From His Fake Wife to Billionaire Heiress Chapter 180: A Mother's Sharp Eye

The sudden embrace caught Lucas off guard, his mind already heavy with unspoken thoughts. His entire body went rigid, and he nearly fumbled the items in his grasp.

An overpowering, sweet perfume flooded his senses.

Lucas instinctively grimaced and, without thinking, put his hands on Sophia's shoulders to push her away.

The irritation that had been simmering since he left the hotel finally found its release.

"What are you doing?" he muttered, voice low and tense. "What if Riley had been with me and saw this?"

Sophia's smug smile stiffened. She pouted, putting on a wounded look. "But she wasn't. I watched from the window—you came back alone. That's why I dared."

Her gaze then dropped to the boxes in Lucas' hands. Her brief disappointment vanished, replaced by gleaming excitement as she almost lunged for them. "Lucas... did you get all these for me?"

Seeing that covetous glint in her eyes, Lucas felt another wave of annoyance. He nodded wearily.

They moved to the living room coffee table. Sophia eagerly set the packages down and tore into the first one.

Just then, footsteps sounded on the staircase. Anthea had heard the commotion and came downstairs.

Seeing the array of neatly wrapped boxes spread across the table, she raised an eyebrow. "What's all this so late at night?"

Sophia lifted her chin proudly, like a child showing off new gifts. Her tone turned sugary. "Mom! Look—Lucas bought these for me at the auction tonight."

"Oh?" Anthea's interest was piqued. She descended slowly and approached the table.

Her eyes skimmed several boxes before she picked up the velvet case holding the pearl earrings.

She gave them only a brief glance, and her well-maintained face—usually youthful for her age—tightened almost imperceptibly.

The pearls lacked luster. They were nothing remarkable.

She looked at Lucas and asked offhandedly, "How much were these? They look decent enough. 500 thousand?"

Before Lucas could reply, Sophia cut in eagerly, "Mom, not 500 thousand! They were really expensive—three and a half million!"

"What?!"

Anthea's voice shot up. She was stunned by the figure.

Her hand, still holding the earrings, went still. She stared at her son and Sophia in disbelief, her tone thick with reproach. "Three and a half million? For pearls of this quality? Have you lost your mind?"

Anthea had married into the Ashford family decades earlier. Over years of attending galas and charity events with her husband and his father, she'd developed a sharp eye for jewelry. One look told her these earrings were a blatant rip-off.

But Sophia still didn't grasp the gravity. Thinking Anthea was only concerned about the cost, she babbled on cluelessly. "Mom, it was an auction. Prices get inflated—that's normal."

Seeing Anthea's expression darken, Sophia quickly grabbed the wooden box containing the cups, trying to steer attention away. She offered it with an ingratiating smile. "Mom, look—Lucas didn't just get things for me. This set of champagne coupes is specially for you."

Anthea's face softened slightly. She took the box and asked again, "How much was this?"

Lucas stood to the side, cheeks burning. After one humiliating episode after another, facing his mother's scrutiny now filled him with shame.

He replied quietly, almost helplessly, "1.5 million."

The moment he spoke, Anthea's hand—still holding the wooden box—halted in midair.

She didn't even glance at the so-called collectible. Instead, she lifted her head and fixed Lucas with a piercing stare. "Lucas, tell me honestly. Were you set up tonight?"

Lucas avoided her sharp gaze and attempted to sound composed. "Mom, it wasn't like that. The host of this auction is an important future client of Ashford Group. Think of tonight's spending... as a relationship-building expense, like a charitable donation. Don't worry about it."

He framed it nobly, masking his foolishness in business terms, as if being swayed by Sophia was just strategic networking.

But Anthea had been around long enough not to be easily fooled.

She watched her son's weak attempt to cover up and saw right through it. Still, she didn't press further on that point. Instead, she gestured toward the pile of gaudy, worthless items on the table and asked, visibly pained, "So how much did all of this cost in total?"

Lucas hesitated. Then he finally spoke the number, one that even he found absurd. "Around twenty million."

"Twenty million!"

Anthea's expression turned stone cold.

It wasn't the twenty million itself that upset her. It was the sheer stupidity of wasting it on things with no real value.