I Got A Thanks You Card While She Got His Pink Diamond Chapter 01

I Got A Thanks You Card While She Got His Pink Diamond Chapter 01

The night before our courthouse wedding, our friends talked us into playing a mystery-box raffle they called “Luck of the Draw.”

Each of the guys contributed a gift, and the women at the party drew boxes at random. Everyone claimed it was the fairest way to do it.

When I opened mine, all I found was a thin card.

[Thanks for playing.]

The entire room fell silent for a beat before someone failed to hold back a laugh.

My fiancé, Ethan Caldwell, ruffled my hair. “Same lousy luck as always.”

My childhood best friend, Noah Sullivan, lowered his voice. “Smile. Don’t let everyone think you’re a sore loser.”

In the same round, Sienna Hart opened the box with the grand prize.

Inside was a pink diamond necklace Ethan had personally chosen, a voucher for the island getaway for two I had been dreaming about for three years, and a card from Noah.

[We’ll always look out for you.]

I smiled along with everyone else and placed my card back inside the empty box.

That was how raffles worked. It all came down to luck.

Then I went to the restroom and overheard the emcee checking the prize list in the lounge.

“Mr. Caldwell, there wasn’t a mix-up just now, was there?”

“The grand prize was for Ms. Hart, and the consolation prize was for Ms. Monroe.”

“That’s right,” Ethan replied.

Noah laughed. “No mistake. She’ll pretend it was no big deal and move on.”

Standing outside the door, I suddenly remembered the night of my eighteenth birthday.

I had waited in the rain for the midnight fireworks, but Ethan and Noah held the only umbrella over Sienna.

They looked back at me and said, “Leah, you live close by. Just make a run for it.”

I went home soaked that night and still made excuses for them, telling myself I had simply been unlucky.

But now I finally understood. The umbrella had never been meant for me in the first place.

This time, I tore the card to pieces and canceled our courthouse ceremony.

I was done playing their rigged game of luck.

***

When I returned to the private room, Sienna was surrounded by people taking pictures of her.

The pink diamond rested against her collarbone like a precious tear cupped carefully in someone’s palm.

Someone teased, “Ethan, that grand prize is insane. Anyone who didn’t know better would think you were proposing to Sienna tonight.”

Sienna’s eyes immediately filled with tears.

“Don’t say that. Leah will get upset.”

The moment she spoke, every eye in the room turned toward me.

When Ethan saw me return, his brow twitched slightly.

“What are you doing in the doorway?”

“Anyone would think someone had hurt you.”

I looked at him and suddenly found the whole thing almost funny.

I was the one who had been hurt, yet somehow even my silence looked like a tantrum.

So I stayed where I was.

Ethan’s brows drew together.

Noah was the first to stand. He walked over to me.

He had gentle features, and when he looked at people, there always seemed to be a smile in his eyes.

Before I turned eighteen, I had always believed Noah was the one person in the world who would never embarrass me.

But now he leaned toward me and lowered his voice.

“Leah, don’t embarrass Ethan in front of everyone.”

I looked at him. “Did I say anything?”

Noah hesitated.

Sienna clutched the necklace as her tears fell faster.

“Leah, maybe I should give it back to you. I shouldn’t have taken it in the first place.”

She had barely touched the necklace when Ethan spoke.

“Keep it on.”

Then he turned to me. “Whoever drew it gets to keep it.”

I gave a quiet laugh.

The room fell silent for a moment.

Ethan’s expression cooled.

Noah frowned. “Leah Monroe, it was just a game. Do you have to turn it into a scene?”

Then he stepped in front of Sienna. His voice remained gentle, but the warning beneath it felt like a blade at my throat.

“Sienna has never felt secure. She finally gets to be happy for once. Can’t you let her have that?”

There it was again.

I couldn’t help looking at Sienna.

She stood tucked against Ethan’s side, tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes, but the glance she gave me held the faintest hint of a smile.

A second later, Ethan rose and walked over to me.

He carried the cool, restrained scent of cedar.

The cologne was one I had chosen for him. I had told him it suited him because it was crisp and clean, but he had complained that it was too subtle.

Then Sienna said she liked it, and he had worn it for three years.

He lifted a hand to ruffle my hair the way he always did.

I turned my head and avoided his touch.

Someone in the room sucked in a breath.

Ethan’s expression finally darkened.

“I’ll be at your dress fitting tomorrow.”

I looked up at him. “You remembered?”

He stared at me as though I had said something absurd.

“When have I ever forgotten something I promised you?”

Just then, Sienna gave a soft cough.

Ethan immediately turned around.

“What’s wrong?”

Sienna shook her head. “Nothing. My neck is just a little itchy. Maybe I’m not used to wearing the necklace yet.”

Ethan picked up his jacket from the couch and draped it over her shoulders.

Noah studied my expression and sighed.

“Leah, don’t overthink this. You’re the one Ethan is going to marry. Sienna is just someone we’ve all always looked after.”

I looked at him.

“Would someone who was really only a friend accept a pink diamond handpicked by another woman’s fiancé?”

The smile faded from Noah’s face.

“Do you have to put it like that?”

Ethan turned back toward me, his voice low and cold.

“Leah, that’s enough.”

I suddenly had nothing left to say.

In this rigged little game, even after being humiliated, I was still expected to laugh and say, “Same lousy luck as always.”

When the party ended, Ethan took Sienna to the ER after a small patch of skin on her neck turned red.

Noah stayed behind to take me home.

At the entrance, he removed his scarf and wrapped it around my neck.

“It’s cold out. Keep this on.”

I lowered my eyes to the scarf.

He was always like this.

Just when I was about to give up on him completely, he would offer me exactly enough tenderness to keep me holding on. Then, in the next breath, he would push me right back where I had started.

Sure enough, once he had tied the scarf around my neck, he said, “Leah, don’t let what happened tonight get to you.”

“You know Ethan. He may sound cold, but he does care.”

“He’ll go to your dress fitting tomorrow, and the day after that, he’ll marry you at the courthouse.”

“You’ve already won. Stop fighting Sienna over little things.”

I looked at him.

“What exactly did I win?”

Noah froze.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out, because even he couldn’t answer.