As that figure came closer, I finally saw his face. It was indeed my husband, Alex. If he saw me caught up in a scene with my ex-boyfriend, he would definitely get jealous all over again.

I quickly shook off Ivan's hand.

Thud.

Something fell out of my pocket.

It was a rough, unpolished diamond, its outer layer still dark and dull.

"I thought you looked down on this stone, Millia. Why are you still carrying it after all these years?" Ivan asked, his voice sharp. "You're really going all out to get my attention, aren't you? Let me be clear. I'll never get back together with you. Take the money and just leave. Stop playing games."

He actually believed I had broken up with him just because of that Valentine's Day gift.

The cracks had appeared when I was hospitalized with gastritis and had called him, only to find out he was out shopping with Kelly. When he had made me drink dirty water through deception just to make Kelly laugh. When he had gotten drunk over Kelly going abroad and had spent all night calling her name.

My heart had already started to break then.

Lie after lie, disappointment after disappointment. I finally ended things with him when he gave Kelly that diamond.

I looked at Ivan calmly.

"Ivan, I'm already married. You can relax. I'm not going to bother you ever again. I don't want your money. I never did. And for the record, this isn't even the rock you gave me." I picked the rough diamond up from the floor and held it up to his face. "Take a closer look. This is a diamond my husband gave me."

The people nearby burst out laughing, with Kelly laughing the loudest. "Millia, have you never seen a real diamond before? Are you really trying to pass off a rock as a diamond?"

Ivan stared at me, completely stunned. "Impossible. How could you get married? We broke up only three years ago, and you've gotten married already?"

He glanced down at my left hand, searching for a ring, but my ring finger was bare.

"You're lying. You're not wearing a wedding band. Is this just another one of your tricks to get my attention?" he said, sounding completely convinced.

The truth was, the ring Alex Ward had given me was a full twenty carats. It was so heavy and striking that I rarely wore it.

Ivan sneered, his expression settling back into that same old disdain. "So, where's your husband, then? Why isn't he here with you? What kind of husband lets his wife come here just to eat and drink for free?"

"I'm Millia's husband." A deep, steady voice sounded from behind me.

Everyone turned to see who it was.

Alex Ward was dressed in a plain tracksuit with no visible brand, yet he somehow looked even more distinguished because of it.

Standing beside him were Steiner Smith, a tech mogul from the capital city, and Terry Dale, a powerhouse in the entertainment industry.

People who recognized them instantly started gasping out, "That's Alex Ward, CEO of Ward Group, the biggest investment company in the city! Anyone who lands a deal with him will dominate their industry for the next fifty years."

He was exactly the investor Ivan was desperately hoping to win over.