Chapter 456

Cindy had basically grown up at Pandora’s house, yet for some reason, Pandora never gave it to her. If she had, Lance wouldn’t be in this mess right now, stuck between what he wants and what’s right.

Meanwhile, Claire was somewhere else entirely, sneezing like crazy and totally clueless that anyone was even talking about her. She had no idea Lance had been running his mouth and that Cindy caught every last word. Not that Claire would care if she found out. If Cindy heard something, well, so what? It’s not like Claire had anything to hide. Lance was the one with secrets, not her, and she felt pretty righteous about it.

Her friends had tried to drag her out for a fun night, but Claire turned them down with no hesitation. She was deep into study mode, cramming for finals and prepping for a big competition. People loved to call her a genius, but honestly, she just had a bit of an edge. If she didn’t work her butt off, that little spark of talent would turn out to be nothing. She kept at it past eleven, finally shutting her books, washing up, and crawling into bed, completely unaware that Cindy was out drinking at some bar.

She only realized something had happened the next morning, when Cindy didn’t show up at school. The teacher casually mentioned that Lance had called in sick for her. Claire’s curiosity was piqued. Where was Cindy?

Turns out, Cindy was at home, knocked flat with a fever after partying too hard. York had taken care of her the entire night, and he was now busy hiring a cleaning lady to tackle the chaos in the house. Cindy, feverish and out of it, wouldn’t let York out of her sight. When Lance showed up, York still hadn’t managed to leave. Seeing Cindy holding onto York, Lance felt a little awkward.

“You should get going,” Lance said, awkwardly holding a thermos. “I brought some porridge, if you want to have a little first p>

York just gave him that steady, assessing look. “Put it on the table,” he said, and motioned for Lance to come outside with him.

Once on the balcony, Lance felt this weird sense of doom creeping up. “What’s up?” he asked.

York glanced at him. “Cindy says you like Claire p>

And there it was. Lance knew it would come out eventually. Cindy was terrible at keeping things to herself. Why would she blurt something like that to York?

“Yeah. I do,” Lance admitted, not even bothering to deny it now. It wasn’t a secret anymore, not with York. Sure, he’d always been envious, but he and York had been

friends since they were kid’s, more kids, mone like brothers than anything else. Back then, York was engaged to Claire, so Lance had no choice but to step back. But that engagement was long over.

York looked genuinely surprised that Lance just admitted it, no hesitation at all. “Do you even hear yourself right now?” he asked. “Claire is your sister. You can’t like her p>

“She’s not my sister,” Lance snapped back. “You know she was switched at birth. She’s not a real James p>

“We have zero blood relation. I like her. Actually, now I can admit it out loud, and maybe even do something about it p>

York was lost for words. “Then go for it,” he replied. He genuinely didn’t think Lance would actually chase Claire.

Lance’s bravado faded fast. Sure, chasing after someone was one thing, but letting the whole world know? That was guaranteed drama.

“Does your family even know?” York pressed, suddenly thinking back to all those times Lance had blocked him from getting too close to Claire. He always figured it was just brotherly protectiveness, but looking back, it was more like Lance keeping her out of everyone else’s reach.

“How long have you known she wasn’t your sister?” York continued, suspicion clear

in his eyes. If Lance hadn’t known, falling for Claire would have made no sense.

Lance hesitated for a second. “When

she was in middle school, she had some bloodwork done,” he said finally. “That’s when I realized her blood type didn’t match my parents p>

I started to wonder if she was really their kid. So I, uh, kind of stole some of her hair and did a DNA test with my parents. That’s when I found out she wasn’t biologically related to us.

He shrugged, looking away. “At first, I thought maybe my parents had just adopted her and never told anyone, but my mom definitely gave birth back then. So the only thing that makes sense is… someone switched the babies p>