Chapter 326
Chapter 326
The girl doubled over with laughter, not caring how she looked, and walked toward Amy.
Finally, under everyone’s stunned and confused stares, she suddenly hooked her arm through Amy’s.
Amy only smiled, eyes warm with affection, making no move to pull away.
Under Lydia’s stunned gaze, the girl smiled, “You mean that after spending two months planning my birthday party, I would risk ruining it all, let someone bribe me, give false testimony, and destroy the gift given to Amy, just to frame you?”
Lydia was completely shocked and asked, “Who are you?”
“Let me introduce her to everyone,” Amy said seriously, her eyes brimming with undisguised affection. “This is Maureen.”
Everyone was stunned. No one had expected that Maureen, who’d barely made her presence known throughout the party, would turn out to be today’s spotlight.
Lydia was just as shocked; her face was pale. Her usual tricks had always worked before, so she never expected to crash and burn this hard this time. Feeling all those eyes on her, Lydia just couldn’t take it anymore and fainted right there.
It wasn’t play-acting. After years of always having things go Lydia’s way, this was the first time she’d ever suffered such a humiliating defeat. The shock and anger were just too much; she blacked out on the spot.
With Lydia passing out, no matter how much everyone wanted to watch the fun, there was no way for this drama to
continue.
Everyone there knew how to behave in this situation. With just a few words, they brushed the matter aside, and soon the birthday party was lively again.
As for the unconscious Lydia, the hotel staff carried her out and even called an ambulance for her.
Amy, still holding Maureen’s arm, kept chatting and laughing with her friends as if the earlier drama had never even happened.
Back in the lounge, when Lydia’s name came up, both of them looked a bit awkward, not knowing what to say.
“I didn’t expect Tato to be this kind of person. Did I misjudge her?” Amy’s eyebrows furrowed in disappointment, reluctant to accept it. She took out her phone and clicked on Tato’s account, repeatedly looking through all the works she’d posted.
No matter how many times she looked, Amy just couldn’t believe that the person who created those pieces could be the person she met today.
Maureen could see disappointment in Amy’s eyes. To be honest, she had the same feelings. Maureen had been looking forward to meeting Tato, not only because of Amy, but also because Tato’s paintings always gave her a very familiar feeling.
It reminded her of that person who had suddenly appeared as a soulmate in her life years ago, but disappeared before she even knew her name. Thinking about that person made Maureen feel a bit restless, but she quickly pushed those thoughts aside.
Maureen sat beside Amy, looping her arm through Amy’s. “If you think she’s not worth it, don’t take it to heart. There are plenty of so-called geniuses out there who are jerks. Just chalk it up to bad luck, you happened to run into one.”
Amy had always adored Maureen. Now, seeing Maureen act all cute just to cheer her up, most of the gloom in her heart melted away. Playing along, she switched off her phone. “Alright, I’ll do as you say.”
They were in the middle of chatting when someone suddenly knocked on the lounge door. It was the bodyguard.
}
“Amy, there’s a girl outside calling herself Tato. She says she wants to see you and apologize for what happened earlier,” the bodyguard said.
The moment they heard that name, both Amy and Maureen frowned, and Lydia’s face instantly flashed through their minds. They exchanged a glance without saying a word, but knew exactly what the other was thinking.
Amy turned to the bodyguard. “Let her know I just got back to the country and I’m busy these days. Tell her not to bother coming to see me again.”
The bodyguard didn’t hesitate and quickly passed on Amy’s message.
Emily stood there, listening to the bodyguard, but she showed no sign of being upset. Putting herself in Amy’s shoes, she figured that if someone ruined her carefully planned birthday party like that, she’d be pretty angry.
Emily didn’t force it. She just asked the bodyguard to help her convey her apologies to Amy again.
When the bodyguard delivered the message, both Amy and Maureen looked a bit surprised. “She didn’t say anything else besides apologizing?”
The bodyguard shook his head. “No.”
The two exchanged a glance, both thinking that this attitude didn’t match the person they’d seen earlier at all.
If it had been Lydia, she would’ve used the apology as a cover to explain away the misunderstanding and try to get close to Amy. They thought, ‘How could the same person act so differently?’
*****
After asking the bodyguard to pass along her apology, Emily left the party early. She was in such a hurry that she didn’t even bother changing out of her dress.
Grabbing the hair samples from Lydia and Cale, she rushed straight to the appraisal center. While Emily was there, she also put in a string of her hair.
Waiting this time wasn’t hard at all. After all, Emily had already experienced what real agonizing waiting felt like the year Lydia returned to the Bennett residence.
Whether Lydia was truly a member of the Bennett family didn’t matter much to Emily. All she wanted was something she could use against Lydia. And now, to her surprise, she got something on Lydia.
There were two DNA test results. One was for her and Cale; the result made it clear: there was no blood relation between them. The other was for Lydia and Cale. It said, “Confirmed: Blood relatives.”
Staring at the two appraisal results, Emily felt a flicker of happiness, but honestly, it was far less satisfying than she’d imagined.
She wondered, ‘If Lydia wasn’t a member of the Bennett family, how did she manage to fool everyone back then? And if Cale and I weren’t related by blood, who were my biological parents?’
Emily couldn’t figure out all these questions. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t untangle the mess in her mind. But these two DNA test results could come in handy; it all came down to how she planned to use them.
Emily had no intention of marching straight to the Bennett family with the DNA test; that would be pointless. Instead, she took them to Lucas.
Emily wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but one thing was clear: Lucas felt guilty toward her, and as for Lydia, he not only disliked her but seemed to resent her.
As expected, when Lucas heard Emily wanted to meet, he agreed right away and even showed up an hour early to wait for
2/3
her. But Lucas brought Vincent with him.
