Chapter 153: Chapter 153: The Lost Brooch
Ashley Shaw treated herself like an emotional trash can, cooperatively asking, "What did she say? Could it be that her boyfriend hit her daughter, and she’s blaming you for it?"
Ariana Grant was shocked, her eyes wide open, and even forgot to eat her chips.
"How do you know? Are you eavesdropping? Can you hear from that far away?"
"I just guessed from your reaction."
Ariana sighed and said hatefully, "Well, you guessed right. That’s exactly what she said! She told me it’s all my fault, that I shouldn’t have brought you along, and even blamed me for not telling her sooner about your relationship with the Prescott Family."
"Not only that, she also said you shouldn’t hold grudges with Hailey Hayes and told me to speak kindly to you. What kind words should I say? Doesn’t she know Hailey’s character herself?"
"If that girl was genuinely kind, it would be okay, but clearly she’s saying her cousin could sponsor you just to mock you for delivering food, and to win some face in front of me."
Ashley Shaw, hearing this, asked curiously, "Why does she have to win face against you?"
Ariana snorted, "It’s simple. Because the first time we met, my mom bragged about my grades to her, bragged about me getting into a top school. While she, with her poor grades, could only attend a private high school."
Ashley immediately understood.
"What a vain, face-loving girl."
"Isn’t she? My mom still thinks she’s great all around and even wants me to find some time to apologize to her. I just want to ask, what did I do wrong?"
As Ariana spoke, her eyes started to redden again.
"Don’t cry, eat some chips. Come on, eat as much as you want today; cherish today."
Ariana’s eyes brightened again upon hearing she could eat freely.
To a food lover, nothing is more important than food.
"I want to eat hot pot tonight."
"Sure, but we can’t have the spicy pot."
"Hooray!"
Ariana was easy to cheer up and soon felt fine again.
But then she thought of something and tugged on Ashley’s sleeve, asking, "Ashley, did you know all along that my mom is like this, which is why you asked me to help my dad in court? To fight for my dad to get this house?"
A fleeting look of guilt passed through Ashley’s eyes, unnoticed by Ariana.
She coughed lightly and said vaguely, "Well, you could say I’m just a bystander who’s clear-headed when the involved parties might be confused."
Ariana nodded, saying, "That’s true. Thanks to you advising me, otherwise, given my mom’s current situation, that house would probably be left to that father and daughter duo. In my opinion, her dad isn’t a good person either; having such a daughter shows he’s no good himself."
Ashley definitely agreed with this point.
"Her dad is essentially the same as Hailey, they’re alike."
"How else could he raise such a daughter?"
Normally, Ashley didn’t like to comment on others, but she understood her role as an emotional trash can.
So she followed up with Ariana, asking, "Uncle Hayes... what does Kevin Hayes do? Although their family isn’t massively wealthy, they seem to be doing okay."
Due to Ariana’s family losing the house to the Hayes Family in her past life, Ashley wanted to seize the opportunity to scout out the situation.
In case things went awry in court and the house ended up with Ariana’s mom, she’d be prepared.
All Ariana said was, "I think he works at Ford Group, but I don’t know exactly what he does; he probably isn’t high up."
"Ford Group?"
"Mm."
Ashley’s eyelids twitched slightly.
Ford Group, isn’t it the company of the guy who declared at The Queen’s Bar today that he wanted to gift her to Leo?
Talk about enemies meeting on a narrow bridge.
Thinking of the bar, Ashley remembered the men’s brooch she bought today.
She hurriedly said, "I forgot to bring Leo’s gift up from the scooter. You said you’d give me the scooter."
"Sure, go ahead! I’ll check out which hot pot place to go to while you’re at it."
Ariana handed her the e-scooter keys while pulling out her phone to look at restaurant apps.
About five minutes later, Ashley came back up.
"Ariana, did you bring my gift up for me?"
"What gift?"
"The one I got for Leo."
"I didn’t get it; wasn’t it underneath the scooter seat?"
"No, I searched everywhere, the gift box and outside bag are both gone."
"Did we remember wrong? Was it in the scooter’s rear trunk?"
"No, I checked, nothing."
Ariana immediately stood up from the sofa and asked, "How much was the gift?"
Ashley painfully uttered a number, "One million and seven thousand."
Ariana’s eyes widened suddenly.
"Wh-wh-how much?"
"One million and seven thousand." Ashley paused, fearing Ariana might panic, and added, "But I didn’t pay for it myself. Warren Prescott paid for it."
Ariana barely heard Ashley’s last words; her mind was stuck on "one million and seven thousand, one million and seven thousand."
She grabbed Ashley’s arm and said, "Let’s go down together. I’ll help you look; maybe it’s somewhere we overlooked."
"Okay."
Two pairs of eyes are always better than one; the two soon went downstairs and thoroughly searched around the scooter.
They even went to the security guard to check the surveillance footage.
But the surveillance showed that since the scooter was parked at the unit door, not a soul had approached it, not even a stray cat.
Suddenly, Ariana turned sharply to Ashley and said, "Ashley, is there a possibility that Hailey Hayes, that bad girl, took your brooch?"
Ashley furrowed her brows slightly, then after a moment of silence, said, "She did use our scooter to pick up your mom, and she did come up only before your mom went upstairs."
"That’s the perfect time for her to do it!"
"Without evidence, we can’t directly say she took it, or your mom will blame you again."
Ariana gritted her teeth and said, "One million and seven thousand! Who cares if she says something about me? If Hailey Hayes really is a thief, one million and seven thousand can directly sentence her to jail."
Ashley saw Ariana turning to rush out, seemingly wanting to drag Hailey out from her home, and quickly pulled her back, saying, "Ariana, don’t be impulsive. If she really took it, maybe she thought it was a gift we bought for her. So don’t get agitated yet; let’s go and ask to see what’s going on."
Ariana nodded with difficulty.
"Okay! Let’s do as you say first, go ask her. If she stubbornly denies it, don’t blame us for calling her a thief."
"Okay."
The two left the security office and headed to Southgate.