My Amnesic Ex Married My Sister, So I Married His Uncle-Chapter 40: You’re Not Cut Out for Dirty Work

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: You’re Not Cut Out for Dirty Work

Ethan Rhodes had been full of anxiety when he went to Owen Rhodes’s office, but when he left, he was beaming. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

’He felt that maybe he and Owen really did have a great relationship. When he was struggling with what to do, Owen would give him advice. He’d dropped his work in Veridia on short notice to come back, and Owen hadn’t blamed him for it. Even better, Owen was even planning to give him 3% of the company’s shares because of his marriage.’

Ethan Rhodes was so ecstatic he was beside himself, completely forgetting about the conditions he had to meet to get those shares.

The moment he walked out of The Kyros Building, he suddenly stopped short.

For no reason, a few disconnected fragments flashed through his mind.

He was standing in a small room, slamming something that looked like a letter down on the desk in front of him.

The desk was piled neatly with books and materials.

He couldn’t clearly see the person sitting behind the pile of books, but he seemed to say to them, "Help me pick out a gift for her."

’Who was that person?’

’And who was the "her" he’d mentioned?’

The scene vanished in a flash, too fast for Ethan Rhodes to grasp.

He was lost in thought when a figure in white flew into his arms from a short distance away.

He instinctively caught her. Looking down, he saw it was Kiana.

Kiana smiled, looking up at him from his embrace. "What took you so long? What did your uncle say to you? Did he scold you?"

Ethan Rhodes snapped out of it. "No, we just talked about work."

Ethan thought about the shares he was about to receive and instructed Kiana, "Kiana, at the engagement party tomorrow, if Stella happens to show up, don’t get worked up. Let me handle it. You’re not well, so don’t let an irrelevant person upset you. A lot of people might be there tomorrow. Your only job is to be beautiful and happy."

Kiana nodded obediently. "Mm, I know. Tomorrow, I’ll only have eyes for you, okay?"

Ethan leaned down and kissed her. "Good girl."

Kiana lowered her head shyly, but the glint that flashed in her eyes was anything but demure.

...

Owen Rhodes must have been incredibly busy. Stella Sterling had thought he would be home for dinner and then free for the rest of the evening.

But unexpectedly, not long after they exchanged rings, he announced he had to go to the office for something.

’I’m a mature Mrs. Rhodes now,’ Stella thought. So she dutifully saw Owen off before returning to her room to rest.

Having a ring on her finger felt... strange.

Stella Sterling had always taken good care of her hands. Her fingers were long and slender, as fair as jade.

A ring would naturally look exquisite on hands like hers.

Lying on the bed, Stella held up her left hand. The light from the spotlight filtered through her fingers, tracing the shadow of the ring.

After staring at it, lost in thought for a while, she finally sat up and took her diary from the nightstand.

She made a check mark, murmuring to herself, "Wear the matching couple’s rings I designed myself... check."

’Well, she had only slightly modified one of the store’s original designs, but that still counted as designing it herself, right?’

She glanced over her still-unfinished "life checklist" and was surprised to find that, without even realizing it, the item "Have my own personally decorated art studio" had also been completed.

’Even though the studio was only half-finished.’

She blinked at her diary in a daze as something flashed through her mind.

Before she could dwell on it, she got a call from Ariana Grant.

"Stella Sterling, what are you up to?"

Stella answered truthfully, "Writing in my diary."

"Oh. Good, as long as you’re not crying."

Stella’s mind was wandering, and she didn’t catch Ariana’s meaning. "Why would I be crying?"

"..." Ariana felt she might have spoken out of turn. "It’s Ethan Rhodes and Kiana Sterling’s engagement party tomorrow. You haven’t forgotten, have you?"

Stella snapped back to the present, her tone casual. "Oh, that. Nope, haven’t forgotten."

"That’s it? Hmm, good. Sounds like you’re really over it."

’Am I over it?’

Stella didn’t know.

"Maybe. I do feel pretty calm about it right now."

’In fact, the thought of Ethan and Kiana’s engagement party was causing less of a stir in her heart than the ring on her finger.’

Perhaps it was because her feelings about Ethan had become so disjointed that, as she’d been zoning out over the past few days, she’d come to a vague realization.

’Maybe it wasn’t Ethan himself that she couldn’t let go of.’

’Then what was it?’

She hadn’t figured it out yet.

"Even better. That scumbag and that bitch aren’t worth your emotional energy. But you said before you were going to crash their engagement party. What’s your plan?"

Stella closed her diary and slid it back into the nightstand.

"I did think about how I’d do it, but Ariana Grant, I couldn’t come up with anything."

Ariana pressed her lips together. "...Stella Sterling, you really aren’t cut out for being a villain."

But Stella’s thoughts were clear. "I just think, we’ve already broken up, and not many people in Jandor even know about me and Ethan. Plus, I’m married to Owen now. I should conduct myself with dignity. If I do something, it would just drag Owen and me through the mud. It’s not worth it."

She didn’t care for her own sake, but she didn’t want to drag Owen into it.

Ariana was indignant. "So we’re just supposed to watch them be all lovey-dovey?"

Stella let out a soft laugh. "You think that just because I don’t do anything, Kiana will just behave herself? Ariana Grant, believe me, all I have to do is show up at the engagement party, and Kiana herself won’t be able to sit still."

’The whole situation between her, Ethan, and Kiana came down to one thing: who cared more.’

’The first person to lose their composure would be utterly defeated.’

’As long as she acted like she didn’t care and insisted she had nothing to do with Ethan, no one could touch her.’

It took a moment for Ariana’s mind to process it, but then she understood Stella’s point.

"Stella Sterling, I take back what I said about you not being cut out for being a villain." Ariana’s tone was suddenly much lighter. "Got your battle armor ready for tomorrow? Don’t worry, your big sister is coming to back you up."

Stella laughed. "Then thank you, sis~"

After hanging up with Ariana, Stella got up to wash her face and brush her teeth.

Since it was the first day she had the ring, Stella took it off and placed it on a corner cabinet before going into the bathroom.

It was a new accessory, after all, and Stella forgot all about it the moment she took it off.

Later, when Owen came home and went to wash up, Stella suddenly remembered he had told her not to take the ring off casually.

’Tomorrow is Ethan and Kiana’s engagement party. On such an important day, how could I not wear my wedding ring out and show it off a little?’

When she went back to get her ring, she found that Owen’s ring was now placed together with hers.

Her small ring was nestled perfectly inside his larger one.