CHAPTER 287: CHAPTER 287: MONEY

Jean gasped. "Interest? What?! Are you joking?!"

Aurora tilted her head and said sweetly,

"No, not joking. If you don’t give him the money today, you have to pay a little more each day. Because the longer you wait, the less the money is worth. That’s called inflation. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you every day."

Jean looked like she was about to explode. She pointed at Aurora and shouted,

"You’re just doing this to make things hard for me! Who charges tax every single day?!"

Aurora looked back at her with innocent eyes. "I’m not the one who ate someone else’s food. I’m just making sure you learn the value of respect."

Jean’s face turned red with anger. She turned to Mary and pointed at Aurora. "Look at your daughter! You’ve spoiled her! She’s treating her elder like this!"

But Mary just sighed. "What can I say? Aurora has always been weak since she was a child. I can’t stop her if she’s angry."

Jean and Ruby stomped their feet in frustration.

"We’re leaving!" Jean shouted.

But right before they left, Jean turned to Ruby and said, "Give him the rest of the money."

Ruby growled under her breath but took out $202 from her purse. With an angry face, she threw it toward Theodore and walked away with her mom.

As they walked outside, Ruby was fuming.

"I can’t believe this!" she snapped. "We lost $615 just like that! All because you wanted pizza!"

Jean almost cried. "I didn’t know it was that expensive! I just saw cheese and grabbed it!"

Ruby turned her head sharply. "Are you sure you didn’t know? Not even a little?"

Jean looked away and whispered, "...Maybe I had a small idea. But I didn’t think they’d actually make me pay."

Ruby sighed loudly and shook her head. "The Waters family is like a pack of tigers! Every one of them is worse than the other!"

Jean didn’t say anything for a while. But then she smiled and turned to Ruby.

"I have an idea," she said with a little sparkle in her eye.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Jean leaned in and whispered, "If we can get Adam on our side... everything will be easy. I just need to seduce him. If we get him to like me, we can take half the property and blackmail him."

Ruby’s eyes widened like saucers. "Are you crazy?! I’m not letting you cheat on my dad!"

Jean rolled her eyes. "I’m not going to cheat. I’m just saying... make Adam think something happened. We take photos, scare him a little, and get what we want. That’s not cheating, it’s just smart."

Ruby stared at her mom like she had just discovered a genius.

"Mom," she said slowly, "you’re... honestly the smartest person I’ve ever met."

Jean smiled proudly. "I know."

Back inside the house, Aurora, Theodore, and Mary sat on the couch, sipping tea.

Theodore leaned back, still holding the money Ruby had thrown at him. "You know, I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone so angry while paying a bill," he said with a grin.

Aurora chuckled. "She looked like she was being robbed."

Mary sighed, rubbing her temples. "I knew Jean was greedy, but this is... another level."

Aurora tilted her head thoughtfully. "She’s not just greedy. She’s dangerous. She plays dumb, but she plans everything."

Theodore nodded. "Do you think they’ll really try something again?"

Aurora smiled coldly. "They will. People like her don’t stop until they lose everything."

Mary frowned. "I shouldn’t have let her enter at all."

Aurora shook her head and comforted her.

"Mom," she said, "you didn’t invite Jean with bad intentions. She fooled you. That’s not your fault."

Mary sighed and looked down, clearly still feeling guilty. "But if I hadn’t let her in, none of this would have happened. Maybe I..."

Aurora shook her head. "Let’s not live in the past. What’s more important now is to get rid of her cleanly."

Then, Aurora looked at both Mary and Theodore and said, "Actually, I think we should just give her some money and let her go."

The room fell quiet.

Theodore blinked. "You... want to give her money?"

Aurora nodded. "Yes. Not because we owe her anything, but because it’ll shut her up. If she thinks she’s won a little, she’ll leave faster."

Mary looked unsure at first, but then slowly nodded. "That... might work."

Seeing everyone agree, she added, "Okay. Let’s give her $200,000 and end this farce once and for all."

Aurora’s eyes widened. "Wait! Mom! Two hundred thousand?! That’s way too much!"

Mary tilted her head. "Is it? I just want her gone quickly."

Aurora laughed dryly. "Even if you want her gone, don’t hand her your whole wallet. We can start with $20,000 and bargain. If we do it right, she’ll settle for $50,000."

Theodore smiled. "That’s smart."

Mary blinked and smiled, too. "You’ve really grown up, Aurora."

Theodore chuckled. "With instincts like that, you’ll be running a company in no time."

Aurora giggled a little and stood up. "Maybe I will."

She headed to her room, her footsteps light. Today was Sunday, and school was off. But Aurora wasn’t planning to laze around. Today, she had a date with Spencer.

She opened her closet and picked out a beautiful white spaghetti dress that reached her knees. She curled her soft red hair and let it fall over her shoulders.

Then, she added a soft layer of makeup, nothing too heavy, just enough to highlight her features.

When she looked at herself in the mirror, she smiled proudly. "Perfect."

She grabbed her purse and left her room, her heart beating just a little faster.

Ever since she learned that Spencer might be going away, she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. Who knew when they’d see each other again?

Soon, she arrived at the café Spencer had asked her to come to. It was a small but cozy place with flowers on each table and soft music playing in the background.