Chapter 61: Chapter 61: A Devious Devil
Ray POV
I made sure that everything was in order inside the small safe before closing and locking it. Nobody—not even Jane—knew the contents of the safe, and that was for the better.
She already thought that I was madly in love with Claudia because I went on a park date with her, while the truth was that I just wanted Claudia to be reminded of all the silly dreams she had with me, so she’d regret every step she took after choosing to be married to Miles.
Now, imagine if Jane knew that I kept the CD full of romantic songs from Claudia from more than a decade ago.
On top of that, I also kept a notebook full of date wishlists and all the knick-knacks that she gave me back then. Jane would’ve freaked out thinking that I was absolutely obsessed with Claudia.
While in fact, I just wanted to make her regret it for the rest of her life.
The next song from the CD played, and I continued to sing along for one or two lines, because some of those songs Claudia put inside the disc were truly embarrassing.
Such as the second song: Hopelessly Devoted to You.
I walked to a small table right next to the large window overlooking downtown Los Angeles. Just as I predicted, Jane had successfully executed the plan that I made while Claudia and I were away.
She might be emotional and unable to stay professional because of her feelings for me, but Jane was still a competent secretary and a great secret-keeper.
I picked up a pair of rings on the table and inspected them under the light. A satisfied grin formed on my lips as I knew that she had successfully stolen these rings from Claudia’s room.
"Did Jane get overly jealous because I told her to steal these rings? How unnecessary," I muttered. "I never fall in love with any woman in my life. There’s no point in trying to compete when everyone is like a walking statue to me."
While I was away with Claudia at the park this morning, I texted my secretary and gave her an order:
Get the ring that I had ordered yesterday from the same store where Claudia and Miles bought theirs. It was an identical ring to the ones that they had, complete with the engraving of their names.
Then, go to Claudia’s room and carefully search for those rings. Jane was meticulous with her work, so she shouldn’t do anything that would make Claudia suspect that something had been taken from her room.
Once Jane located the rings, she would replace the real rings with the fake ones and then put the real ones onto this table.
The rings were identical, of course. But the real ones had wear and tear after ten years had passed, while the new ones were still clean and sleek.
However, as long as Claudia didn’t pick them up and inspect them carefully, then she wouldn’t notice the difference.
And after what happened today in that swan boat, there was no damn way Claudia still had the guts to take those rings out and wear them, because she must’ve been heartbroken thinking of her pathetic husband.
And since there hadn’t been any movement from Claudia, I could safely assume that my plan went perfectly.
Now that these rings were in my hand, I could do anything to them.
I could flush them into the toilet, or throw them out of the window, or maybe keep them.
There were plenty of scenarios running in my head, but as I kept inspecting them, I realized that Miles’ ring didn’t have the same amount of wear and tear compared to Claudia’s, meaning that he never did any hard labor after marriage, or he took it off often. Maybe he did that when cheating on his wife with that insane bitch Clarissa.
"I really don’t understand you, Claudia..." I muttered while inspecting her battered wedding ring. "Why would you pick that bastard over me?"
"Did you pick him because you thought that Miles was in love with you? Hah, let me tell you that both Miles and I have no love for you. So... why not me?"
"I do not love you, but surely I’ll take care of you in a golden cage... like the most beautiful canary that you are."
I let out a deep sigh as I put Claudia’s ring together with Miles’ on my palm.
Just like what I said before, I had complete control over these rings, and the most logical idea was to toss them out of the window so I would be satisfied after all the fight that happened last night.
I pushed the window open, feeling the gentle breeze of the night in Los Angeles. I clenched the rings tightly, ready to toss them out of the window.
Since they were just two rings made out of gold without any diamonds in them, they wouldn’t shatter once they reached the ground, but hopefully they would roll down into a storm drain and get washed away with the filth in the sewer.
Or maybe a lucky drug addict would pick them up and pawn them for some money to buy another drug. That’d be the funniest scenario in my head.
However, right before I tossed them away, I suddenly changed my mind and opened my palm.
I separated Claudia’s ring from Miles’, and threw the latter out of the window without hesitation.
I watched as the ring fell from such a height and disappeared from my sight. "I could’ve done the same to the real person, but that’d require her to ask me to kill him first."
I opened my other palm where I had been holding Claudia’s ring. Her ring had ’MILES’ written in the inner circle, which signified that Claudia would always have Miles inside her heart.
I felt my hand begin to tremble at the mere thought of Miles remaining inside Claudia’s heart forever.
The idea was so revolting, like something foul lodged deep in my chest. And before I could stop myself, a dangerous, yet foolish thought surfaced.
What if...
What if the name written there was Ray instead of Miles?
"..."
"Pfft—AHAHAHAHAHA!"
Laughter burst out of me, sharp and uncontrollable, as if I had just heard the most absurd joke in the world.
Because the idea was simply ridiculous.
Why would I ever want my name engraved on her ring instead? Why would I care about claiming a place inside Claudia’s heart?
What would be the point of letting her carry me there—inside that soft, foolish heart of hers—when I had never intended to belong to anyone at all?
And yet...
My hand was still trembling.
"What a stupid idea that was," I scoffed to brush off the strange feeling inside my heart before walking to the small safe again.
Thus, I decided to put Claudia’s wedding ring alongside all the knick-knacks and the date wishlist she had for me.
