Chapter 1699
[ 666 words ]
It was only after Norris called Dane that they finally pinned down Claire’s whereabouts.
They didn’t know the exact coordinates, only that she had been pulled out of class by Dr. Tandy from the prestigious 301 Military Hospital for an “advanced shadowing opportunity.”
‘Shadowing’ was the sanitized official term. Anyone with a brain knew they were running a black-ops medical rescue.
Upon hearing she was under the protection of a legendary military surgeon, Ophelia finally exhaled.
“Does this mean Claire is basically starting her residency early?”
It was an early residency, sure, but Claire was definitely doing far more than just taking notes.
From what Norris had gathered, Claire had already independently treated a top-tier government official.
Her mastery over both traditional and modern medicine was staggering.
Tandy was getting older. Bringing Claire into a high-stakes environment was undeniably his way of grooming her as his successor.
Or perhaps they were operating as co-surgeons on the exact same table.
Either way, this mission was going to look phenomenal on her resume.
However, because Tandy had dragged her into a highly classified, zero-hour deployment, the urgency had completely overridden standard academic protocols.
Hence, the total lack of a formal absence request.
Acting as her older cousin, Norris formally submitted the leave of absence to the university administration on her behalf.
Before this, the medical faculty had no idea Claire was related to Norris.
Now it all made sense.
No wonder her calculus scores were terrifyingly perfect-academic supremacy ran in the bloodline, her counselor mused.
But it also begged the question: If Professor Norris was her cousin, why hadn’t he poached her for the Mathematics Department?
Was Claire going through a rebellious phase?
With the paperwork filed, the counselor smoothed things over with her professors.
However, the student body was still ablaze with gossip regarding her sudden, prolonged disappearance.
She was only a freshman, yet this wasn’t her first extended absence, and the rumors surrounding her previous kidnapping were still fresh In everyone’s minds. “Content”
There had even been an incident where undercover agents posed as students from other universities staging elaborate fake romances just to get close to her.
Who exactly was Claire?
While the vast majority of students at this elite institution were solely focused on
their GPAs, there were always a few who lived for drama.
With Claire gone, the forums erupted into massive speculation threads.
But her background had already been violently exposed during the ‘Fake Heiress’
scandal that had dominated the national trending charts.
The real heiress had actively tried to ruin Claire on multiple occasions.
Digging that old drama up now felt like beating a dead horse.
Especially since the real heiress’s family had gone utterly bankrupt, and the girl herself was sitting on an even more explosive scandal.
The only reason the babies had been swapped in the first place was because the real heiress’s mother had orchestrated it.
She was an illegitimate child born from a mother’s affair. If she hadn’t swapped the babies, the truth would have destroyed her.
If the affair had been exposed, Octavia would have been stripped of her luxurious lifestyle instantly.
Claire was purely collateral damage in a vicious domestic war.
Still, the general consensus online was that while Claire was a victim, she was also undeniably a massive beneficiary of the situation.
After all, she had enjoyed eighteen years of premium resources funded entirely by the James Family.
Before their spectacular collapse, the James Family had been one of the undisputed titans of Apex. No one dared cross the James heiress.
If it hadn’t been for the family’s elite
tutors and boundless funding, could she really have achieved the top
score in the national college
entrance exams?
Claire had never denied the financial investment the James Family made in her.
Which was exactly why, after their bankruptcy, she had provided them with proportional financial restitution.
But she also knew that if Latham hadn’t entangled himself with a psychotic mistress
like Fallon, the baby swap would never have happened.
Even if Claire had been raised in the rural James Village, she possessed the
intellect to become just as exceptional as she was now, if not more so.
If everything was truly dictated by fate, then Claire’s fate was simply undeniably golden.
If you find any errors (non-standard content, ads redirect, broken links, etc..), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible.