222: Chapter 222

Chapter 222

Mary rubbed the new 60-inch smart TV in the living room, and a greedy grin appeared.  2

"Hm, a bit dusty, but I can sell this for a high price," Mary said as she began to estimate the price of the TV.

She turned it on, and it was in a perfect condition, much to her delight.

She then looked around to find other things she could sell, realizing that everything she could see was a fortune waiting to be cashed out.

It seemed that Kate had been secretly pampering her mother by buying her many expensive pieces of furniture, including a TV, grand piano, an Italian-made sofa, an authentic vase from China, et cetera. 

"Hmph, look at her, trying to pamper her mother, even though Hilda is sickly and probably will die soon," Mary sneered at Kate. "If she is truly a good woman and daughter-in-law of mine, she would give me all of this expensive furniture and electronics. She should be fair since we are a family now."

Mary was envious because she had never gotten so many expensive things. All Matt did was send her money, even though he could ask for more when she was still under his feet. 

"Had I known that Kate is the real breadwinner the whole time, I would've treated her right, so she can give me stuff like this too," Mary said as she patted the exquisite Chinese vase with a beautiful crane artwork on it. 

Mary never really saw the value of the furniture in Hilda's house because they were best friends, and she had never considered selling Hilda's stuff. 

But now that she was at her wit's end, then she had no choice but to sell her expensive furniture, so Harry would stay with her. 

"I'm so sorry, Hilda. Treat this as a payment because I've been caring for you for many years, okay? I'm sure you won't mind," Mary said. "Besides, you shouldn't blame me. You should blame your daughter for refusing to send me money, even though I'm her mother-in-law."

Mary then listed all the things she wanted to sell. Her eyes darted at the grand piano at the corner of the foyer.

It actually looked expensive and exquisite, but left untouched for so long because Hilda couldn't play the piano.

It was only Kate who could play the piano in this family. She happened to be the young pianist in the local church before she left with Matt to Los Angeles.

Mary wiped the dust from the lid of her grand piano and smirked, "I can sell this for more than ten thousand bucks. I will be so rich, and Harry will stay with me."

After listing all the things she wanted to sell in the living room, she walked into Hilda's room. The room was dusty, as expected, so Mary opened the windows to get some air.

She looked around and darted at the drawer next to the bed. She had seen Hilda taking money from the drawer a few times, so she expected a bulk of cash inside.

She pulled the drawer, and much to her disappointment, there was no money inside

It seemed that Hilda didn't forget to bring her money as she was escorted to the nursing facility. 

"Tsk, why does she need to bring her money anyway? Kate already paid for everything in that nursing facility! She could've left some cash for me, so I can use it to make Harry happy!" Mary complained. 

She got up and then walked to a wardrobe to check.

She was searching for a jewelry box. She knew that Hilda must be hiding it somewhere. 

She pulled all of the remaining clothes inside the wardrobe until it was half empty, and then he saw a jewelry box in the corner. 

Mary smirked and picked it up.

She opened the jewelry box. She expected a lot of jewelry she could sell. It would be great if Hilda left everything intact and in good condition. She could definitely sell them all and satisfy Harry with so much money while Matt was still trying to find a way to get money from Kate. 

Unfortunately, she felt nothing but disappointment when she opened the jewelry box.

There was nothing. The jewelry box was totally empty, not even small jewels left for Mary to loot. 

She gritted her teeth and smashed the jewelry box, "You're so fucking useless, Hilda!" Mary cursed as she got frustrated. "Why would you bring your jewelry? Do you want to be buried with so much gold and diamonds? I should've let you die out of a heart attack back then, so I can take those jewelry before you!"

Mary knew there was no use in complaining right now since Hilda wasn't here anymore.

She looked around the room, trying to find something else that should be good enough for her to loot. 

But other than a couch and a small coffee table near the window, there seemed to be nothing extraordinary that she could sell, much to her annoyance. 

Mary sighed. She sat on Hilda's bed, staring in a daze as she estimated how much she could get by selling every piece of furniture in this house.

But then, her eyes noticed a small newspaper clipping framed on the wall. She squinted and then got up and walked towards it to see what it was all about because Hilda didn't seem to be the type who would clip newspapers for novelty reasons.

She read the clipping and then remembered the most obvious case she could use to blackmail Kate.

—

A local priest has been arrested after molesting ten children. Police are investigating his family.

—

"Oh god, how could I forget about Hilda's husband's case!?" Mary yelled. "This was big news back then! People have been alienating Hilda's family for years because she was the wife of a pedophile!"

"Oh-ho, I know Kate must've been embarrassed by her father. That's why she didn't hesitate to move to Los Angeles before," Mary smirked maliciously. "I have to call Matt. We can use this to blackmail her."

pqdm.com