Chapter 115: Is That Thing on Your Neck Just for Decoration?
"Where’s the agreement, then? Show it to us!"
First Uncle’s wife shouted. The last time Leah Sinclair had come back, Jack Sinclair had gotten ideas about making her his wife. Back then, they had wanted to go to the village chief to get the agreement back.
But the village chief was no fool. He had been cautious years ago and given the agreement to Grandma Sinclair. They had searched for it over the past two days but couldn’t find it. They figured that after so many years, Grandma Sinclair herself had probably forgotten where she’d stuffed it. They were betting that Leah Sinclair wouldn’t be able to find it either.
"The agreement, you mean?"
Leah Sinclair opened the small box she had just taken out and retrieved a piece of paper from inside. "You were so sure I wouldn’t find it, weren’t you? What a shame. I did."
She held the paper between her fingers, her gaze cool as she looked at the four people across from her. "You never expected this, did you? That Grandma would take precautions against you in the end?"
Jack Sinclair froze for a moment, then suddenly rushed forward and snatched the paper away. Ethan Shaw and the others shot to their feet. "Fuck!"
By the time they tried to grab it back, it was too late. Jack Sinclair immediately lit the paper on a candle from the memorial altar behind him, which hadn’t been taken down yet. "Hahaha, is there an agreement? Leah Sinclair, do you have an agreement now?"
Asher Keating’s expression turned completely cold. Just as he was about to stand up, Leah Sinclair laughed. "Jack Sinclair, seriously, is that thing on your neck just for decoration? Did you think I’d be as stupid as you?"
"W-what do you mean?" Jack Sinclair was stunned. Only when the flame burned his hand did he react, throwing the paper on the ground and frantically shaking his hand.
Leah Sinclair pulled another piece of paper from her pocket. This time, she unfolded it. The contents of the agreement were written on it in black and white, with the thumbprints of Grandma Sinclair and First Uncle Sinclair at the bottom.
Leah Sinclair sneered. "That one just now was a fake. It was just a piece of paper with some data I jotted down at the construction site the other day, which I happened to stuff in my pocket. Didn’t you even think to look at it before you burned it?"
Jack Sinclair tried to rush forward and snatch it again but was forcefully pushed back by Sean Yates and Ethan Shaw. Just as Leah Sinclair was about to put the paper away, Asher Keating took it from her hand.
He glanced at it, then carefully folded it and tucked it into his overcoat pocket. He patted her head. "Continue."
Leah Sinclair suddenly felt a little embarrassed. She had come here today with the intention of completely burning her bridges, without caring what Asher Keating would think of her. She was just that kind of brazen person.
’And how did all my agreements end up in Asher Keating’s hands? The one for Azure Bay, the one for the Sinclair Family...’ Leah Sinclair cleared her throat. "Last chance. Give me the household registration booklet, or watch me smash everything in this room."
She slowly stood up, walked to a corner of the room, picked up a brick, and threw it back onto the table. Asher Keating finally understood why she had forced him to eat lunch. ’She was saving up her energy.’ A smile touched his eyes. He lit another cigarette and watched the little spitfire in front of him, ready to cause a scene.
First Uncle Sinclair heaved a heavy sigh and rushed back to his room. When the others tried to stop him, Sheila Hughes quickly grabbed First Uncle’s wife, while Sean Yates, Ethan Shaw, and Riley Sterling blocked Jason Sinclair and Jack Sinclair.
A moment later, First Uncle Sinclair handed the household registration booklet to Leah Sinclair with a trembling hand. Leah took it, examined it carefully, and tucked it into her pocket.
She picked up a pen and began writing an agreement in a notebook. Seeing that what was done was done, First Uncle’s wife shoved First Uncle Sinclair hard and shouted resentfully, "If you’re going to play it that way, what else is in that box! That belonged to my mother-in-law! What right do you have to take it?"
Leah Sinclair sneered as she wrote. "First Aunt, I’m terribly sorry, but Grandma said the things in here are mine. They’ve been with me since she found me."
"It’s yours just because you say so? What proof do you have? I saw it just now, it’s a gold locket, isn’t it? I’m the one who bought that for her last month, don’t even think about taking it!"
First Uncle’s wife had caught a glimpse of the box’s contents when Leah Sinclair opened it earlier. It was a small gold locket, and it was real gold. There was no way she would let Leah Sinclair take it.
Leah Sinclair laughed in exasperation. She threw down her pen, ready to get physical instead of writing the agreement, but Asher Keating pressed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure you bought that last month?"
"Of course! The old lady wanted to buy one, and since the new year was coming, I just bought it for her. What about it?" ’Anyway, Grandma Sinclair is gone now, so there’s no one to contradict my story,’ First Uncle’s wife thought. ’What can you do?’
Asher Keating opened the box and took out the small gold locket. He gave it a quick look and called out, "Ethan Shaw."
"Yo! Right here."
Asher Keating tossed the locket to him. "Perfect timing. Ethan is our resident gold expert. Let him take a good look."
Ethan Shaw gave a theatrical cough and then began to carefully examine the gold locket in his hand. Grandma Sinclair had kept it in excellent condition. The patterns on it were still clear, and it had a substantial weight.
He weighed it in his palm. It was about a hundred grams, which surprised him slightly. He took a lighter from his pocket, heated the locket for a moment, then examined it again and confirmed it was pure gold.
"This locket is pure gold, weighing around a hundred grams. But judging by the style, the pattern, and the purity of the gold, this is definitely something from over twenty years ago."
Ethan Shaw handed the locket back to Leah Sinclair, then turned to the Sinclair Family with a mocking expression. "A hundred grams of pure gold. Do you have any idea what that means? Based on the current price of gold—I believe it’s around 658 today, and it was about 600 a month ago—that’s sixty thousand yuan. What, Leah Sinclair just gave you over fifty thousand, so where did you get sixty thousand to buy this? Who are you trying to fool? If you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to take this locket to a jewelry store to have it tested. It’s guaranteed to be a piece from over twenty years ago."
Leah Sinclair was also surprised as she took the locket. She didn’t have much of a concept of gold prices, but a hundred grams of gold would not have been a small sum of money over twenty years ago when she was born.
This locket had been with her all this time. That meant her birth parents weren’t a poor family unable to care for her. Otherwise, they never would have been able to give her this locket.
At this thought, a pang of bitterness welled up in her heart. ’Does this mean my parents really, truly didn’t want me? Was this locket just their only form of compensation?’
Asher Keating stood beside her, wrapping an arm around her and letting her lean against him. He knew that Leah Sinclair must be thinking about her parents right now.
He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. Leah Sinclair looked up at him, and he looked down, smiling at her. Leah was momentarily dazed, and she felt the bitterness in her heart slowly dissipate.
She went back to writing the agreement. When she finally finished, she signed her name, pressed her thumbprint, and handed the notebook and pen to First Uncle Sinclair. "Uncle, this is the last time I’ll call you that. It hasn’t even been seven days since Grandma passed. For her sake, just sign it."