My Fiancé Chose Her So I Chose Myself Chapter 31
“I’m the one who took it, which is why I testified and accepted my share of responsibility. You’re the one who kept it, refused to return it, and publicly claimed it belonged to you. So you’re responsible, too.”
Jenna stood there, stunned.
For the first time, in that old circle of theirs, no one was cleaning up her mess.
Brooke turned and walked away without looking back.
Jenna was quickly ushered into a car by her lawyer and a Lakecrest council supervisor.
She never looked at the cameras, and she didn’t cry again.
I closed the news page.
This wasn’t a victory.
The court and the council had only written down what had already happened and made the people who chose it bear the consequences.
The results of Travis’s review were finalized that same day.
The frozen payments were used to cover the losses caused by the disclosure gaps. His shares were diluted, and he permanently lost his qualification as a Lakecrest public resource representative.
He sold most of what remained of his stock.
After the transaction closed, he sent a velvet box through his lawyer.
Inside was the same ring, resized and encircled with diamonds.
There was no letter, no note.
My lawyer asked, “How would you like this handled?”
“Send it back.”
“And if they refuse delivery?”
“Place it in the court-designated holding procedure. It doesn’t belong to me.”
The ring I had left behind three years ago no longer existed.
Travis had remade it according to his own delayed fantasy, hoping I would be the one to give it meaning.
I wouldn’t.
That afternoon, the restoration shop returned the music box.
The oil stain had faded, but the scratches remained.
I wound it. Soft music rose from the wooden box.
It wasn’t the same as it was.
But it had found its voice again.
After listening all the way through, I closed the lid and placed it on the shelf in my living room that belonged only to me.