Chapter 3

Julian's POV

That afternoon, I invited a few friends over for a private sale. I was selling every luxury item that Sienna had bought me over the years.

Since I wanted everything gone quickly, I was selling it all at a steep discount.

"Mr. Sawyer, have you lost your mind? You had to spend two million dollars on other merchandise just to get this watch, and now you're selling it for half a million?"

One of the men stared at me in disbelief.

Sienna had given me that watch after she cheated on me for the first time. I remembered that all too well.

"It's old. I want something new," I said.

The sale was in full swing. People were snapping up the luxury goods.

Then Gavin showed up.

He glanced around the room before his eyes settled on the plain gold-plated band on my left ring finger.

Sienna had bought it for me back when she was a broke college student. She'd spent the money she'd saved for three months' worth of living expenses to buy it.

The gold content was so low that it wasn't even worth 200 dollars.

For the past ten years, I'd worn it to family dinners, and even on the day my company went public. I'd never taken it off.

"I'm not really into fancy watches or cigars," Gavin stated.

He pointed at my hand and grinned with the confidence only a young man could have. "Why don't you sell me this ring? Name your price."

The room fell silent.

Everyone in our circle knew what that cheap gold-plated ring meant to me.

It was a reminder of Sienna's love for me. It was the one thing Gavin couldn't take away from me—my place as her husband.

I slowly turned the ring around my finger as I watched him in silence.

He thought my silence meant that I was reluctant to part with it.

He stepped closer and lowered his voice.

"You're doing this just for money, aren't you?"

He pulled a check from his bag and slapped it on the table. "Once I marry Sienna, you'll get more money from me than you ever did from her."

I didn't move and just kept my gaze on him.

The other men around us began whispering. They were clearly entertained by the spectacle.

My silence cracked Gavin's defenses.

He started to panic.

He realized that neither Sienna nor I had much to say about our relationship.

His earlier bravado quickly faded, and his voice trembled. "Say something!"

He grabbed my arm, his eyes reddening as tears welled up. "This is all because of you! I've tried everything, but she still refuses to divorce you. I love her. I can't let her go!"

His rant was getting on my nerves.

I shook his hand away and stood to leave.

Just as I turned around, Gavin roared, "Sienna's pregnant! The baby's mine! She's four months along!"

I stopped dead in my tracks.

He continued, "If you two don't love each other anymore, why won't you just let us be together?"

Let them be together?

I stumbled and dropped everything in my hands.

My vision blurred, and suddenly, I was back in that snowstorm ten years ago.

I had spent the entire night kneeling in the snow outside the Sawyer residence.

My knees were soaked through, and the cold had seeped into my bones, but my heart was burning with conviction.

I'd shouted those same words at my parents.

"I'm going to marry her! Please just let us be together!"

The bullet I'd fired ten years ago had finally come full circle, striking me right between the eyes.

It felt as though the snow from that night had never stopped falling. After all these years, my heart had finally grown cold.

Back then, I'd believed that what Sienna and I shared was love. I'd believed in us.

I finally realized that I had been just a naive young fool who got caught up in a love story that meant far more to me than it ever did to her.

Ten years ago, I'd forced my parents to accept my marriage to Sienna. Now, her lover was trying to force me to give her up.

It was a painful slap to the face.

Before I knew it, tears streamed down my face and fell to the floor.

Did I regret everything?

Of course I did—more than anything.

I didn't turn around to look at Gavin. I let the tears fall as I tried to pull the ring off.

I'd worn it for so many years that my knuckle had changed shape, leaving the ring stuck on my finger.

Steeling myself, I forced it off.

The metal scraped my skin raw, leaving my finger streaked with blood.

It hurt, but the pain didn't compare to the pain in my heart.

I gently set the ring on the floor and spoke through gritted teeth. "I'll give you an answer."