Chapter: 589

“Aunt Florence, let’s put that aside for now. The matter of utmost importance now is whether you’ve found someone to verify if the sapphire’s genuine?” Julie piped up.

“But it’s so pretty! It can’t be a fake gem, can it? Besides, Dustin’s father said this is a family heirloom!” Florence refused to believe that the gem could be a fake.

“Aunt Florence, how can you believe everything he says? You’re too gullible! For safety’s sake, it’s best if you get it appraised! You never know if it’s a sham!” Julie instigated.

“You’re right.” Florence nodded.

“But where should I get it appraised?”

“Don’t you worry, Aunt Florence. I know just the right person to get it appraised. Just let me have the sapphire for a while, and we’ll soon have our answer,” Julie affirmed confidently.

“Alright, then. I’ll be waiting.” Florence did not doubt Julie even for a moment, and passed the sapphire along with the box it came with to her.

Half an hour later, in the gemological laboratory.

“What? This is a genuine sapphire worth billions? You–you’re not mistaken, are you?” Julie was dumbfounded when she heard the results.

“We’ve run multiple tests on it. It can’t be wrong. In fact, this is an extremely rare variety of sapphire. If it were to be auctioned, the starting bid would be one billion, at the very least,” the expert appraiser told her.

“Great! This is just great! We’ve struck gold this time!” Julie burst out laughing. A sapphire worth billions! How did they run into such luck?

Just then, Julie’s phone rang. She answered the call. It was Florence.

“Hello, Julie. How did the appraisal go? Is it a genuine sapphire?”

“O–of course it’s… It’s a fake one!” An idea came to Julie. She feigned disappointment.

“Aunt Florence, you’ve been deceived by Dustin and his father! I just had the sapphire appraised. They confirmed that it’s just a synthetic gemstone. It’ll just cost you maybe 20 or 30 dollars to get your hands on one. It’s trash. I’ve thrown it away!”

“What? It’s synthetic? Those darned loafers! How dare they trick me! I’ll make them pay!” She let out a curse and cut the call.

That evening at Peaceful Medical Center, Natasha waltzed in through the doors happily with two bottles of wine in her hand.

“Honey, I’m back! Look what I brought! These are aged wines, I’m sure you’ll love them!”

All of a sudden, the smile on her face froze as she noticed that not only was Dustin not inside, but there were also two strangers in there instead. Gregory, who was usually in a drunken stupor, now sat upright with a stern expression on his face. How peculiar.

“Mr. Jones, who are they?” Natasha’s curiosity was piqued.

“You’re back, lass? Here, let me introduce them. This one here is Dustin’s father, and this one is an old pal of mine.” Gregory gestured to Rufus and Albert, respectively, as he introduced them to Natasha.

“Dustin’s father?” Natasha’s eyes lit up.

“Oh, so my father–in–law is here! I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you!” As she spoke, she immediately got up and poured them each a cup of tea. Then, she smiled sweetly and said to Rufus, “Please have some tea, Father!”

“What?” Rufus took a while to adapt to such enthusiasm.

“Young lady, may I know who you might be?”