She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 999

This jewelry box contained a ring.

It was the exact same "souvenir" he had tried to force onto Melanie earlier that day at the Royce Group.

Calling it a souvenir wasn't a total lie, technically.

Shawn had genuinely purchased the diamond ring at the largest luxury jeweler on Ruben Isle.

He had originally gone into the boutique to select a piece of jewelry as a gift for his mother.

But as he browsed, his eyes locked onto the ring glowing in the display case.

The rose gold band was meticulously crafted, clutching the stone in a flawless classic six-prong setting.

But the diamond itself was the masterpiece. The cut was perfect, the color intensely saturated, and the clarity flawless.

And it was a phenomenally rare pink diamond.

Shawn had asked the boutique manager, who proudly stated it was a 3.7-carat stone, the crown jewel of their entire store.

For some inexplicable reason, an image flashed in Shawn's mind. He pictured this exact pink diamond resting on Melanie's hand, and he knew it would look utterly devastating.

Her hands were elegant, her skin luminous, her fingers slender and perfectly structured—

She was meant to wear a pink diamond.

Shawn felt like he had been possessed. Before he even realized what he was doing, he had authorized the purchase.

Given the York family's absolute dominance on Ruben Isle, the store gave him an astronomical discount.

Even so, he dropped 1.3 million dollars on it without blinking.

It cost slightly more than the imperial jade bangle he had just bought for his mother.

Shawn knew he had to take this secret to his grave, or his mother would skin him alive for being a financially ruinous disappointment.

Truthfully, Shawn couldn't even explain to himself why he bought the ring.

He knew perfectly well—

Melanie was never going to accept it.

He had never even bought her casual jewelry, so why on earth would she accept a multimillion-dollar ring that practically screamed "marry me"?

But he bought it anyway.

Without a second of hesitation.

And he had offered it to her.

Predictably, she had rejected it.

Melanie hadn't even given him the oxygen to bring it up.

She hadn't even wanted to eat with him in the first place.

The interior of the Maybach was suffocatingly quiet.

Caleb kept darting nervous glances at Shawn through the rearview mirror.

Shawn was so unnervingly still that he didn't even seem to be breathing. It was starting to freak Caleb out.

But Shawn wasn't spiraling into a rage.

He was just interrogating himself.

Why the hell did he buy that ring?

Sure, he was a little obsessed with her.

But that obsession was supposed to be strictly about the information she held regarding Talia Monroe's accident four years ago.

He was fascinated by her pharmaceutical genius.

Did that mean...