To keep it safe from himself. Howard nods, replacing the ring on the table, thinking.

"All this time and he hasn't tried to take it back from you?" he asks, a little astonished. It doesn't make sense. He doesn't think Tony's lying, but it doesn't make any sense at all. "I never would have thought...I wouldn't have thought he'd give it up. Not after all he did to get it in the first place."

He's irrationally offended, a little angry. Did that mean all the pain and heartache he and Tony had been through had meant nothing, in the end?