Chapter 43

"Grandma, did you hear another stupid rumor again?" Cassandra blinked and tilted her head toward Vera, eyes glinting with amusement. When she caught Vera’s guilty flicker of a glance, Cassandra scoffed silently. "Don’t play dumb with me," Evelyn's tone hardened. "I heard you snatched Mara’s pendant. Give it back immediately and apologize." Snatched? So that’s the version Vera fed her grandmother? Pretty lame storytelling, honestly. Cassandra suddenly burst into a smile, bright and cool. "This is news to me. Who exactly told you that, Grandma? And before accusing me, did you confirm anything with Mr. Hawthorne or any of the Hawthornes?" "I mean, you’ve always been sharp. I figured you’d look into the facts instead of falling for nonsense," she said casually, running a finger over the sapphire on her ring before turning upstairs. Clearly, Vera was hoping to use Grandma to pressure her into handing over that pendant. Yeah, good luck with that. "Vera, did Cassandra really snatch someone’s