by Lynn, Sandi
“Seriously?” I glared at her.
“Yeah. That was a place you and Stephen got together. Maybe it’s best that it happened so you can start fresh somewhere else. Somewhere where you don’t have to be reminded of him.”
What she said made a little sense, but I couldn’t find a positive with the fact that all my belongings were burnt to ashes.
“Just think about it for a while.” She squeezed my hand. “Grandma Lori is coming over for dinner and you’re joining us.”
“I really don’t feel—”
“I said you’re joining us. Besides, you know how Daniel is when it comes to his grandma. You really don’t have a choice.” A smirk crossed her lips.
“Then I guess I better get in the shower,” I sighed.
I loved Grandma Lori. I’d known her ever since Carly and Daniel first got together. She was one of those cool hippy grandmas. She wore her gray hair long and curly and she always wore stylish hippy clothing with a lot of jewelry. She was a Theology professor at Seattle University and her wisdom and knowledge about everything always amazed me. She was a traveler who had lovers in just about every country she visited, but she could never bring herself to settle down with one special person.
We were all sitting at the table having dinner and listening to her latest adventures in Peru when she glanced over at me with a sympathetic look.
“I’m so sorry to hear about everything you’re going through,” she spoke.
“Thanks, Lori. It’s been a tough few weeks.” I looked down.
She reached over, placed her hand on mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“You’ll get through it. What a beautiful ring,” she spoke as she held up my hand and examined it. “That looks like it cost a fortune.”
“Thank you. I found it scuba diving in Antigua. It was in between two pieces of coral. Look.” I took it off. “It has an inscription on the inside.”
To my darling Mary, my soulmate for life.
She read the inscription and then stared at me with the strangest look on her face.
“You found this when you were in Antigua you say?”
“Yeah. I found it on our last day there.”
“Adalyn, listen to me carefully. You need to get rid of this ring.”
“Why?” My brows furrowed.
“Honey, this ring is the reason everything bad has happened to you since you found it.”
“Grandma Lori, that’s ridiculous,” Carly spoke.
“You have to listen to me, Adalyn. There are stories about this, and I’ve heard of it happening before. This ring is a symbol of true love. It was given to Mary by her soulmate to seal that love forever. It’s not meant to be worn by anyone else. You must get rid of it immediately and as far away from you as possible. I don’t mean to scare you, darling. Just do yourself a favor and dispose of it.”
“You could always pawn it and get a shitload of money for it,” Daniel said.
“No.” Lori shot him a look. “Do you want the same awful things to happen to someone else? The ring must be disposed of or given back to its owner. Once it is out of your possession, it will break the curse.”
“Curse?” I furrowed my brows.
“Yes, Adalyn. You should dispose of that ring immediately or bad things will continue to happen to you.”
After Grandma Lori left, I grabbed a glass a wine and took it into my bedroom. As I was laying across the bed and sipping my drink, I held the beautiful white gold, diamond encased band in my hand and stared at it. As ridiculous and absurd as it sounded, I was thinking what Lori said was true. Ever since I returned from Antigua it had been one horrific thing after another. After finishing my wine, I set it down on the nightstand and grabbed my laptop. I would see if there was any truth to what Lori said. Stephen, my job and my apartment burning down weren’t the only bad things that happened to me. Those were just the major ones. They declined my credit card at the department store when I was buying some new clothes. Apparently, someone had stolen my numbers and charged over five thousand dollars' worth of electronics. I knew that always happened to many people, but it had never happened to me. Then, I dropped my phone in the street and as I went down to pick it up, someone on a bike ran over it, forcing me to buy a new one. If that wasn’t all, I came down with a sinus infection and prescribed some medication. The pharmacy gave me the wrong one, and I ended up having an allergic reaction and landed in the ER.
The next morning, I was up at the crack of dawn for I couldn’t sleep. My mind had been racing with thoughts all night about that ring. Grandma Lori said I needed to get rid of it immediately and I would do just that. As I was studying the ring last night and the inscription, I had an idea, and let me tell you, it probably wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had, but it was an idea so strong that I couldn’t ignore it.
“Good morning.” Carly smiled as she emerged into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. “I’ve decided that today is the day you will get your life back,” she said as she leaned over the island where I was sitting. “No more moping around or feeling sorry for yourself. You will start by getting rid of that ring. I’m taking a half day from work, and we’re taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island to do some shopping. While we’re on the ferry, you will throw that ring into the Sound and forget you ever found it.”
“That sounds like a great plan and as much as I’d love to, I can’t.”
“What?” Her brows furrowed.
“I’m going to New York. I booked a flight last night. It leaves in four hours.”
She held her coffee cup between her hands and cocked her head at me as a look of confusion swept across her face.
“What do you mean you’re going to New York?”
“On the inside of the ring is the name of the designer who designed it. It just so happens that he owns a custom jewelry shop in New York. I’m hoping that maybe he has records or something that will lead me to Mary. Then I can give her ring back to her and all will be right in the world and hopefully my life.”
“That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard, Adalyn. First, you don’t even know when that ring was lost or even if it was lost. For all we know something could have happened between Mary and her husband and she got rid of it on purpose. She may not want it back. Second, Mary could be anywhere in the world. Just because it was designed in New York doesn’t mean shit.”
“I guess I’ll find out when I get there. But New York is the starting point. I have to try. If it doesn’t pan out, I’ll get rid of the ring while I’m there. I have to go pack,” I said as I refilled my coffee cup and went into the bedroom.
“Hope you have no more bad luck on your little adventure,” she shouted.
Chapter 2
Harrison
“Really, Harrison?” my sister, Athena, shouted as she stormed into my office.
Reaching into my desk drawer, I took out the bottle of aspirin and popped two of them in my mouth.
“Good morning, sis. Welcome home. How was Europe?” I asked with a smirk for I already knew why she blew in with an attitude.
“Renee was the best personal assistant I ever had, and you have to ruin her like all the other women in your life. I leave you alone for one month and you can’t behave yourself or keep your dick in your pants.”
“Calm down. Renee was the only personal assistant you ever had so don’t say she’s the best. It was one drunken night, Athena. One.” I held up my finger. “It’s not my fault she thought it would turn into something more. When I told her it was a mistake and it’ll never happen again, she took it personally and quit. It’s not my fault she’s so sensitive.”
“UGH! You can have any woman you want! I thought I made myself clear when I hired her that she was off limits!”
“Like I said, it was one drunken night. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I’m sorry she couldn’t handle it and quit. You’ll find another assistant.”
“That’s not the point! I liked her.” She pouted.
I got up f
rom my chair, walked over to where she stood and wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m happy you’re home. I missed you.”
“I missed you too until I came back to no assistant.” She broke our embrace.
“You’ll get over it.” I kissed her forehead and walked back to my desk.
“How are the plans for the townhouse coming?” she asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it. At this rate, I’m never moving in.”
“Why? What happened?” She took the seat across from my desk.
“Linda quit.”
She let out a snicker. “Didn’t she like work for you for a week?”
“Three days. I told her I didn’t like what her plan was for the living room and I made her change it.”
“Well, that’s your right to do that. You’re the client. I don’t understand why she would quit over that. Unless you ran your mouth and insulted her.” Her brow raised.
“All I said was she had terrible taste, and I didn’t understand how she even got her degree.”
Athena rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.
“Then maybe you need to decorate the townhouse yourself, brother. Obviously, no one can do it better than you.”
“I don’t have time for that. Do me a favor and find someone for me. Someone excellent who will take my criticism and not act like a child.”
“Maybe if you were nicer, you could keep people around.” She smirked. “Besides, I don’t have time to find anyone for you. I just got back and now I have to find a new personal assistant.” She got up from her chair and headed towards the door. “I’ll be using your personal assistant, Jeremy, until I find one,” she spoke as she walked out of my office.
I sighed as I leaned back in my chair and placed my hands behind my head. My twin sister could be such a pain in the ass. As I was pondering my thoughts about the townhouse, my phone beeped with a text message from Andrea.
“Hey there handsome, what time are you picking me up tonight?”
Shit. I forgot we were supposed to go on a date.
“How’s seven o’clock?”
“Seven’s good. If you want to bring me some flowers, yellow roses are my favorite.”
I didn’t reply. Why the hell would she want me to bring her flowers? I wasn’t a flower giving type of guy. There were only two people in the world that I gave flowers to and that was my grandmother and Athena. I wasn’t a romance type of guy either. As far as I was concerned, romance was overrated. There was no need for it. The women I took out got a nice dinner and then great sex afterwards. And usually the boot after a few dates because they started getting clingy and too attached. Something that I despised. There was nothing more pathetic than a woman whining and wanting to know why I wouldn’t commit or take our so called ‘relationship’ to the next level. I didn’t have time or the patience for that, and I didn’t need the aggravation.
Now that Andrea had thrown in the ‘flower’ suggestion. I suspected it was time to cut all ties. I already knew how this would pan out. First it starts with the flowers, then the whining begins how I never want to do anything besides have dinner and sex. It got old real fast, and I cut my losses and move on. Which I had a feeling would happen tonight. Maybe I should just skip the dinner part and get right to the sex first before telling her we wouldn’t be seeing each other anymore. I was under a great deal of stress with the building of the new hotel and I needed sex to get my mind off it.
Click the link below to download your copy of The Ring.
Amazon Universal Link:
mybook.to/TheRing
Books by Sandi Lynn
If you haven’t already done so, please check out my other books. Escape from reality and into the world of romance. I’ll take you on a journey of love, pain, heartache and happily ever afters.
Millionaires:
The Forever Series (Forever Black, Forever You, Forever Us, Being Julia, Collin, A Forever Christmas, A Forever Family)
Love, Lust & A Millionaire (Wyatt Brothers, Book 1)
Love, Lust & Liam (Wyatt Brothers, Book 2)
Lie Next To Me (A Millionaire’s Love, Book 1)
When I Lie with You (A Millionaire’s Love, Book 2)
Then You Happened (Happened Series, Book 1)
Then We Happened (Happened Series, Book 2)
His Proposed Deal
A Love Called Simon
The Seduction of Alex Parker
Something About Lorelei
One Night In London
The Exception
Corporate A$$ETS
A Beautiful Sight
The Negotiation
Defense
Playing The Millionaire
#Delete
Behind His Lies
Carter Grayson (Redemption Series, Book One)
Chase Calloway (Redemption Series, Book Two)
Jamieson Finn (Redemption Series, Book Three)
Damien Prescott (Redemption Series, Book Four)
The Interview: New York & Los Angeles Part 1
The Interview: New York & Los Angeles Part 2
One Night In Paris
Perfectly You
The Escort
The Ring
Elijah Wolfe
The Donor
Second Chance Love:
Rewind
Remembering You
She Writes Love
Love In Between (Love Series, Book 1)
The Upside of Love (Love Series, Book 2)
Sports:
Lightning
About the Author
Sandi Lynn is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who spends all her days writing. She published her first novel, Forever Black, in February 2013 and hasn’t stopped writing since. Her mission is to provide readers with romance novels that will whisk them away to another world and from the daily grind of life – one book at a time.
Be a part of my tribe and make sure to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss a Sandi Lynn book again!
Website
Newsletter
Bookbub
Pinterest
Goodreads