Chapter 109

All the household supplies had always been managed by Wendy.

She had the storage space, and she was the one who procured everything. As for exactly how much they had—only she truly knew.

Most of it, in fact, was stored away in her private space.

Only when the supplies outside were nearly depleted would she quietly take out more from her own reserves to replenish them.

George and Fiona had never had to worry about provisions. Wendy had never once told them supplies were running low, and they were more than happy to remain carefree.

Every now and then, they would take a glance, but they had no real idea how much food there actually was. To them, it simply felt like the house was well-stocked.

After all, those who don’t manage a household never understand the true cost of daily necessities.

Because of that, George firmly believed that supporting three more people would be no problem at all.

But now, with Wendy gone and no longer replenishing supplies, what remained—given the family’s usual habits—wouldn’t last long.

Not to mention, Wendy had already taken three-quarters of the storage room’s supplies with her, leaving behind only a small fraction.

At a glance, the storage room still looked full, stacked with all kinds of boxes.

In reality, many of those boxes were empty.

Wendy found herself almost looking forward to the moment they realized the truth.

When the food ran out... would George and Fiona still be able to dote on their precious son, Tommy without resentment?

After all, it was Tommy who had insisted on letting those three—

No, not three. Four people—into the house.

Four extra mouths to feed.

Their daily food consumption had more than doubled overnight.

Wendy left on a speedboat.

Along the way, she passed several people calling out for help.

She ignored every single one of them.

Back at the villa, her departure left behind a heavy, suffocating atmosphere.

It was only when Tommy spoke up that things began moving again.

Since they had already agreed to let Vanessa’s family stay, they needed to arrange rooms for them. They couldn’t very well have guests sleeping in the living room.

Tommy was the first to object to that idea.

He was completely infatuated with Vanessa now. To him, her parents were his future in-laws—how could he let them suffer any indignity?

There were enough rooms in the house.

Without consulting anyone, Tommy simply assigned Suzy’s room and a guest room.

One for Vanessa’s parents.

One for her younger brother.

After showing them around, Tommy noticed that the guest room hadn’t been used in a long time—it was covered in dust.

Naturally, he turned to Fiona and ordered, "Mom, go clean up the guest room later. I’ll take Vanessa and the others downstairs to sit for a bit. They’re guests—we can’t have them doing the work."

Fiona’s expression twisted into something almost comical.

Her precious son... was putting on a show in front of his future in-laws—and treating her like a maid?

But there were no servants left in the house.

And she didn’t dare ask George to help.

If Wendy were still here, she could’ve made Wendy do it...

Now, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and accept the task.

It had only been a short while since Wendy left, and already Fiona found herself missing her.

If it were Wendy, she would never have let her suffer like this.

But...

Wendy had hit Tommy.

No matter what, she shouldn’t have raised her hand.

Fiona picked up the cleaning tools and glanced at Vanessa’s family.

Margaret didn’t even spare her a look, nor did she show any intention of helping. She simply sat beside Vanessa, chatting idly about trivial things.

Unwilling to blame her precious son, Fiona swallowed her frustration and obediently cleaned the room for them.

She had always lived a pampered life. After only a short while, her back was already aching.

When she finally finished, Margaret approached her with a falsely warm smile, offering a few perfunctory words of concern.

Fiona felt a surge of irritation and was just about to complain, but Tommy called Margaret away.

She could only swallow her resentment.

Back in the bedroom, she found George lying on the bed.

She sat down beside him.

He glanced at her. "Finished cleaning?"

At his words, a nameless irritation flared in her chest.

"Yes," she said bitterly. "Tommy doesn’t even think to spare his own mother—he just had to make me clean up for that family..."

What angered her even more was how naturally the Sanders family accepted it all.

Not long ago, they had promised they wouldn’t be a burden.

Empty words.

All of it.

"Enough," George waved a hand dismissively. "Tommy’s injured. He needs to rest. Just go along with him."

Fiona took a deep breath, rubbing her aching lower back as she lay down.

"George... that girl Wendy really left. What are we going to do now?" she asked, her voice tinged with worry.

George let out a cold snort.

"Why worry about her? Once she suffers a bit out there, she’ll come crawling back on her own. She hurt Tommy, after all. Let her learn her lesson."

Fiona thought of the injury near Tommy’s eye and nodded in agreement.

"That’s true. She went too far... and she wouldn’t even apologize. It’ll do her good to suffer a little and learn her place. As his sister, she should be taking care of Tommy for the rest of her life."

"Enough of that. Go make dinner—I’m hungry," George said flatly.

Fiona had barely rested when she was pushed to her feet again.

She didn’t feel like going—but then she thought of Tommy’s injury.

He needed nourishment.

With that, she headed to the kitchen.

Seeing her start cooking, Margaret quickly followed.

"Let me help you. We are like sisters here now."

Fiona paused for a moment, then nodded. "Alright."

At least having help would make things easier.

Finally, it seemed the Sanders family understood their place.

Fiona opened the refrigerator while Margaret stood just behind her.

At the sight of the fridge packed full of food, something flickered in Margaret’s eyes—bare, undisguised greed.

So many supplies...

This trip had been worth it.

When Fiona turned around, Margaret’s face had already returned to its usual flattering smile.

The two women busied themselves in the kitchen.

Before long, Margaret’s attention drifted to the door leading to the storage room.

Taking advantage of Fiona’s distraction, she tried to sneak a closer look, but Fiona caught her.

"What are you doing?" she asked sharply.

Margaret froze for a split second before quickly plastering on an even more ingratiating smile.

"N-no, nothing... I was just wondering if there were any extra seasonings. I thought I’d make something nice for Tommy and Vanessa—help them recover."

As she spoke, she subtly withdrew her gaze from the storage room.

Fiona frowned, a trace of unease rising in her chest.

But considering they were now family—and that Margaret was helping—she said nothing.

To be fair, Margaret worked quickly and efficiently.

Suppressing her discomfort, Fiona said lightly,

"The seasonings are all on the counter. That’s enough. The storage room just has rice, flour, oil—nothing worth seeing. It’s messy."

"Ah, I see, I see," Margaret nodded repeatedly, putting on an obedient front as she continued preparing ingredients.

But her thoughts were already racing.

The storage room...

Rice, flour, oil?

The Kale family really was generous.

It seemed their supplies went far beyond what was visible in the fridge.