Seeing the genuine confusion on his face, Hannah had to fight to keep fromughing. She managed to suppress it, shrugging nonchntly. "Who knows? All I know is, I never owned it. Oh..."


    She drew out the sound, her expression one of dawning realization. "Lionel, don''t tell me you gave it to the wrong person, thought you gave it to me, and then yelled at me for it. Tsk, tsk. That''s what happens when you have too many women on the side. You can''t even keep track of who you gave what to, and then you go around ming everyone else."


    Her taunt hit its mark. Lionel''s face flushed with humiliation.


    "Owen, I told you to give it to Hannah. Who did you give it to?"


    Owen waspletely flustered, swallowing repeatedly, at a loss for what to say. "I... I just followed your instructions... I gave the ne to Ms. Woods. Wasn''t it... wasn''t it for her?"


    He kept his head down, his voice trembling as he peeked up at Lionel.


    The confirmation made Lionel take a sharp, angry breath.


    "When did I ever say the ne was for Sandra? When I ced the order, I explicitly said it was the one Hannah wanted!"


    "How could you be so ipetent? I even asked you if it had been delivered. What did you tell me? When did you be incapable of handling even a simple task like this?" He rubbed his temples, trying to force back the anger.


    Owen was trembling so badly he could barely speak, constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead.


    "If you weren''t so obviously biased toward Sandra, Mr. Rosenberg, your assistant wouldn''t have made the mistake. After all, who would have thought the ne was for the unloved wife? An observant man like Owen would naturally assume it was for the new favorite."


    Seeing their predicament, Hannah scoffed. "Instead of worrying about who you gave it to, maybe you should be worrying about why she sold such an expensive piece of jewelry, and why the Woods family''s finances haven''t improved at all, while Mr. Jones has conveniently skipped the country."


    It had been one thing after anothertely, and Sandra was at the center Hannah had seen no


    of all of it. Ye with


    sign of Lionel actually dealing with


    PLIT


    any of it.


    "Xenia''s hit-and-run, Zack''s


    attempted assault, Mr. Jones fleeing the country, Sandra selling the


    jewelry. Thope you''ll handle each of


    these matters properly, Mr.


    Rosenberg, and give me the


    answers I deserve."


    Hannah turned, gave them both a little wave, and walked upstairs with a smile.


    Owen''s legs felt like they were about


    bet


    to give out. His face was ashen. "Mr. Rosenberg, it''s... it''s all my fault. I misunderstood. I''m the reason you and the madam are fighting. I La sa sorry I''ll forfeit two months sry


    as punishment."


    Lionel sat on the sofa, his brow furrowed in thought. After a long moment, he said,


    "Go get that ne back."


    "Now?" Owen asked tentatively.


    Lionel''s eyes shed with anger. "What do you think?"


    "Yes, yes, right away! I''ll go right now!"


    He didn''t dare waste another second, rushing out the door and calling the consignment shop owner.


    After he hung up, he hesitated for a moment, then decided to call Sandra.


    "Owen? Is something wrong with Lionel for you to be calling sote?" Sandra asked, having just gotten back to her room.


    "Ms. Woods, is something wrong with your voice?"


    ...