Chapter 366
“Jennifer, just in time. Claire’s claiming she owns Hearth & Kettle. She’s making that up, right p>
Jennifer gave Valerie a quick look. Valerie wasn’t a regular, but Mabel and Eaton sure were. They’d been coming here for ages, and Mabel even brought Larkin to host parties now and then. Jennifer was much more familiar with their crowd. Valerie, on the other hand, had only popped in a few times because Mabel happened to drag her along.
“She actually is the owner of Hearth & Kettle. Any issues with that?” Jennifer asked, not bothering to hide her dislike. Valerie always carried herself like she was above it all, every time she set foot in here. Hearth & Kettle wasn’t like most restaurants around town. They never struggled for business and definitely didn’t need to suck up to anyone.
Valerie stared at Jennifer, completely thrown off. For a second, she thought she must have heard wrong. Claire… the real owner? How could that be? Who handed her the property? Did the James family know about this? Maybe Claire had fooled one of the elders and taken it behind everyone’s back.
“This place was a wedding gift to Claire’s grandmother. It only makes sense she’d leave it to her only granddaughter, right p>
Cindy and her family walked in just then, with York right behind them. Frederic pulled some strings to book a table as soon as he found out Hearth & Kettle was reopening. He and Latham had another reason for coming-they wanted to talk business about developing the West Side of town. They didn’t have enough capital to go at it alone, and finding a third partner would be perfect.
They showed up later than most and, as soon as they stepped inside, caught a bit of Jennifer’s raised voice-her words about Hearth & Kettle being passed down from Claire’s grandmother carried clear across the room. Both families paused at the door, somewhere between shock and denial.
“Wait Latham, wasn’t Claire’s grandmother just some country woman?” Frederic asked, as if he couldn’t make sense of what he’d just heard. He’d always considered Hearth & Kettle an impossible get, and now it turned out to be nothing more than someone’s wedding gift?
Latham pressed his lips together. “Yeah, she lives out in the countryside p>
James Village didn’t look rich, but it wasn’t poor either. Not to Latham, anyway. He glanced at Cindy. “Did you know this was Pandora’s house, Cindy? Did she ever bring you here p>
Cindy’s face went paper white. She clutched her shirt so tightly her
knuckles were white, twisting the
fabric out of shape. Nobody wasnet
more Stunned than she was. Her grandmother had never ever
mentioned owning a place
like this.
Why would she keep it a secret? Did
that mean she never really saw
Cindy as family?
“No… I had no idea.” Cindy’s mind spiraled with questions. Maybe Pandora always knew she wasn’t her real granddaughter. Otherwise, why would Claire get all the good things and she got nothing?
Octavia, standing nearby, was
fuming. “Pandora sure knows how
herca
to play her cards… if this is actually true.” She could barely believe her own daughter was so out of the loop, while Claire just moved back home for a few days and already had a massive house to her name. Even if the area was a little old and rough around the edges, everyone knew Hearth & Kettle was a
goldmine. That property was worth a fortune. Pandora gave it all to Claire and kept Cindy in the dark, like she was scared someone might steal it.
She couldn’t help but feel it was all horribly unfair for her daughter.
Lance and York were both thrown off too. Looking at Claire-confident, radiant— then back at Cindy, it was hard not to notice how plain Cindy seemed in comparison.
York felt a chill of regret. Had he called off the engagement too quickly?
Lance was even more unsettled. He’d expected Claire to come crawling back, desperate for a
second chance. Instead, she just et
quietly turned out to be the owner of a ten-million-dollar estate? No wait. If they ever tore this place down to redevelop or if she decided to sell, it could go for so much more. Maybe over a hundred million, easy.