Chapter 509

“That jewelry she’s wearing must have cost a fortune.” Octavia would never admit

she was jealous, but honestly, she couldn’t stop staring at Pandora. Latham noticed too. “Maybe her family has some old money,” he said. His own mom had a few nice pieces as well, but she was never close with her daughters-in-law, so when her sons got married, she didn’t even bring out the jewelry. She worked at the hospital most of the time, so it wasn’t like she’d wear them anyway. Latham remembered seeing them only when he was a kid.

“Having family money just hits different. Even her wedding house is worth a ton. Was Pandora just pretending to be poor out in the country?” Octavia’s mood was turning sour. If Pandora had shown off her wealth from the start, would Cindy have had to struggle so much?

“She wasn’t pretending,” Latham said. “Didn’t you see? She’s basically the boss of her village. What she says goes. Her house is the nicest one around, and the cobblestone road leads straight from the village gate to her door. That already says she comes from money. She stays there because she wants to, not because she doesn’t have any other option.” The first time Latham had visited, he’d sensed right away that Pandora’s background was anything but simple. Maybe her family had fallen on hard times later. Back in the old days, it was easy for rich families to lose everything overnight.

But then he found out that the wedding house Pandora gave Claire was actually Hearth & Kettle. That changed everything. He realized he’d underestimated her. Pandora wasn’t just comfortable-she was loaded. He even looked into it and heard that Hearth & Kettle was originally a wedding gift from a wealthy James family patriarch to his daughter. There was no telling how much money Pandora’s family really had. In those days, it was normal for the wealthy to quietly stash away gold, jewelry, antiques, and paintings.

Now, Latham actually regretted not building more of a connection with Pandora. If it wasn’t for Pandora being so cold to them, he would have loved to have her as a godmother. That way, both families could be joined together. Pandora only had Claire as a granddaughter. Sooner or later, Claire would need to rely on them. Wouldn’t that mean some of Pandora’s wealth would come their way? Latham couldn’t help it—he always thought like a businessman.

“I just think she’s unfair to our Cindy. Pandora’s always scheming something, Octavia said. Latham didn’t even know how to respond. What kind of family sits down and shows their kids the bank

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statements and deeds from

childhood? If Cindy had any sense, wouldn’t she have noticed that Pandora lived well never seemed short on money, and always had nice things? Even that blue-stone courtyard and those carved beams-did Cindy really think that was normal for a regular country family? There was nobody to blame but their own daughter for being so oblivious.

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“Alright, let’s drop it. Cindy’s been studying well lately. She should get into a good college, right? If Claire somehow comes out as the top score maybe we can host a jointe graduation party for both girls. I was even thinking of asking Pandora if we could use Hearth & Kettle for the party,” Latham said.

Octavia’s face darkened. “No matter how well Cindy does, she’ll never outshine Claire. You really want Cindy to look like she’s just there as an extra, next to an adopted daughter? Everyone will be focused on Claire. Who’s going to care about Cindy? And who’s paying for the party anyway p>

Octavia was being so petty that Latham lost interest in arguing. “We can just split the cost p>

“Hearth & Kettle charges a fortune per table,” Octavia pointed out. “In the end, it’ll just make Claire look even better, and our Cindy will get nothing out of it p>