The Billionaire's True Heiress: From Fake Jewel to Real Crown novel Chapter 366

“Jennifer, just in time. Claire’s claiming she owns Hearth & Kettle. She’s making that up, right?”

Jennifer gave Valerie a quick look. Valerie wasn’t a regular, but Mabel and Eaton sure were. They’d been coming here for ages, and Mabel even brought Larkin to host parties now and then. Jennifer was much more familiar with their crowd. Valerie, on the other hand, had only popped in a few times because Mabel happened to drag her along.

“She actually is the owner of Hearth & Kettle. Any issues with that?” Jennifer asked, not bothering to hide her dislike. Valerie always carried herself like she was above it all, every time she set foot in here. Hearth & Kettle wasn’t like most restaurants around town. They never struggled for business and definitely didn’t need to suck up to anyone.

Valerie stared at Jennifer, completely thrown off. For a second, she thought she must have heard wrong. Claire… the real owner? How could that be? Who handed her the property? Did the James family know about this? Maybe Claire had fooled one of the elders and taken it behind everyone’s back.

“This place was a wedding gift to Claire’s grandmother. It only makes sense she’d leave it to her only granddaughter, right?”

Cindy and her family walked in just then, with York right behind them. Frederic pulled some strings to book a table as soon as he found out Hearth & Kettle was reopening. He and Latham had another reason for coming—they wanted to talk business about developing the West Side of town. They didn’t have enough capital to go at it alone, and finding a third partner would be perfect.

They showed up later than most and, as soon as they stepped inside, caught a bit of Jennifer’s raised voice—her words about Hearth & Kettle being passed down from Claire’s grandmother carried clear across the room. Both families paused at the door, somewhere between shock and denial.

“Wait… Latham, wasn’t Claire’s grandmother just some country woman?” Frederic asked, as if he couldn’t make sense of what he’d just heard. He’d always considered Hearth & Kettle an impossible get, and now it turned out to be nothing more than someone’s wedding gift?

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