Chapter 645
“What do you want?”
Claire’s voice was cool and distant.
The tone made Latham’s chest tighten uncomfortably.
All those years raising her had it been for nothing?
One moment of disappointment, and she’d chosen to forget every kindness, every happy memory they’d shared.
Now, she might as well have been a stranger.
“Claire, do you have a moment?”
“I wanted to invite you home for dinner tonight. You were named valedictorian- citywide, no less-and we never even got to celebrate with you.”
“The James family is your home too. You’re welcome here, anytime. Why haven’t you come by?”
“If I went back, Cindy wouldn’t be happy to see me,” Claire answered flatly. “Honestly, I’m fine out here on my own.”
“Why not just take care of your own daughter for a change?”
Latham drew in a deep breath. “That’s cold, Claire.”
“Cindy’s not unreasonable. She’ll come around, she just needs time to adjust.”
“I’m sure Cindy would like to be friends-even sisters-with you, if you’d give her a chance.”
Claire cut him off, unable to hold back. “Mr. James, I don’t want to be friends with her, and I definitely don’t want to be sisters. I’d rather we go our separate ways and stay out of each other’s business. Isn’t that fair?”
Latham was caught off guard—he hadn’t expected Claire to shut him down so bluntly.
It was obvious now: Claire really didn’t like Cindy at all.
Was it because Cindy’s return had forced her out of the James family? That was the only explanation Latham could think of.
“I’m sorry, Claire. When we asked you to leave the James family, we were thinking
of ourselves—but it was never that we didn’t want you as our daughter.”
“You’ve always been our pride and our joy.”
“We…”
Latham started to reach for sentiment, but Claire wasn’t going to let him.
“Mr. James, let’s not dredge up the past. But I’ve always been a little curious-why didn’t you ever push for an investigation into the hospital baby swap?”
Claire pressed in, sharp and deliberate. So he didn’t want to talk about it—did he think she was clueless? What good was he trying to do with this sugarcoated act?
“The hospital didn’t do it on purpose,” Latham said stiffly. “It was negligence, an honest mistake by the staff.”
“They already paid a settlement. Were we really supposed to drag the staff into court?”
“In business, you have to leave room to settle things amicably-so people can look each other in the eye later on.”
“Both you and Cindy grew up safe and sound. So we decided to let it go.”
Latham made it sound so righteous, but Claire only gave a cold, short laugh. “That’s not exactly fair for Cindy, is it?”
“As for me? At least I grew up with
the James family. I didn’t suffer Cindy Wasn’t she always
much B
complaining about all the hardship she endured out in the countryside?”
“Does that really not matter to her?”
Claire’s words left Latham at a loss.
There was no way he could come clean-that Cindy already knew it was her godmother who’d orchestrated the swap, and that she had no intention of taking it any further.
“Actually, I’ve always felt there might be something else going on here. Otherwise, why was it just Cindy and I who got switched?”
“Wasn’t it just an accident?” Latham blurted out, the tension getting the best of him.
“No one else at the hospital had anything like this happen, just us. Doesn’t that seem strange?”
“Mr. James, do you think this could have been someone out to get you?”
“Did the hospital really dig into what happened?”
“Honestly, think the police
should’ve investigated. The baby
swap was such a murky
mess doesn’t that suggest you
might have some enemy lurking in
the shadows?”
“I heard the James Group ran into trouble recently too. Couldn’t that be the same person?”
Claire’s words landed like a thunderbolt, snapping Latham back to full attention.
The realization ricocheted through him—leaving his mind reeling.