The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress

Chapter 554

Theo followed their gazes and glanced over, pausing in surprise when he saw the woman's face.

"Jeanette? What's she doing here?"

Remembering she was a friend of his younger sister, he hesitated for a moment, then made his way over and sat across from her.

Jeanette's heart was pounding with excitement, but she forced herself to act oblivious, pretending to be tipsy and out of sorts.

"Who... who are you? Why are you sitting here?" she slurred, looking up at him with feigned confusion.

Theo frowned. "This isn't the kind of place you should be hanging around. Go home, Jeanette."

Jeanette threw her hands in the air in wild exaggeration. "Go home? Go where? The house is gone, my father's in jail, my mother left... I don't have a home anymore."

Only then did Theo remember the recent events, the headlines from earlier that day. He pressed his lips together. "Then you should at least get a room at a hotel for the night."

Jeanette shook her head stubbornly. "I... I haven't had enough to drink yet."

Theo's frown deepened. "You're already drunk. I'll have someone take you back."

but suddenly Jeanette grabbed his

"Don't go," she pleaded.

she was just being belligerent, Theo tried to pull away,

slipped from beneath the collar

battered old

eyes flashed with a sly, triumphant

met his gaze, frowning in mock confusion. "What are you talking about? This locket's a family keepsake. My parents

his agitation. “Did you have

giving him a

single deep scratch

just a boy the first time he visited Havencrest with Talbot. Talbot had work to do, so Theo wandered off alone, curiosity getting the better

color, and Theo-restless and mischievous at that age

to a swirl of locals and tourists. In the

quiet alley when they jumped him, shoving a burlap sack over his

as hard as he could, but they were stronger-he was just a

little girl charged out of nowhere, flinging a handful of

back,