Daniel smiled slightly.
“Different ring,” he said. “Different future.”
This time, he designed something completely different.
Not a performance piece.
Not something intended to impress strangers.
Something clean.
Certain.
A three-carat diamond on a platinum band.
Minimal.
Elegant.
Timeless.
The final price came to one hundred thousand dollars.
Once, that number would have frightened him.
Now it didn’t.
Because the ring wasn’t about money.
Vanessa wanted a diamond because other women had them.
Emily would have loved a twenty-dollar ring if it came from him.
That was exactly why he wanted to give her the best.
When the jeweler handed over the finished box, he paused for a moment.
“I hope this one ends better,” he said quietly.
Daniel closed the box gently.
“It already has.”
Two weeks later, Daniel rented a private stretch of beach at sunset.
A violinist waited hidden behind the dunes.
