Chapter 3

Dustin's gaze followed mine to his ring finger.

He immediately shuddered hard and quickly clenched his fist to hide the ring from me. Then, he stuffed it into his pocket.

"Claudia."

He took a deep breath. When he looked at me again, his eyes were tinged with a gentle apology.

"I thought of giving it to you as a surprise at the wedding tomorrow. I didn't think that you'd find out about it today instead."

He took his hand out again and opened it in front of me. "I actually noticed that you'd been staring at pink diamonds in the magazines lately, so I secretly commissioned a top-tier jewelry designer to make one for you.

"But when I went to pick it up, the shop assistant said that the size might be a little tight, and I tried it on myself to check. I didn't think that it would get stuck."

He even smiled regretfully at me and said, "I just can't wait to see you wearing it on your finger."

It was quite a flawless answer.

Yet, a split second later, his inner thoughts invaded my head again.

[Damn it! How'd I end up wearing Mimi's ring here instead? I guess I was in too much of a hurry when I left the hotel room earlier and wore the wrong wedding band. I definitely can't let Claudia know that I also commissioned a pair of wedding bands with Mimi.]

Three hours ago, he'd told me gently over the phone that an emergency had just occurred at the company's purchasing department, and he needed to attend an international video conference to rectify it. He then left me to try on the wedding dresses alone in the boutique.

As it turned out, he had his "international video conference" in a hotel room bed after all.

Dustin had even prepared two sets of wedding bands for himself.

The same hands he'd used to dig me out of the glacier had also caressed every inch of Miranda's body.

The same lips he'd used to swear his loyalty to me in his next life last time had also kissed every one of Miranda's tears.

My fingers shook uncontrollably.

"Really?" I heard myself asking in a dry, bitter tone. "But it doesn't seem to be our initials engraved inside this ring."

Dustin's pupils narrowed abruptly. The color on his face visibly drained away, and even his breathing stopped for a moment.

He gripped the ring tightly in his hand and said, "It's actually the word 'forever' in another language. Maybe it's so small that you misread it. You can read it again clearly when you put it on tomorrow."

His phone rang again. He glanced at his phone and briefly commented that it was a work call.

He quickly went over to the window to take the call, lowering his voice as he said, "Didn't I tell you not to call me at this time?"

When he heard the other party's reply, his expression changed at once, and he headed straight for the exit right after hanging up.

[Mimi's morning sickness is getting worse. She needs me by her side right now. The longer I drag this out, the harder it's going to be on her.

[I need to rush over immediately. Claudia can never get pregnant, but Mimi's different. She's carrying my first child! I can't let her suffer!]

In our second year of college, Dustin had been cornered in a dark alley by a gang of thugs. One of them had a knife, and I threw myself in front of Dustin when they lunged at him with it. Blood immediately spurted out and dyed the thug's hands red.

Afterward, the doctor told me that I'd permanently injured my uterus, and I would never be able to get pregnant.

Dustin had been so mad then that he nearly tore his hair out in anger. "I'm sorry, Claudia. I was the one who dragged you into this.

"But it's fine if we can't have children together! We'll just adopt. But if you don't like the idea of that, then we'll just continue living as a childless couple and enjoy each other's company for the rest of our lives."

But now, he had gotten his mother's murderer pregnant.

His lies shattered the past memories into dust, leaving only desolation behind.

Dustin strode quickly toward the exit.

"Darling, I need to handle another problem at the company. Something went wrong with the investment, and we're facing a huge issue with our cash flow. I need to go back to the company to handle it now."

After he left, I called up a friend of mine and had her look into Miranda's medical records.

Half an hour later, a digital copy of Miranda's medical records arrived in my email. It said that she was six weeks pregnant. And after counting back in time, I found out that she had conceived the night of my birthday banquet.

I immediately found the whole thing absurd. I wanted to call Dad and cancel the wedding tomorrow.

However, my finger hovered over the dial button for a long time. I hesitated.

It was impossible to call the wedding off now. All the invitations had already been sent out, and the venue and hotel had also already been booked.

Furthermore, no one would believe me. Dustin's act was very convincing. He didn't just manage to fool me but the entire world.

In this life, everyone would only remember how deeply affectionate he was with me and think that I was the unreasonable one in our relationship.

I wiped away the tears in my eyes forcefully and smirked.

If that was the case, then I was going to let everyone enjoy the show.

I sent Miranda an e-invitation to our wedding tomorrow and said, "Wanna witness your beloved Dustin making his wedding vows to me?"

…

On the day of the wedding, I sat at the dressing table, touching up my makeup, and saw Mom's eyes glistening with happy tears.

She held my hand and gently patted the back of it, saying, "I'm so happy for you, Claudia. Dustin is a good man, and we've all seen just how affectionate he is whenever it comes to you. Your dad and I won't have any regrets handing you over to him."

I smiled wanly and headed toward the cocktail tables to mingle with the guests. I then bumped into Dustin's dad, Marco Sherwood.

He had always been a man of few words and rarely even smiled at anyone. But today, there was a warm look in his eyes as he nodded and raised his glass of champagne at me.

He was quite conservative with a traditional mindset, and he never remarried since Nancy's death.

"Dustin is just like me," he said. "Once he sets his eyes on someone, he'll only be loyal to her for life. And if he ever dares to betray you, I'll break both his legs."