Chapter 548

“Don’t try to deny it so fast. I actually have a really good memory. I can still

remember things from when I was barely two years old.” Claire’s voice was steady, almost too calm. “You know what you did to me. Let’s not pretend. Octavia, the truth always comes out. You can’t expect to take everything good for yourself and never pay a price.”

Octavia started to feel nervous. She never realized Claire remembered so much about their past.

“I was a healthy kid, but I always got sick. That was because you would carelessly leave my window open… or ‘accidentally’ let other things happen.” Claire listed each awful memory one by one. Octavia felt exposed, unable to argue because it was all true.

“It wasn’t until Pandora took me to the countryside that my life finally got better. And you can’t deny that, either. When you realized you couldn’t hurt me physically, you just started making my life harder in other ways. I’m successful today not because of you, but because you pushed me to the edge. You made me study more than any other rich kid, not because you wanted me to be smart, but because you wanted me to break. But Octavia, you’re not the only smart person in this world.”

Claire finally let out all the resentment she had been holding inside for years.

Octavia opened her mouth, but no words came out. She couldn’t defend herself. Claire was right about nearly everything.

Back then, Octavia had wished Claire would just get sick and die. After that, she could pretend to mourn her lost daughter while secretly tracking down Cindy, her real child, and bring her home to raise as her own. Cindy could then be engaged to the Byron family and live the life Claire was supposed to have. Nothing would change, except an innocent girl would pay for it all.

Latham would never know Cindy was Octavia’s biological daughter, but not his own. That secret would stay buried forever. But in the end, for all her careful plotting, Pandora had ruined everything.

Octavia’s chest tightened. Maybe Pandora had seen through her all along. Maybe the old woman just watched, silent, letting Octavia struggle. That was just the kind of thing Pandora would do.

Had Pandora sent those pictures to her own son? She hadn’t stopped Octavia and Latham from getting married, but now, maybe she

wanted them to split et

up

couldn’t help but wonder what other secrets Pandora was hiding. And if Latham ever found out who Cindy truly was, how angry would he be?

“I’ll admit, I had those plans at the start,” Octavia said quietly, trying to make her voice soft, almost pleading. “But later, when I started raising you, I really did care. You wouldn’t be who you are without me, right?”

Claire let out a cold laugh. “You’re right, I owe a lot to your ‘guidance.’ Thanks to you, I learned early on what real life is like… that not every kid gets their parents love. If m good at what I do, maybe you deserve some credit. But it’s not the kind anyone wants.”

She looked Octavia straight in the eye.

“Listen, Octavia, if you had just left things alone, never would have come after you. But the second you brought your daughter home, you couldn’t stop messing with me Who started at this? Plete the Fleft the lames family so I wouldn’t bother you anymore, but you still couldn’t let go.” Claire shook her head. “Now that everything’s out in the open, do you really think you can ask me to

be grateful to you for raising me?”

Of course not.

Octavia knew it too. But deep down, she just couldn’t accept that her own daughter

would never measure up to Claire.