Chapter 2: The Ring He Gambled Away
1687 Words
On the way back, she sent Jason one last message.
Try the suit. Let me know if it needs alterations.
She stared at it after it sent.
The sentence looked like something written by a stranger.
Then she put the phone away.
By the time she reached the Shaw house, the rain had stopped before it truly began. The four-story home was warmly lit but quiet. Helen and George were out of town overnight. The only person in the living room was Ruby Shaw, cross-legged on the rug with a laptop open in front of her and one earbud in.
Avery kicked off her heels. “Where is everyone?”
“Mom and Dad are staying in Ashford tonight.” Ruby paused her video and looked over her shoulder. “You’re back early.”
Avery hummed.
Ruby’s eyes swept over her face, too sharp for a girl who still claimed she needed help filling out college applications.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“That means something happened.”
Avery walked behind the sofa and pinned her hair up with a wooden clip. “Don’t you have exams?”
Ruby made a face. “Don’t change the subject.”
“Don’t avoid studying.”
Ruby shut the laptop halfway. “I’m serious, Ave. Jason Blake doesn’t deserve you.”
Avery’s hand stilled for half a second before she finished securing her hair. “You’re seventeen. Your biggest problem should be whether your personal statement sounds fake.”
“My biggest problem is that my sister is marrying a textbook trust-fund disaster.” Ruby twisted around on the rug. “What does he have besides a pretty face and a last name? If you actually marry him, I’m never calling him my brother-in-law.”
“He isn’t begging for the honor.”
“He should be.” Ruby’s mouth flattened. “You’re gorgeous. Smart. Patient. You have a job that actually helps people. And he has what? A private club membership and commitment issues?”
Avery smiled despite herself. “That was almost a complete argument.”
“I’ve been practicing.” Ruby folded her arms. “Honestly, if you told me you liked Callum Rhodes instead, I’d understand that more.”
Avery stared at her. “Ruby.”
“What?”
“He is much older than you.”
Ruby’s face turned red at once. “I didn’t mean me! I meant you.”
“Oh, so you approve of emotionally unavailable older men for your sister?”
“I approve of anyone who isn’t Jason.” Ruby grabbed a pillow and hugged it defensively. “Besides, I don’t like older men. I like Leo.”
“The faceless streamer you’ve never seen?”
“He has a voice.”
“That doesn’t prove he isn’t a forty-year-old man in a basement.”
Ruby gasped. “Take that back.”
“No.”
“Leo is not some basement creep.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know enough.”
“You know a screen name and a voice.”
Ruby threw the pillow at her.
Avery caught it and tossed it back. “Study. If you don’t get into the program you want, George will make you study business and work for him.”
Ruby shuddered. “Cruel. Unnecessary. Evil.”
“Accurate.”
Ruby opened her laptop with a dramatic groan.
Avery smiled, but the expression faded as she went upstairs.
Ruby was her mother’s daughter with George Shaw. Half sister, technically.
In every way that mattered, she was Avery’s softest place in the world.
Which was why the phone call two days later made Avery’s blood run cold.
She was in a case review meeting at Dawnlight Counseling Center when her phone, set to silent, began flashing on the table again and again. Unknown number.
Her supervisor noticed and nodded toward the door. “Take it.”
Avery stepped into the hallway. “Hello?”
“Is this Ruby Shaw’s family?”
Avery’s grip tightened. “This is her sister. What happened?”
“This is West District Police Station. Your sister was involved in a disturbance. You need to come pick her up.”
For one blank second, Avery heard nothing.
Then she was already moving.
By the time she reached the station, her mind had built and destroyed ten disasters.
Ruby was in the waiting area, very much alive and very much uninjured.
Avery’s knees nearly weakened.
Then she saw the others.
Four or five teenage boys with split lips and bruised cheeks sat on one side. On the other stood several adults who looked as if they had been dragged out of a bad decision in the middle of it. One woman was especially disheveled, her curled hair tangled, one cheek swollen, her robe pulled tightly around her.
Ruby shot to her feet and pointed at the woman. “That’s her.”
Avery’s throat tightened.
“What did you do?” she asked.
Ruby’s eyes were bright with fury. “I saw her go into a hotel room with Jason. They were in there for over an hour. I called people to help me confront them.”
Avery turned.
At the far end of the blue plastic bench sat Jason Blake.
His hair was mussed. His head hung low. The robe on him matched the woman’s.
For a moment, everything inside Avery went very quiet.
The anger should have arrived like fire.
Instead, there was only a small spark, weak and exhausted, flaring once before dying out.
She looked at the woman.
Then at Jason.
“So this is what you meant by nothing serious?” Avery asked. “Matching robes in a hotel room?”
Jason lifted his head. “Avery.”
He said her name the way he always did when he wanted the world to reset around him.
As if the right tone could pull her back into place.
“Let’s talk outside,” he said.
“I don’t want to talk.”
“Avery.”
She took Ruby’s wrist. “We’re leaving.”
Jason stood, but an officer stepped in front of him.
“Mr. Blake,” the officer said, not unkindly but firmly, “we still need you to answer questions about the hotel incident.”
Jason’s expression twisted. “This is ridiculous.”
Ruby leaned toward Avery as they walked out. “I didn’t make it up. I swear. I saw them. He can lie all he wants, but he was there.”
“I know.”
“You should dump him.”
Avery didn’t answer.
Ruby peered at her. “Do you know who he called to get him out?”
Avery opened the car door. “Who?”
“Callum Rhodes.”
Avery paused.
Ruby climbed into the passenger seat, still fuming. “Jason is dead. Like, socially, spiritually, maybe financially. Mr. Rhodes looked terrifying the last time I saw him on some business article. Imagine being stupid enough to make that man come to a police station because you couldn’t keep your pants on.”
“Seat belt,” Avery said.
Ruby clicked it into place, then looked at her carefully. “Are you okay?”
Avery started the engine.
No.
Yes.
She didn’t know.
“I’m taking you back to school.”
Ruby stared. “That’s your answer?”
“That’s my answer.”
“Ave—”
“Ruby.”
The single word made Ruby sink back into the seat.
Avery drove.
After dropping Ruby off, she returned to Dawnlight Counseling Center and finished her day.
Every session. Every note. Every professional smile.
She did not fall apart.
At eight that evening, Jason called.
Avery was curled in the hanging chair near the second-floor window with a half-finished glass of fruit wine in one hand. Westbridge glittered beneath her. The room was dim. Her phone vibrated against her thigh.
She answered on speaker and set it down.
“Avery,” Jason said.
She watched the wine move in the glass. “Mm.”
“I’m sorry about today.”
She said nothing.
“I mean it. It was stupid. I drank too much. I didn’t think Ruby would—” He stopped himself. “Look, the suit fits. It’s fine.”
“Good.”
His breath shifted. He sounded uneasy now.
“I also got in touch with the guy selling that collector’s figure you liked. And those designer heels from the exhibition? I found the contact. He said he might be able to—”
“Jason.”
He stopped. “What?”
Avery looked at the dark reflection of herself in the glass.
“Where is the ring?”
Silence.
It stretched long enough to become an answer.
“What ring?” Jason asked lightly.
“The wedding ring.”
Another pause.
Then he laughed. “Why are you asking about that? It’s at home.”
“Is it?”
His laugh faded.
Avery reached for her phone with her free hand. The screen still showed the auction alert she had received that afternoon. A rare pink diamond ring. Private sale. Vegas-origin collateral.
Their ring.
“Don’t lie to me,” she said.
Jason exhaled sharply. “Fine.”
Avery’s fingers went numb around the glass.
“I had a rough run in Vegas,” he said, defensive already. “I needed temporary collateral. That’s all. I was going to get it back.”
She closed her eyes.
“You used our wedding ring as gambling collateral.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Then what was it like?”
“I said I’ll get it back.”
“You can’t.”
“Yes, I can.”
“No.” Avery opened her eyes. The city outside had blurred, but her voice was steady. “You can’t.”
For the first time that night, Jason sounded afraid. “Avery.”
She lifted the glass and drank the rest of the wine.
It burned faintly, sweet and bitter all at once.
“Jason,” she said, each word quiet and clear. “We’re done.”
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