Chapter 152
Sophia stared at her friend, completely stunned. “Claire, what kind of Agarwood pillow is actually worth that much p>
Twenty million was no small amount. For most people, that was a fortune. Only yesterday, Sophia had been worrying if Claire even had enough money for meals, always trying to drag her along for lunch or dinner so she could save a few bucks. Who would have thought Claire could just sell a single pillow for twenty million? With that kind of money, why would she even bother living in Lance’s apartment? Wouldn’t it be better to just buy a place across from campus, or at least rent something nice nearby?
Lance, for his part, had honestly forgotten all about Claire selling the pillow. “Whatever. If you don’t want to tutor Cindy, then don’t. Who needs your money, anyway?” The second he realized Claire wasn’t going to agree, he changed his attitude in a heartbeat.
Cindy, though, was practically burning with jealousy at the mention of twenty million. Lance only ever gave her two hundred thousand in pocket money, and her mom gave her a measly hundred thousand. Yet here was Claire, suddenly rolling in cash, all because she sold the pillow she’d been sleeping on since she was little. That should have been hers. If Claire hadn’t gotten in the way, Cindy could’ve sold the Agarwood pillow herself.
She glared at Pandora, blaming her for being unfair. There were two Agarwood pillows, but Pandora refused to let her take the one she’d used since she was little. Of course, Cindy had conveniently forgotten that it was actually Octavia who told her not to take it. Plus, she herself thought the old pillow was way too tacky for her fancy new European-style bed. If she’d insisted on bringing it, Pandora wouldn’t have stopped her. After all, it was the pillow she’d slept on since childhood, and Pandora was never going to give her real granddaughter something secondhand anyway. In the end, Claire selling the pillow was just a coincidence.
“You can go ahead and figure out how much I owe the James family, too,” Claire tossed at Lance before turning to leave.
Lance went back home, still fuming. He brought up the idea of hiring a tutor for Cindy. Octavia agreed right away. “She really does need a tutor. If she falls behind and fails her finals, it’ll be embarrassing for us. But Claire has always had great grades. She could tutor Cindy. That way, we’d save on the tutor’s fee p>
“I already mentioned it to her, but she refused. She even said we should add up all her living expenses over the years so she can pay us back, Dance complained, his anger flaring up again Like paying us back would mean she could just cut ties with the James family p>
Octavia hadn’t expected things to go this way. Seeing how upset Lance was, she figured Claire must have said something really hurtful. She knew all too well how often those two clashed.
“It’s not just money we spent on her
all these years. I practically raised her myself. I gave up my career to stay home and look after you and her. Raising a child is about so much more than money. And now she wants to settle up p>
As she spoke, Octavia felt a pang of guilt, but no one else could see that.
Lance nodded, clearly still upset. “Exactly, Mom. There’s no way she could ever pay
us back for everything we’ve done for her p>
Latham didn’t like where the
conversation was going. “Let’s not
make things ugly with Claire. To
‘s still a child raised
other people; she’s still
by the James family. When she gets married someday, we’ll give her a nice wedding gift and treat her as our adopted daughter p>
Latham was always calculating. Claire was smart and pretty. He was sure she’d find
a great match, and if they could use her for a marriage alliance, all the better for the James family.
“Octavia, Claire may not be your biological daughter, but you did raise her. There’s still a mother-daughter bond. We don’t need her to pay back that little bit of money. She can be like extended family from now on p>