Chapter 167 Tricked
“Weren’t you wearing it this morning and staunchly refused to return it to Jonathan? Don’t you remember?” Josephine couldn’t help feeling a tad suspicious at the panicked expression on Margaret’s face.
“Oh, you’re referring to that watch?” It was as though something suddenly occurred to Margaret. “I took it off this morning before leaving home and placed it on the table!”
“You placed it on the table?” Josephine swept a gaze over the table in bewilderment, but there was only an empty box there.
Huh? There’s no watch there.
Upon glimpsing the dubious look in her eyes, Margaret uneasily changed her tune. “Perhaps I took it off when I took a shower but forgot where I put it. I’ll look for it when I’m free.”
“You’re not lying to me, are you, Mom?” Josephine regarded her skeptically.
She took it off but forgot where she put it? After so many years, I know her all too well! She would never bear to take off a watch worth over ten million. Instead, she would probably flaunt it everywhere, afraid that people wouldn’t know that she was wearing such an expensive watch!
Hearing that, Margaret snorted and retorted, “Why would I do so? It’s just a worthless watch, no? Did you think I sold it off secretly?”
“That’s not what I meant, Mom—”
Surprise flooded Josephine at Margaret’s intense reaction.
I was merely asking about it, so why did she react so strongly?
“Okay, stop talking about that! It’s merely a worthless watch, isn’t it? I’ll just pay him back if I misplaced it!” Margaret harrumphed, cutting Josephine off mid-utterance and giving her no chance to speak.
“Mom, I—” Josephine wanted to speak further, but Margaret threw her a hard glare.
Having no other choice, she could only heave a sigh.
A few minutes later, she put down her fork and got to her feet before heading to the study.
She still had a ton of unfinished work regarding the construction site, so she naturally hadn’t the time to keep interrogating Margaret about the watch.
When she left, Jonathan also made to stand up. Unexpectedly, Margaret called him back no sooner had he done so.
“Jonathan!”
“Yes?” Jonathan turned back around.
“Did your watch really cost over ten million?” Margaret eyed him dubiously as though she didn’t believe that a watch could be worth more than ten million.
“Why would I lie to you?” Jonathan wasn’t in the mood to bandy words with her. If Josephine weren’t her daughter, I wouldn’t even deign to spare her a single glance!
“Then why did I hear that it’s merely an imitation, a knock-off? Not only that, but it’s even a cheap imitation!” Margaret’s brows drew together.
“Who said that?” Jonathan likewise frowned slightly.
Don’t tell me she took the watch to some expert and had it appraised?
“A friend of mine…” With a grim expression on her face, Margaret continued, “She even said that such cheap imitations are so common in the market that it’s not even worth a hundred grand, much less ten million. At most, it’s only worth fifty grand!”
“You’ve been tricked!” Jonathan cut straight to the chase with her.
Would Vacheron Constantin be so daring that they would sell a knock-off at their own store and even price it at over ten million? If someone were to sue them, even a hundred million wouldn’t suffice for the compensation they’d have to pay, let alone ten million!
Upon hearing that, Margaret instantly rebutted forcefully, “That’s impossible! She’s…”
“What were you going to say?” Jonathan demanded, arching an eyebrow.
“N-Nothing!” Seemingly having realized that she had had a slip of the tongue, Margaret hastily clapped a hand over her mouth.
“All right, that’s enough. Just drop the act! You sold that watch, didn’t you? I was simply restraining myself from exposing you when Josephine was here earlier.” Jonathan exposed her when he saw her panicked and flustered look.
Hah! She even claimed to have taken it off and forgotten where she placed it. Did she take me for a gullible three-year-old kid?
“What nonsense are you spouting, Jonathan? When did I sell that watch off? Don’t you slander me!” Margaret became even more emotional, acting as though she had truly been accused wrongly.
“You’re saying that I’m slandering you? Fine, then tell me where the watch is!” Jonathan spat since he couldn’t be bothered to waste his breath with her.
Then, he warned, “Don’t tell me that you took it off and forgot where you placed it. Even a three-year-old kid won’t believe such a lie! If all else fails, I can ask for the surveillance footage right now and see whether the watch was on your hand when you left the house this morning.”
“N-No! Don’t ask for the surveillance footage! I’ll tell you! I’ll talk, okay?” Margaret flew into a tizzy the second she heard that he was going to get the surveillance footage.
“So, where’s the watch?” Jonathan questioned coldly.
She’s really stubborn and would act dumb until the very last moment! If I hadn’t threatened to ask for the surveillance footage, she would’ve probably denied it to the bitter end!
“I lost it!” Margaret admitted in a mutter.
“You lost it?” Frowning, Jonathan queried, “You lost over ten million?”
Rolling her eyes, Margaret retorted, “Of course not! I only lost fifty or sixty thousand! They said the watch was a knock-off and was only worth forty to fifty thousand. I had no money, so I gave them the watch!”
From the looks of her right then, she was all righteous as though she hadn’t done anything wrong.
In fact, she even wore a nonchalant and indifferent expression.
“Why did you gamble such a huge sum when you had no money?” Jonathan threw her a chilly look. She knew that she had no money, yet she dared to lose a whopping fifty to sixty thousand?
“I don’t usually bet that much!” Scoffing, Margaret continued, “I happened to wear that watch today, and they kept complimenting it. Thus, I told them that Josephine gifted it to me, and it cost over ten million! They didn’t believe me and even snubbed me about how I was usually very stingy when I played with them that I don’t even dare place a huge bet. In a fit of pique, I started staking a hundred or two every round. Who would’ve known that I would be so unlucky as to lose close to sixty thousand in an afternoon?”
At that, she groused, “Later on, I really hadn’t that much money, so I had no choice but to use the watch to cover my debt. But at that time, they said that the watch was an imitation and was only worth fifty thousand! Argh! I’m so pissed off! That watch should’ve been good for a hundred grand at least since it was so beautiful!”
Even now, she didn’t believe that the watch was worth more than ten million. In her opinion, it was already amazing that a watch could fetch about a hundred thousand.
Besides, can a deadbeat like him afford to buy a watch over ten million? That’s downright absurd!
“You gave the watch that costs more than ten million away just to pay off a debt of fifty grand?” Jonathan sneered.
It’s plain as day that it was a trap they dug for her! They first tricked her into placing larger bets before lying that the watch was a knock-off. And in the end, they duped her into giving away the watch that cost more than ten million to cover a debt of fifty thousand. That’s a lousy trick to fool children, yet she actually fell for it despite being nearly fifty years old?
