Save the Tears for Someone Who Cares novel Chapter 39

cklyn refused.

“Jackie, what’s wrong?” Eugene slipped an arm around her waist, his gaze warm and lingering. “I backed you going to Fashion Week. Even if it messes up my geomancy still got you that necklace. So why can’t you do this one thing for me?”

His voice grew more wounded with every word.

There was a time when Jacklyn would’ve bought into it. But now, as she looked at him, all she felt was disgust.

She swallowed the bitterness in her throat and forced herself to hug him. “I’m on my period.”

Eugene hesitated, suddenly remembering it was Jacklyn’s time of the month.

He used to keep track without being told, always ensuring he had everything ready for her ahead of time. He used to take care of her with painstaking attention. These days, though, Penelope was mostly on his mind.

Guilt stabbed at him, and he straightened up abruptly. “Work’s been insane. It totally slipped my mind. Let me make you some chamomile tea.”

Jacklyn didn’t say anything, but her heart stayed cold. The woman who used to be comforted by a cup of chamomile tea wasn’t there anymore.

That night at Fashion Week, Jacklyn arrived in style, wearing a gemstone necklace. She’d barely stepped inside when a flock of socialites and wealthy wives descended on her.

“Oh, Mrs. Lloyd, you’re so lucky. That necklace caught my eye the second you walked in.”

“It’s identical to the one the Princess of Wimborne wore–the only one in the country. And truly, no one wears it quite like you, Mrs. Lloyd.”

Jacklyn offered them a thin, polite smile.

She used to tolerate these women for Eugene’s business. But now? Even pretending to smile at them felt exhausting.

“Jackie.”

Penelope moved through the crowd with a slow, deliberate sway of her hips. She wore a strapless gown, and with her hair pinned up, the gemstone necklace at her neck was fully visible.

When she caught sight of the stone on Jacklyn’s throat, a smug laugh rose in her chest.

“Oh, Jacklyn. Your man belongs to me now,” she thought. “The real necklace is around my neck, and here you are, just a sad little fool wearing a fake. What do you even have left to compete with me?”

She glided up to Jacklyn with a smile. “Jackie, you’re Mrs. Lloyd now. Shouldn’t you know better than to show up in a knockoff? Isn’t this embarrassing for the Lloyds?”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

“Huh? Mrs. Lloyd wouldn’t do something like that, would she?”

“Exactly. Mrs. Lloyd would never wear a fake. Everyone knows Mr. Lloyd bought this at an auction. There’s no way it’s a knockoff.”

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Chapter 39

Eyes flicked back and forth between the two necklaces as the crowd edged closer.

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Jacklyn glanced down at her own necklace, a faint smirk flashing in her eyes before she brushed Penelope’s hand away. “I’m Mrs. Lloyd. Why would I bother with a fake?”

Penelope thought Jacklyn was just putting on a brave act. She hooked her gemstone necklace with her sharp red nail. “You might be Mrs. Lloyd, Jackie, but the real necklace still belongs to me.”

She leaned in, her lips nearly brushing Jacklyn’s ear, and whispered, “Jackie, guess how I got this necklace?”

Jacklyn’s eyes flicked to Penelope’s neck, her faint smile lingering. She knew hers was the real deal. As for whatever was hanging around Penelope’s neck…

The murmurs started fast, slipping through the crowd like a current.

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