Substitute Marriage With the Illegitimate Son novel Chapter 52

Janet was startled and confused. With the bottle of water in her other hand, she took a sip nonchalantly and shook her head. "No. It's right there on my finger! Or are you blind?"

She looked at him playfully.

Ethan, on the other hand, was in no mood to joke. His expression darkened and his voice lowered. "Let me see."

Unlike Janet, he was very familiar with the ring. He knew something was wrong with it at just a glance.

As she took off the ring, Janet muttered to herself, "Weird."

Ethan pressed his fingers against his temple and picked up the ring to have a closer look. His expression grew even more serious. "The back of the ring I gave you is engraved with my mother's initials, but this ring has no such engravings."

Ethan knew she was short on money, but he didn't expect her to sell the ring just like that.

He wouldn't have minded if it were any other ring, but this ring in particular was left by his mother.

"Is this a fake?!" Janet's eyes went wide in shock. She took the ring back from him and inspected it. Sure enough, its inner wall was very smooth. There wasn't a sign of any engraving on it.

Ethan shook his head and frowned deeply. "It's not a fake—at least, not exactly. The gem and the platinum are real, and the style is similar to the ring I gave you. It's difficult for ordinary people to distinguish the difference between the two. But this is just a counterfeit, and it was made to copy the original one. The one I gave you is a quite famous antique. It was passed down from my mother's ancestors. Its value is worth ten times more than this one.

Ethan didn't know much about jewelry before, but he had made a few friends in the industry. They told him that some people sold fakes and played tricks like this.

Janet felt all the color drain from her face. Her hands and feet went cold, as though someone had stabbed her with an ice pick.

The manager of the second-hand shop must've realized instantly that her ring was a priceless antique. She was so greedy that she lied to Janet through her teeth about changing the ring size. In fact, she had replaced the real ring with a measly imitation.

Seeing that Janet was at a loss for words, Ethan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Why're you wearing a fake? Did you sell the real ring and find a cheap replacement so I wouldn't notice?"