Spoiled By The CEO: Why The Wife Is Kinda Sweet? novel Chapter 294

She didn’t mean to look down on her, but the scam was so obvious that she could see something was wrong as an outsider. Faye, though, actually believed that Forrest would help her.

And she’d brought money here to get him to give her more ores.

She just didn’t have a brain!

She thought it all internally and didn’t say it out loud, but also knew that Archie was probably thinking the same thing.

Archie’s expression wasn’t pretty at the moment, but hearing how things had gone down, at least he knew the basics.

So he muttered, “How much did you give him?”

Faye looked at him timidly and stammered, “About… s-seven to eight hundred million, I guess!”

Natalia had no words.

Well, this was what it meant to be dumb and rich!

Archie didn’t have a reply, either.

He thought about it, and asked on, “So, you were there at Pinewood Manor making trouble for Natalia because you wanted to take those antiques back and sell them? Then invest in that Forrest fellow again?”

Faye looked a bit awkward.

“I-I was just planning on borrowing it for a while. When I’ve struck it rich, couldn’t I just give it all back?”

“Ha…”

Archie and Natalia obviously didn’t believe that.

Faye pleaded, “Come on, Archie, I’ve told you everything. Can’t you just keep it hidden for now and not tell your Grandpa and Grandma? I really don’t want them to know.”

Archie rumbled, “Then have you thought about how to deal with things now?”

Faye blinked.

She still didn’t understand what he meant by dealing with things.

Natalia reminded kindly, “This man clearly just thinks poorly of you and is trying to scam you out of your money. You can’t have gone without realizing it even now?”

Faye was even more stunned now.

“That… can’t be right! I got into prospecting myself, and I was worried he’d lie to me, so I always picked the ores myself and didn’t let him get involved. With so many pieces of ore inside, how would he know which one I would pick?”

Natalia chuckled.

Voice low, Archie said, “That’s simple. You just switch out all the rocks in there for low-quality or regular stones. If other people can’t get good ores, you can’t either. Wouldn’t that work?”

Faye’s face went slack.

Then she attempted, “That can’t be, I saw people strike solid gold right next to the ore I bought!”

Solid gold?

That was quite something!

Natalia smiled, “That’s easy, too. If you just put a piece of ore that’s already confirmed to be good quality there, then get someone to pretend to be a customer and buy it, then excavate it there, that’s that. The gold and the money goes back to their own pockets, so it’s not tough to pull off.”

Faye wore an expression of disbelief.

“T-That’s impossible! How could it be like this?”

“There’s no such thing as impossible.”

Archie burst her last bubble of hope. “It’s just one of the simplest scams in the city. So simple even Anne wouldn’t have fallen for it. I didn’t think you’d step in it and step this deep in it, too. Really, compared to blaming them for their cutthroat business, you really should blame yourself for being too stupid.”

Faye started screeching right away.

“How can you say that about me, Archie? I’m your aunt!”

“It’s precisely because you’re my aunt that I’m reminding you to deal with this quickly. Otherwise, something big might happen down the line. Of course, if you need to deal with it, you’ll definitely alert Grandpa and Grandma. Even I can’t move without their notice on Eqitin territory.”

Hearing that, Faye slumped.

She stayed quiet for a while, then with great hesitation, asked, “Do we have to tell them?”

Archie nodded.

“We have to.”

“But…” She hesitated for a while, then scratched her head irritably.

“If I went back like this, I’d lose so much face. Your Grandpa and Grandma would scold me to death. What would be left of my reputation?”

Natalia laughed.

“Aunt Faye, I don’t know why you argued with Grandma, but you’re family. Family doesn’t hold grudges, right? Besides, Grandma was treating you pretty well back home last time. She doesn’t seem mad at you. Are you sure you’re not overthinking it?”

Faye looked at her impatiently.

“You don’t get it.”

Archie’s expression darkened.

“It’s up to you whether you want to come clean or not. I won’t stop you or force you. But you have two days. In two days, if you want to confess, I’ll take you to see Grandma. If you don’t you’ll deal with the blowback yourself. The McCarthy family and I myself won’t help you even a little bit more.”

With that, he took Natalia with him and stood.

Natalia felt a bit of pity, but since they’d gotten this far, there wasn’t much else to say. She left alongside Archie.

On the way back, she asked him a bit worriedly, “Are you really not going to help her if she stays quiet about it?”

Face wooden, Archie replied, “I’m not.”

“Why’s that?”

“She might be my aunt, but she’s also an adult. Adults are responsible for their own actions. It’s not that I’m unwilling to help her. But if she continues to demand that the rest of the family stays uninvolved, then she has to take responsibility for her own choices.”

Natalia sighed.

“I feel like she’s standing her ground for some other reason. Not just her sulking against Grandma, like she says.”

Archie looked at her.

Then he rubbed her forehead.

Natalia jolted.

Turning, she looked into the man’s gentle, moving eyes.

“Aunt Faye was never too good to you, so why be so considerate of her? Your forehead will get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that.”

Natalia had to laugh.

She held Archie’s hand, smiling, “What are you saying? It’s her business if she’s good to me or not. I don’t ask that everyone likes me. I’m concerned about her because she’s your family. I just don’t want to leave any regrets.”

Archie’s heart wrenched.

Leave no regrets indeed!

It was a simple phrase. Easy to say, much less easy to accomplish.

Archie didn’t say anything else. He held her hand tight as the car continued onwards to Pinewood Manor.

Two days later, Faye gave Archie a call, saying she was willing to talk with the old lady.

Archie knew that she’d given way probably because she was at the end of her rope.

Faye might have been a McCarthy lady, but because she’d been born a daughter, she didn’t get involved in business and devoted herself to art. She never entered the innermost power circles of the McCarthy family.

Plus with her unreliable personality, her reputation outside wasn’t the best. So even though she had noble status, people might have made way for her on small, regular subjects, but when it got big, they usually didn’t take her side.