed to do?” Spencer asked as if his reasoning made perfect sense. “That ring was a cheap flea-market knockoff worth a little over twenty dollars. Blaire kept bragging that it was Cartier, and now it’s missing. I couldn’t expose her in front of everyone and humiliate her.”
His logic left me speechless.
“So you let everyone accuse me instead?”
“How was I letting them accuse you?”
Spencer frowned, clearly irritated by my attitude.
“I posted that photo and said you liked shiny things. I made it sound like you picked it up without thinking. At worst, everyone will think you’re a little vain and immature. I kept the damage to a minimum.”
“Why should I be the one who gets hurt?!” The whole thing was absurd.
“Because you’re my wife!”
Spencer raised his voice. “You’re a stay-at-home wife with no job. People will believe you wanted the ring. Blaire is my cousin. I couldn’t let her be humiliated in front of everyone! Why can’t you make one small sacrifice?”
In that moment, the last of my faith in him disappeared.
Because I was an unemployed housewife, the idea that I might take a cheap fake ring out of greed sounded perfectly believable.
Everything I had given up and sacrificed meant nothing to him or his family.
I was simply the person they could sacrifice whenever their reputation was at stake.
Something inside me went cold.
I did not want to argue with him anymore.
“You put the ring away yourself. It should be in the drawer in your study.”
I kept my voice calm. “Take it out, tell everyone you found it, and this ends here.”
It was the only way.
Once the ring appeared, every lie would fall apart.
I looked at Spencer. This was the last chance I was giving him and our marriage.
Spencer stared at me for several seconds, something unreadable in his eyes.
He turned, walked into the study, and opened the middle drawer of his desk.
I followed and stopped in the doorway.
The drawer was empty.
“Where’s the ring?” He looked back at me with a deep frown, his confusion disturbingly convincing.
I rushed over and pulled the drawer all the way out. Aside from a few pens and a notebook, there was nothing inside.
The fake diamond ring was gone.
“See? It’s not here.” Spencer spread his hands, disappointment in his voice. “I knew you…”
He stopped as if something had suddenly occurred to him, hurried into the bedroom, and opened my jewelry box.
Beside the gold jewelry my parents had given me for my wedding lay that cheap plastic ring.
It flashed harshly under the light.
Spencer picked it up and held it in front of me, his expression shifting from surprise to pained disappointment.
“Audrey, why did you lie to me? If you really wanted it, you could’ve just told me. Why did you hide it in here?”
I stared at the ring in my jewelry box, all the strength draining from my body.
It was a perfect trap.
Spencer stepped closer and closed the jewelry box, speaking in the gentle tone someone might use with a misbehaving child.
“Enough. We’ll put this behind us, but don’t do anything this stupid again. Tonight is Grandma Margaret’s eightieth birthday dinner. Go get ready. We can’t be late and give the relatives something to laugh at.”
I did not move.
He dragged me to my feet and chose the most demure, respectable-looking dress in my closet.
“Be good. When we get there, apologize to Blaire in front of everyone, and this will all be over. If you don’t go, they’ll think you’re guilty. My mother will be humiliated too.”
Every word sounded as though he cared about me, yet every sentence was a threat.
I was a bird in a cage, forced to follow the path he had laid out for me.
Grandma Margaret’s eightieth birthday dinner was held at an upscale hotel, and nearly all the Callahan relatives were already there.
I walked beside Spencer, fully aware of the stares and the hushed conversations behind my back.
Blaire was seated at the main table. When she saw me, smug contempt flickered in her eyes.
Later in the evening, Aunt Denise suddenly raised her glass with a smile.
“Today is Grandma Margaret’s eightieth birthday, and what matters most in a family is putting unpleasantness behind us. Audrey is young and immature. She made a foolish mistake, but she’s still one of us. Come on, Audrey. Raise your glass, apologize to Blaire, and we’ll consider the matter closed.”
Every pair of eyes turned toward me.
The ballroom fell silent as everyone waited for me to “admit my mistake.”
Spencer lightly nudged my arm, signaling me to stand.
He cast himself as the gracious husband cleaning up after his guilty wife, forgiving and respectable.
I stayed seated and looked at him.
My mother was sitting at the next table. When she saw that I refused to move, the color drained from her face.
She hurried over, pulled me aside, and hissed, “Audrey, stop being so stubborn! They’re giving you a dignified way out. Just apologize. What’s the big deal? Do you really have to make this worse and humiliate everyone?!”