Love or Die: CEO’ s Daily Dose of Swoon (Cordelia) novel Chapter 39

Cordelia stood frozen, her mind a whirlwind of disbelief as Rachel's seemingly rational but ultimately twisted words filled the air. "You nailed the national first place in the Galaxy Math Whiz Competition, so acing that math league and getting that scholarship is a given. Diving into the physics contest is the icing on the cake. But if Juliana breaks into the national top sixty in physics, she can snag a scholarship, too. Imagine the Delaney sisters both getting a free ride to college. It'll be the talk of the town."

Laurinda was quickly convinced. "Exactly! That way, our family can finally shake off the nouveau riche label. Cordelia, drop that physics prep class tomorrow."

Cordelia gave the three a detached glance, paused a little, and then drawled, "Top sixty all get scholarships."

It meant aside from her, there were fifty-nine other spots up for grabs.

Juliana was good at physics but wasn't anywhere near number one in the country. So Cordelia didn’t need to give up this competition at all.

Rachel cut in with a sly grin. "Isn't it true that one less competitor means a better chance? Lia, do you agree? How about I sweeten the deal with a new Hermès?"

"No need! With that kind of money, we'd better get Juliana a new dress!" Laurinda scolded. "We're family. We should help each other. It's settled! Did you hear, Cordelia?"

Cordelia responded leisurely, "Yeah."

Laurinda managed a rare smile. "That's more like it..."

"But I don't agree."

Laurinda's smile froze. "What?"

Cordelia didn't look at her again, returned the gift box to Rachel, and headed upstairs.

Laurinda cursed, "Such an ungrateful little bitch. I knew it. She’s nothing but trouble to this family! And her mother can't even keep the books straight. Now that you're back, Rachel, you should take over the household!"

Rachel's eyes flickered. "Let's talk about that later, Laurinda."

Halfway up the stairs, Cordelia paused upon hearing that. She turned to the maid cleaning on the second floor, asking, "Where's my mom?"

"In the back garden." The maid replied.

With a thoughtful nod, Cordelia went upstairs to drop off her backpack and headed downstairs toward the back.

-

Lorna's head was pounding.

The breakfast fiasco in the kitchen had everyone pointing fingers, and in the end, they couldn't pin down the culprit. Lorna decided to dock everyone half a month's wages and promoted Fiona to the new kitchen supervisor. Any future issues would be her responsibility, a tactic she borrowed from Sanderson Management that proved equally effective.

But the house seemed to have descended into chaos throughout the day. She didn't even have time to catch her breath.

Then, she was reconciling August's financial statements with September's expenses.

The family's financial affairs were managed by Laurinda's nephew, Hank, a man in his forties who didn't think much of Lorna. He was reporting with a smug grin. "Lady Lorna, this page details the daily expenses. Eggs were at $1.8 each, with the family consuming fifty a day and the staff another fifty. For the party at the beginning of the month, we used eighty-nine for the cakes. Eggs don't keep well, and there's always some breakage in transit, a two percent loss. That's the cost for eggs, and then there's the greens, pork, beef, chicken... Lorna, are you following?"

Lorna massaged her temples. "Just give me the total."

Hank announced an outrageously inflated figure.

Lorna frowned, suspecting the household didn't need to spend so much. But Hank either itemized everything meticulously or lumped it into a total that demanded approval, utterly uncooperative!

He even threatened, "Lorna, this is how Laurinda managed things, and there were no issues for years. It's getting dark. Please approve next month's budget so I can make the arrangements. Otherwise, if we delay it, Mr. Steward would have another fit."