Chapter 22

Claire stared at Lance like he’d just said the dumbest thing in the world. “Did I steal

it p>

“Did you both forget? That pillow was Pandora’s wedding gift. She gets to decide who it goes to p>

As soon as Claire mentioned Pandora, Lance clammed up.

Pandora finally spoke up, her tone calm but firm. “Exactly. The pillow is mine and I’m

giving it to my real granddaughter. Since Cindy isn’t related to me by blood, the agarwood pillow belongs to Claire p>

Cindy looked like she might collapse, completely blindsided by how blunt her grandmother was.

“I’m sorry, Grandma. I just wanted to keep the pillow as a keepsake, not because it’s valuable p>

Pandora gave Cindy a long, unreadable look. “You’ve used the same rice bowl for over ten years. If you want a souvenir, you can take that too p>

Cindy tried to smile, but it looked forced. “No, that’s alright. Thank you, Grandma. I’ll visit you next time p>

She couldn’t wait to get out of there.

Octavia felt the same way. The three of them left in a hurry.

Claire’s lips curled up just a little. How come Cindy didn’t want the bowl she’d used

for so many years? As if anyone could fool Pandora with that fake act.

Dane, meanwhile, was completely lost when it came to their family mess.

Pandora was kind enough to explain. “The girls were switched at birth. We only found out today. Sorry you had to see all this drama p>

Dane just nodded. He wasn’t the gossipy type, so he let it go.

1.n

He glanced at the pillow. “Honestly, if all of this hadn’t happened, I probably wouldn’t have been able to buy this agarwood pillow at all, right He figured if there hadn been a mix up, Pandora would never sett something as meaningful as her wedding gift. And Claire didn’t seem like the kind of girl who cared that much about money anyway.

Pandora just smiled.

Claire definitely didn’t want anything Cindy had used, that much was obvious. And selling the pillow right in front of them? That was the perfect way to rub it in. Octavia had shown up acting like country people were beneath her, and now a pillow from that same “country” home”-one she’d thought was worthless-sold for twenty million. That was enough to keep them up at night.

Back in the car, Octavia’s face looked stormy.

Cindy curled up in the back seat, not making a sound. She was eaten up by regret Twenty million. She used to worry about spending twenty dollar and now Clare had sold a pillow she didn’t even want for a fortune.

“You slept on that pillow for years, and you never realized it was agarwood?” Octavia finally couldn’t hold back and muttered at her daughter.

“I didn’t know what agarwood was,” Cindy whispered. “I just thought the pillow felt nice and smelled good, so I wanted to take it p>

Octavia had nothing to say to that. Cindy had wanted to keep it, Pandora hadn’t stopped her, but she herself had turned her nose up at it.

“Mom, can you not make it worse for Cindy?” Lance said, sounding annoyed. He hated the idea of Claire getting that money-he wanted Claire to be left with nothing.

Octavia scowled. “How am I making it worse? I’m not blaming her for anything.” “She grew up in the countryside, so it makes sense she wouldn’t know about agarwood. Claire grew up with us, her world’s just bigger p>

Cindy pressed her lips together, eyes flashing with stubbornness. She didn’t want to lose to Claire, but the truth was, they’d grown up in completely different worlds. What could she do about it?

And then there was Dane. He was the most impressive man she’d ever met, a real aristocrat from Cabinda. Would Claire try to get close to him?