There was stunned silence when Claire returned with a big bucket and opened it. It contained the shells. Dozens of beautiful shells. White, pink, silver, gold, iridescent.
Maddy immediately stood straight and gasped.
Wilder noticed. "What?"
Claire smirked. "That’s the sound and face rich people make when they spot something rare and expensive." She picked up one of the golden ones and set it aside. "This one is for Ares Ashford. One gold pearl and one rare gold shell. The rest are for sale."
Callie picked one up. Rotated it. Examined the inside and outside. She picked up another. Then another. "Collectors would pay for these. Take them out of the bucket. I need to take pictures for Frances."
She got her phone out and took pictures from different angles. Callie worked seriously, just as she had done when photographing the pearls. After, she sent the images to Mrs. Sanders and another round of bargaining followed.
There was no drama, just prices flowing back and forth. The shells were split into individual pieces. Those with collector demand. Those that could go into the luxury decor market. Those with display value in museums and those that could be sold to private buyers.
Wilder whispered to Claire, "I don’t understand half of what this Callie is saying. What is the difference between luxury decor market and selling to a collector or a private buyer. She should just tell us if you are rich yet from selling the shells."
Claire laughed. "I am not rich grandma; all this money is just going to flow into someone else’s pocket. But when all the cards are in place, I won’t be rich." She paused dramatically.
Wilder frowned.
"We will be rich," Claire finished.
A second deal was finalized. Every shell sold. In total, Claire received 254,000 dollars. She had not reached the three million dollars she wanted. It was even less than she expected, but she was still happy, nonetheless. Without the pearl, she would have been at zero dollars.
Callie left as soon as their business was concluded. Victor carried the tribute Mrs. Sanders had sent, into the kitchen. Wilder followed him to make sure everything was properly stored away.
Claire took the golden pearl and shell into the house, all the way to her bedroom. Maddy followed her, humming a children’s song.
Maddy threw herself on Claire’s bed and rolled around two times. "You just made close to three million dollars. You are like a marine tycoon."
"I am not a marine tycoon." Claire denied, carefully storing the treasures away in her closet.
"You are now," Maddy insisted. "Oh, this makes me so glad. We are going to be okay, Claire. What Alden and Heimi? What Andrew? What Apollo? All we need is the sea and each other."
Claire’s hand froze on the closet door. If her world was composed of only Maddy and the sea, she was sure she would choose the sea at some point. "How long do you plan to stay?"
"Forever," Maddy giggled. "If you live here, I live here. Mom and dad live here too. I think we should stay."
Claire could have screamed ’they are not your mom and dad,’ but it would be useless. Maddy would not hear it. The Sanders were all busy. Maddy was the runt of her family, nobody had time for her. Nannies had mostly raised her as a child. Other children thought she was stupid and whispered about her. Claire was the only one that ever told her to go away while still protecting her at the same time and fighting anyone that dared to bully her.
Maddy needed the warmth of a family and Claire had never met any family warmer than this one.
"Claire." Maddy called softly.
"Yes?"
"You are no longer allowed to buy discount bread."
"What?"
Maddy sighed. "Millionaires don’t eat sadness bread."
Claire laughed so hard as she settled on the bed, lying next to her best friend. The excitement she had kept inside while making the deals rose to the surface. "I made over two million! I am a millionaire again!"
Maddy stifled a yawn. "You have always been one. Think of all the cash prizes you won from the hundreds of competitions you participated in while we were in school. Your first family was shitty. They kept taking your money."
A quiet filled the air. It was not a sad quiet, but it was close.
"They deserve death," Maddy whispered.
Claire exhaled. "They deserve worse than death; poverty. Trust me, nothing will make them more miserable than being poor. Not just poor but unable to ever get back on their feet."
Maddy looked at Claire carefully and asked, "Should I make it happen?"
Claire shook her head, rejecting the offer. "No. Apollo already made the same offer and I turned him down. I want them to ruin themselves. Ritah is already helping with that. James is too greedy for success, so he is going to make a lot of bad decisions that will affect the company. Alden is too eager to prove himself, so he will sign bad deals that are too good to be true.
And Cordy--Cordy’s life’s goal has always been to prove that my recipes are not the backbone of Alden and Heimi’s. I won’t be surprised if he shelves them for something he came up with or stole from another chef.
As for Heimi, she is focused on proving that she is the best mother in the world, which means giving Ritah everything she asks for. She wants to raise her daughter as this rich socialite and marry her off into a wealthy family. The more Heimi spends, the deeper the hole she will bury her family in.
The day is going to come when they will sell off all their properties and realize the evil begets evil." She used a phrase she had learned from Wilder because it worked perfectly in this moment.
Maddy scooted over and hugged Claire. "It’s not enough. I hope they suffer more. After they lose everything, let’s go and pour a bucket of rotten fish on them or something. I would say piss or shit but that’s too gross."
Claire agreed.
"It’s a date," Maddy said, squealing with glee.