Chapter 5 Scheming
After that night, Julissa rented a house right next to Emerald Street and moved in. She figured she’d make some mon- ey from gambling on stones and then hit the road to see the world.
She wanted to get away from this place that had caused her so much heartache.
But lately, there hadn’t been any decent stones at the market. Julissa was aimlessly wandering around in her flip–flops, feeling pretty bored, when she noticed that the street–side shop at the head of Emerald Street was changing its sign.
It was the biggest shop on the street, with the best spot and frontage. Normally, no one would give up such a prime lo- cation.
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But after asking the owner of the shop next door, Julissa found out that Reece had rented it. He was planning to give it to his fiancée as a welcome gift.
She thought, “Fiancée?
“Looks like they are moving pretty fast.”
In just a few days, the shop was all fixed up. On the day of the ribbon–cutting ceremony, Emerald Street was packed. The Diaz family was the biggest mine owner in Archdale. Both Reece and his future wife showed up, and everyone on the street came to see the fuss.
Julissa had on a black hat, black mask, and black jacket, wrapped up tight. She was hiding off to the side. She didn’t come to join the party. She just wanted to see Melvin Barrett.
He was like the king of the stone gambling world. The two stones he dug up years ago were turned into jewelry, mak- ing Archdale’s name famous all over the world.
The Diaz and Fowler families rode his coattails to the top, making Archdale’s mines the best in the world.
People in the business called him Magic Appraiser.
But only Julissa knew that back in the day, there was more than one Magic Appraiser.
When Melvin was young, he had a partner, Julissa’s mom.
Julissa had only seen the young Melvin in her mom’s photo album. She snuck over this time to see if she could get
close to him.
The familiar Maybach pulled up at the entrance of Emerald Street, and it was the coolest thing there.
Justin Hale, who had been running the whole show on Emerald Street, came out to greet Cristina personally. He was the one who set the rules and doled out the shops here. With all the big money changing hands every day, he wasn’t just a manager. He had got some underworld ties too.
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But today, he ditched his usual attitude and welcomed Cristina with all the respect.
That showed how important she was.
It wasn’t just because she was with Reece. She had got her own amazing story.
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She made a name for herself while still young, with top–notch skills in both stone gambling and jewelry design. Later, she became Melvin’s last disciple, which was a huge honor.
And with her pretty and classy look, she was a real standout in a place like Emerald Street, which was mostly guys.
“Same old routine,” Justin said as he led Reece and Cristina to the shop entrance. There was a table with a red cloth on it. “There are two stones. Let’s get this stone gambling started.”
On Emerald Street, they always started with stone gambling to get some good luck. It had been that way for decades.
When the red cloth was pulled off, two totally different stones were there.
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One was pretty large and had a strange shape. But its skin was old, and its quality was super high. Everyone could kind of see the color of blue jade. If there were no cracks inside, it would be a perfect piece.
The other was smaller. Its skin was dark and smooth, and its color was dull. At first glance, it didn’t even look like jade, but a piece of marble.
The difference was quite obvious. Clearly, Justin had picked them on purpose. He wanted to make sure Cristina’s opening ceremony would start with a good omen by getting a good stone.
As expected, Cristina chose the bigger stone.
But that other little stone got Julissa’s eyes shining.
She had never felt a skin like that with her own hands, but she had seen it in her mom’s old photo album. The pattern on its skin was almost like the one that Melvin dug up back then.
At first glance, it looked just like a piece of marble. Its skin was so thick that even if she cut off a chunk, she still couldn’t see the good stuff inside.
But if she kept grinding it down, it would be one–of–a–kind amazing.
As the stone was about to be tossed aside like garbage, Julissa had to gather her courage. She pulled her mask tighter and pushed through the crowd to get close to Justin.
She whispered, “Can I buy this stone?”
She wanted to quietly make the deal, but Justin yelled, “What? You wanna buy this piece of junk?!”
In an instant, everyone’s eyes were on them.
Julissa quickly ducked her head.
But it caught Cristina’s attention.
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She walked over, tilted her head, and said gently, “Young lady, even if you shine a light on this stone, it won’t show any patterns. It might not even be jade.”
She was patient and humble, and everyone around was full of praise for her.
Julissa didn’t dare look Cristina in the eye. She just mumbled that she wanted the stone.
“Looks like you’re here to stir up trouble!” Justin furiously dragged Julissa to the side. “Even if Ms. Hurley doesn’t want this stone, it’s still hers. Who the hell are you? Don’t you know any better?”
Julissa didn’t know why Justin was being so mean to her. She’d pay for the stone, not steal it. Why was she getting treated like this?
Then Cristina spoke up, and she got it.
Cristina stayed patient and even handed the stone right to Julissa. “You seem to love stones. If you like it, go ahead and take it.”
Julissa reached out to grab it, but Cristina didn’t let go when they touched.
Just then, Justin came rushing over and pushed her away.
“Why should you get the stone that Ms. Hurley gave? Many people on Emerald Street would love a stone from her!”
Everyone started hollering, ragging on Julissa for not deserving it, and going on and on about how special Cristina
was.
Seeing Cristina’s smile, Julissa suddenly felt a cold shiver down her back.
Cristina had stirred up all this on purpose to see everyone fighting over her. She liked lording it over others and squashing some nobody with a flick of her wrist.
Her ego was through the roof.
Yet, she still played the poor, pitiful soul.
Justin was the perfect lackey, totally in sync with her.
“Oh, come on, she’s just a young girl,” Cristina said as she quickly walked over and helped Julissa up.
But as she did, she accidentally pulled off Julissa’s mask.
Everyone saw Julissa’s face, and Cristina was so surprised that her mouth dropped open.
“Don’t you work as a servant for the Diaz family?” she yelled loud enough for everyone to hear.
At this point, she was halfway there with her plan.
Actually, the moment Julissa showed up, she had recognized her. The girl at the entrance of Velvet Club and the one standing before her had the same bracelet.
Before she came back to the country, she had found out everything. Julissa was probably the one who had been se-
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cretly married to Reece for three years.
But Cristina didn’t say anything. She believed that someone like Julissa was no match for her.
The scolding was just a little warning.
“A servant?”
“A servant buying stones?”
“She’s so young. There must be some story behind it!”
People were buzzing with talk. Julissa felt like a clown who was pushed to the center of attention.
