An Understated Dominance - Chapter 350

Dahlia was really curious about Dustin’s past. After spending more time with him, she realized he was quite a mystery.

“It’s a long story,” Dustin said, shaking his head.

“That’s okay. I’ll be here whenever you want to talk about it,” Dahlia replied with a warm smile.

“Sure,” Dustin nodded.

“It’s getting colder now. Let’s go to the mall and get some new winter clothes,” Dahlia suggested.

“Sounds good, but just so you know, I’m broke!” Dustin shrugged.

“Ugh! What a miser!” Dahlia rolled her eyes. “I’ll pay for everything today. How about that?”

“Thank you, Ms. Nicholson!” Dustin said, a smile spreading across his face. Without another word, he hurried off to get the car. It had been three years since they got married, but they rarely went shopping together.

As soon as they left, Florence took out a sapphire and admired it. “Oh, my precious sapphire! What luck I have today!”

The more she looked at it, the more she loved it.

“Aunt Florence, what are you looking at?” Julie walked in just then.

“Julie! You came at the perfect time! Come see this!” Florence said, showing the sapphire to Julie and handing it to her.

“A sapphire?” Julie exclaimed, her voice rising in excitement as she examined it. “Aunt Florence, where did you get such a huge sapphire? It must be worth a fortune!”

“Ha! You won’t believe it, but it was Dustin’s father who gave this to me,” Florence said, beaming with pride.

“What? Dustin’s father?” Julie was shocked and couldn’t believe what she heard. “Aunt Florence, didn’t you say Dustin is broke? How can his father afford to give you this?”

“Something so precious?”

“I find that strange too,” Florence said, rubbing her chin. “I was wondering if Dustin might come from a wealthy family. Maybe he’s just been keeping a low profile, so we never noticed.”

“Dustin? The son of a wealthy family? Does he look like one?” Julie asked, puzzled.

“If he isn’t, then how could his father afford to give me such a huge sapphire just like that?” Florence continued to think aloud.

“Aunt Florence, let’s set that aside for now. The most important thing is whether you’ve found someone to check if the sapphire is real,” Julie interjected.

“But it’s so beautiful! It can’t be a fake, can it? Plus, Dustin’s father said it’s a family heirloom!” Florence insisted, not wanting to believe it could be fake.

“Aunt Florence, you can’t believe everything he says! You’re too trusting! For your own safety, it’s best to get it appraised. You never know if it’s a scam!” Julie urged.

“You’re right,” Florence agreed, nodding. “But where can I get it appraised?”

“Don’t worry, Aunt Florence. I know just the right person for the job. Just let me take the sapphire for a bit, and we’ll get our answer soon,” Julie said confidently.

“Okay, I’ll wait,” Florence replied, trusting Julie completely as she handed over the sapphire along with its box.

Half an hour later, at the gemological laboratory.

“What? This is a genuine sapphire worth billions? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?” Julie exclaimed, shocked by the news.

“We’ve run multiple tests. It’s definitely real. In fact, this is an extremely rare type of sapphire. If it were auctioned, the starting bid would be at least one billion,” the expert appraiser explained.

“Great! This is just fantastic!” Julie cheered.

“We’ve struck gold this time!” Julie laughed excitedly. They had found a sapphire worth billions! How did they get so lucky?

Just then, Julie’s phone rang. It was Florence calling.

“Hello, Julie. How did the appraisal go? Is it a real sapphire?” Florence asked.

“Uh, of course it’s… it’s a fake!” An idea popped into Julie’s head. She pretended to be disappointed. “Aunt Florence, you’ve been tricked by Dustin and his father! I just had the sapphire checked, and they said it’s just a synthetic gem. You could get one for maybe 20 or 30 dollars. It’s worthless. I threw it away!”

“What? It’s fake? Those sneaky loafers! How dare they fool me! I’ll make them pay!” Florence shouted before hanging up the phone.