“How could all of this be worth only twenty thousand? The bag alone is worth more than that!” Natalie was so angry that she felt she was about to explode. It was painfully obvious that the shop assistant was taking advantage of her.
“Any second-hand good is priced at ten percent of its original price.” The shop assistant sneered at Natalie complacently. Then, after punching a couple of numbers into the calculator, she snapped, “Get out if you’re not planning to sell your things. There’s a line behind you.”
“All of these are authentic!” Natalie stubbornly continued to bargain. Twenty thousand dollars barely covered Hannah’s hospitalization. “Surely you can offer me something higher!”
“I don’t care if it’s real or fake. They’re all second hand. Plus, they’re all old models from more than a decade ago. Only this Hermes is worth something. Do you think this is a charity? I can add five thousand for the bag, but that’s the best I can do. If you still think it’s too low, take your things somewhere else.” The shop assistant could tell that Natalie was in urgent need of money and deliberately used this to her advantage.
Feeling helpless, Natalie accepted the money even though she was getting the short end of the stick. Just as she turned around to leave, a woman in her early thirties stopped her. Natalie saw from her name tag that she was the shop manager.
“Miss, why the long face? Were you not able to sell your goods at an ideal price? If you still lack money, perhaps you’d be willing to sell the ring on your finger. We can give you a good price for it!” The shop manager smiled, staring at the emerald ring on Natalie’s finger, her eyes shining greedily.
Trying to seem casual, Natalie asked calmly, “How much?”
Glancing at the other people in the shop, the shop manager leaned closer and whispered in Natalie’s ear, “One million. What do you think?”
This amount was more than enough to cover Hannah’s medical bills.
Natalie was stunned. She looked carefully at the ring on her finger. The emerald nestled in the middle was like a pea that was just freed from its pod. The little gem was round and slightly cold, but its deep green color was dazzling.
She couldn’t believe that the ring Sebastian had given her was that valuable.
“Sorry, this is my wedding ring. I can’t sell it.”
Despite the tempting offer, Natalie couldn’t give in. It was a gift from Sebastian after all, and it was left by his mother. Perhaps it was a family heirloom.
Whatever the case, she couldn’t sell the ring.
After refusing the shop manager, she turned around to leave.
But the shop manager stopped her again. With a big smile plastered on her face, she said, “No rush, Miss. It’s okay if you don’t want to sell it. But it’s clear to me that the ring is a little too big for your finger. We offer free ring sizing. We can alter it to fit you within the day. Do you want to avail of this service? It’ll look even better if it fits you properly.”
“No, thanks. I don’t want to bother you.” Natalie could see that the shop manager was still staring at the ring on her finger greedily, so she politely refused.
The shop manager seemed to understand what Natalie was thinking. She smiled knowingly and pointed at the corner of the store. “Miss, I know that your ring is valuable. Are you worried that we’ll lose or damage it? Look. We have surveillance cameras here. We won’t let anything bad happen to your ring. Besides, it’s too big and most likely will slip off your finger. It’ll be inconvenient for you if you keep wearing it like this.”
After glancing at all the cameras in the shop, Natalie hesitantly pulled the ring off of her finger and handed it to the shop manager. “Thank you,” she said with a smile.
The shop manager then pulled out a string from her pocket to measure the size of Natalie’s finger and said with a friendly smile, “All right. You can come back and get it tomorrow.”
As instructed, Natalie went back to the shop the morning of the next day.
The shop manager warmly received her. “Miss, you’re early! Hang on a moment. I’ll fetch the ring.”
“Okay, thank you.”
The shop manager pulled out a blue velvet jewelry box from a wooden chest behind her and opened it. “Have a look, Miss. You can check if there’s anything wrong.”
Natalie picked up the ring and held it up in front of her, studying it carefully. Finally, she put it on. “It fits nicely, but why does it look brand new?”
The shop manager rolled her eyes with a chuckle and waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, here’s the thing. When our staff saw how old your ring looked last night, they had it cleaned. Don’t worry. The cleaning was also free.”
Natalie nodded and didn’t think much of it. It just looked shiny and new now. Otherwise, there was nothing else unusual.
When she was done at the second-hand store, Natalie went to the supermarket to buy some groceries.
When she got home, Sebastian walked out of his room in flip flops and disheveled hair.
“Where’ve you been? I didn’t see you all morning.” Yawning lazily, he strode over to help Natalie with her groceries. As he opened the bags and checked the food, he asked, “What’s for lunch?”
After thinking for a while, Natalie opened the fridge and took a bottle of cold water. “I bought a lot of tomatoes. How about we have scrambled eggs with tomatoes? Or spaghetti? What do you think—”
Before she could finish her sentence, Sebastian suddenly grabbed her hand fiercely.
The man stared at the shiny ring on her finger and asked coldly, “Did you sell the ring I gave you?”
Natalie was startled and confused. With the bottle of water in her other hand, she took a sip nonchalantly and shook her head. “No. It’s right there on my finger! Or are you blind?”
She looked at him playfully.
Sebastian, on the other hand, was in no mood to joke. His expression darkened and his voice lowered. “Let me see.”
Unlike Natalie, he was very familiar with the ring. He knew something was wrong with it at just a glance.
As she took off the ring, Natalie muttered to herself, “Weird.”
Sebastian pressed his fingers against his temple and picked up the ring to have a closer look. His expression grew even more serious. “The back of the ring I gave you is engraved with my mother’s initials, but this ring has no such engravings.”
Sebastian knew she was short on money, but he didn’t expect her to sell the ring just like that.
He wouldn’t have minded if it were any other ring, but this ring in particular was left by his mother.
“Is this a fake?!” Natalie’s eyes went wide in shock.
She took the ring back from him and inspected it. Sure enough, its inner wall was very smooth. There wasn’t a sign of any engraving on it.
Sebastian shook his head and frowned deeply. “It’s not a fake—at least, not exactly. The gem and the platinum are real, and the style is similar to the ring I gave you. It’s difficult for ordinary people to distinguish the difference between the two. But this is just a counterfeit, and it was made to copy the original one. The one I gave you is a quite famous antique. It was passed down from my mother’s ancestors. Its value is worth ten times more than this one.
Sebastian didn’t know much about jewelry before, but he had made a few friends in the industry. They told him that some people sold fakes and played tricks like this.
Natalie felt all the color drain from her face. Her hands and feet went cold, as though someone had stabbed her with an ice pick.
The manager of the second-hand shop must’ve realized instantly that her ring was a priceless antique. She was so greedy that she lied to Natalie through her teeth about changing the ring size. In fact, she had replaced the real ring with a measly imitation.
Seeing that Natalie was at a loss for words, Sebastian closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Why’re you wearing a fake? Did you sell the real ring and find a cheap replacement so I wouldn’t notice?”
Sebastian looked incredibly disappointed.
Only then did Natalie realize he was actually accusing her.
She felt wronged. Her heart felt tied up in knots. “Are you accusing me of exchanging your mother’s valuables for money?”
Sebastian closed his eyes, feeling a little annoyed.
What else should he think?
His wife seemed to always need more money. According to his investigation of her, she used to like luxuries.
Sebastian had been in the business world for so many years, and he had been exposed to all kinds of people.
No one could keep up with this sort of lifestyle forever. Moreover, “Cassie” used to live such a luxurious life, and it was only a matter of time for her to show her true colors.
When Sebastian didn’t say anything, Natalie’s heart sank.
“You didn’t even ask me what happened. You just assumed that I sold the ring!” Clenching the water bottle in her hand, Natalie sneered unhappily.
He probably thought she was crazy. Yet she held onto a small hope that Sebastian would believe her.
But now that she thought about it, she recalled that they were just a nominal couple, no different from strangers. How could they really trust each other?
“Sebastian, no matter how much money I need, I would never do such a thing. That ring was an heirloom from your mother. I promise I’ll get the real one back.”
Taking the counterfeit from Sebastian’s hand, Natalie turned around and was about to leave. Suddenly, something occurred to her. She pursed her lips and turned to look at the man behind her.
“And even if I can’t find it, I’ll find a way to pay you back, no matter how much it costs.”