Chapter 316
“Stop sketching. Relax for a moment.”
Jonathan suddenly snatched the pencil from Niamh’s hand.
He held her right hand in his own.
The little daisy ring still gleamed on her middle finger–the same one Peter had given her.
Jonathan’s dark eyes narrowed, and without a word, he slipped the ring off her finger.
Niamh tensed, her nerves prickling. She had the uneasy sense that if they weren’t on a plane right now, Jonathan might have hurled the ring straight out the window.
Quickly, she snatched the ring back from him and tucked it safely away.
Before she could recover, Jonathan reached for her left hand.
She looked at him, confused.
Then she saw him pull a velvet box from the pocket of his suit trousers. Judging by the size of the box, there could be little doubt what was inside. Niamh’s eyes went wide as Jonathan slid a diamond ring onto her left ring finger. Just a moment ago, he’d asked her for the signed divorce papers–now he was putting a diamond on her finger? And not just any finger–the left ring finger.
Her heart thudded wildly in her chest.
Three years ago, Jonathan had proposed to her in the same forceful, uncompromising way–slipping the wedding ring onto her hand whether she wanted it or not. At the time, she’d been so moved, tears had welled in her eyes. Now, she lowered her gaze to the dazzling ring on her finger.
It wasn’t the same rose–pink diamond from his original proposal. This one was colorless, a princess cut, set in an openwork band designed to let in more light and scatter rainbows across her skin.
In truth, this new ring suited her taste even more than the last.
But the wild flutter of excitement from that first proposal was gone, never to return.
Chapter 10
She looked up at Jonathan and caught his charming, enigmatic smile.
A thought flashed through her mind–Jim, the founder of CelestiMed, and his wife Jane had built their company from nothing, always appearing together at every event. Jonathan, she realized, must want her to play the devoted wife in front of CelestiMed’s CEO.
But why her? The CEO didn’t know her. Jonathan could introduce any woman as his wife–Marina, for instance.
Niamh had fully expected that Marina would be joining them on Jonathan’s private jet to Blackspire, just as she had for the Luminous Divas Fashion Week.
But this time, Marina wasn’t invited.
Niamh was genuinely surprised, though she didn’t ask Jonathan why. She didn’t want to give him the impression that she cared about Marina at all.
Of course, Marina had also been invited to Julian and Susy’s wedding, but without a seat on the private jet, she’d had to take a commercial flight on her own.
This was the first time Jonathan was traveling abroad for an important event and had chosen to bring someone other than Marina–this time, it was Niamh.
When Marina boarded her commercial flight, she took her seat in first class.
Most of the other passengers were smiling, but Marina’s face was dark and stormy. Niamh, don’t get too comfortable with your victory…
She slid on her oversized sunglasses, but the twisted smile on her face was impossible to hide.
Blackspire wasn’t far from Aldonia.
A few hours later, the plane touched down.
13.40
