Chapter 201
Leanna asked, "Are you sure it happened half a month ago?"
Before the girl could answer, the middle-aged woman said, "That doesn't matter. She got it from you
guys, and now we want a refund. You're wasting our time here."
Leanna looked at the ruined necklace. "Do you remember who sold you this?" she asked the girl. "Was
it that lady or someone else?"
The girl quickly said, "It was her."
"How much did you buy this for?"
"I-I don't remember."
The middle-aged woman snapped, "What's with all these questions? It's just forty bucks. Just pay up.
You own a big store. Not like you need that money anyway. Just give us the money and we'll leave."
Leanna smiled. "I can't give you the money if I don't know how much you paid."
The woman answered, "You're still going to have to pay for wasting my time and energy. Just add it all
up. Makes things easier for us."
"How much would you want?"
"Not much. Three, four thousand or so."
Leanna chuckled. "Three, four thousand?"
The woman scoffed, "Not much, don't you think? My daughter's a student. You wasted her day, and she
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might get left behind in class. She might end up going into a regular college instead of the Ivy League,
and that's going to cost her her whole future. Four thousand isn't much compared to my daughter's
future."
"Sure." Leanna whipped her phone out.
Just when the woman was going to tell Leanna to Venmo her, she saw Leanna calling the cops.
"Hey!" The woman started getting nervous. "If you think that's too much, we can negotiate. If you tell
the cops, I'm going to make sure you pay! I'll ruin your reputation!"
Leanna ignored her and told the cops what happened. After she hung up, she held the necklace up.
"One, this necklace was designed ten days ago. It couldn't have been a week since it went on sale.
Two, the lady you claimed who sold you this took a few days off and only came back yesterday."
Sh*t. She saw through us. The woman barked, "I don't care! You sold us this necklace, so you're
paying for the damages!"
Leanna said, "I'm not in a hurry. We'll talk once the cops are here."
The woman turned around and hurled insults at the girl. "You useless sh*t! You didn't even know when
you bought that stuff?" She poked the girl's head. "This is why your grades are trash! You have nothing
but sh*t for brains! You better think before you speak when the cops arrive!"
The girl stared at the ground and said nothing as the woman abused her.
Leanna noticed that the girl's uniform was bleached, and she was wearing nothing but a thin shirt
inside even though it was winter. Her sneakers were old and unassuming, but they were clean, unlike
her fat and gaudily-dressed mother.
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Someone like her wouldn't steal from their parents just to sate their ego. If I think about it, there's holes
in their testimony. Leanna just didn't know why they tried to scam her and made up a flimsy lie for it.
Zoe came back after a short while. She saw what happened and took Leanna aside. "What's going on,
Nana?"
Leanna told her about what happened. "I'm going to the police station for a bit. Close up the shop if
there's not much else to take care of, then swing by the hospital to see Tiffany."
"I'll call Louis then. You might need him." Zoe looked at the fat lady and clicked her tongue. "Just in
case a fight breaks out."
Leanna laughed. "It's just a testimony record, not a brawl. Nothing's gonna happen. Louis is going
through his finals, so keep quiet about it."
Zoe nodded. "Sure. Be careful then. I'll pick you up once things are done on my side."
The cops arrived a while later. Once they got to the station, the fat lady changed her attitude and
crafted a sob story of how poor she was. This time, she didn't let the girl say anything. All she did was
tell the cops her daughter was shocked.
Leanna told them what happened and the evidence she had gathered. The fat lady shouted, "We're the
victims here, not the perpetrators. How long is this gonna take? My daughter is taking her entrance
exams soon. Don't waste her time, or there'll be hell to pay!"
The cops told them to negotiate, and since they did buy the necklace from Leanna, she should just pay
them. Forty dollars wasn't much anyway. It was a low price for peace and quiet.
Leanna pursed her lips, but she said nothing. Money was not the problem here; ethics were.
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However, when she saw the chubby lady abusing and poking the girl's head, she realized that the girl
was not at fault. She was just listening to her mother. Nobody would expect their own parents to be a
piece of scum. In the end, Leanna gave the lady 140 dollars. "Get your daughter some warm coats with
the money."
The girl looked up at Leanna with surprise in her eyes. This was the first time she looked at Leanna
directly.
The fat lady grumbled, "That's all? We're not beggars, you know. I said—"
A cop barked, "Enough! I thought your daughter was preparing for her entrance exams. Take her back
to school."
The chubby lady became quiet. Before they left the police station, she hissed coldly, "This isn't the end
of it. Just you wait, b*tch."
And then they left. Leanna was about to get a ride when a black Porsche stopped in front of her.
Elijah got out of the car looking worried. "How was it? Are you alright? I came as soon as Zoe called
me. Was I too late?"
Leanna shook her head. "It's fine. I've settled it."
He looked around. "They're gone?"
"Yep." She said, "I thought you were supposed to be working. Are you sure it's fine to run around?"
"Eh, there's nothing to do anyway, so I came for a stroll."
He coughed. "If you don't mind, can you come with me? There's a place I wanna show you."
He did come all this way for me, and this isn't his first time helping me. No reason to say no. She
nodded. "Sure."