Chapter 528\u00a0<\/p>\n
When James saw how calm and composed Sydney looked, he couldn\u2019t help but ask in a gentle, brotherly tone, \u201cYou\u2019ve really let it go?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t even sure why he asked. Maybe he didn\u2019t want her pretending to be fine if she wasn\u2019t. Or maybe, deep down, he wanted her to admit she was still hurting. If she did, he\u2019d find a way to stop that marriage himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney heard the sincerity in his voice and smiled. \u201cI\u2019ve really let it go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And she meant it. Her life was peaceful now, far more than she had ever dared to hope for. Why waste her energy caring about other people\u2019s choices?\u00a0<\/p>\n
If she and Caleb stayed friends, fine. If not, that was fine too. Some things were better left behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, she wasn\u2019t generous enough to stay friends in the scenario he married Penelope. Those two had already disgusted her enough, especially Penelope, who had tried to ruin her again and again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seeing her so steady, James finally relaxed and gestured toward the plate in front of her. \u201cDo you like this flavor?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney almost gave the polite, automatic answer: \u201cI like it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, something about his quiet attentiveness made her pause.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want the truth?\u201d she asked playfully, her eyes bright.\u00a0<\/p>\n
James smirked, and for a moment, he felt the strange urge to ruffle her hair. \u201cThe truth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just then, his assistant entered with a stack of files. The man froze at the sight of the famously stoic executive looking at someone with unmistakable softness in his eyes. A chill ran down his spine. \u2018What the hell. Did I just see Mr. Hutton smile?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the assistant left, Sydney took a small bite of cake and grinned. \u201cI love mango when it\u2019s just fruit. But when it\u2019s turned into other foods, not so much.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even so, she kept eating, spoonful by spoonful, until her plate was clean.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When several quiet seconds passed without a reply, she glanced up. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d James blinked, snapping out of his thoughts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the longer he looked at her, the more her expression blurred into another face-one buried deep in memory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJames,\u201d a childish voice echoed in his mind. \u201cI like mangoes, not mango candy, okay?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He drew in a slow breath. \u201cMy little sister\u2026 She had the same habit as you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney smiled faintly. \u201cLikes mangoes but not mango cake?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you like mango candy?\u201d he asked suddenly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNope.\u201d Her answer was quick and certain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
James rubbed his hands together unconsciously. \u201cThen you really are alike.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He remembered how, back at Seraph Villa, the maids always served her juice with a slice of cheesecake-his sister\u2019s favorite, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was no wonder his mother and Diana had always treated Sydney so kindly. They surely loved her for who she was. But maybe, deep down, they were also drawn to the faint echoes of Vee in her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sydney smiled but said nothing more. How could she dare imagine that a shared taste or habit might mean she belonged to a family that good?\u00a0<\/p>\n
After sitting a little longer, she stood to leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Almost as soon as she stepped out, James picked up his phone and made a call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It rang twice before Diana answered, her voice crisp and cool. \u201cSpeak.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDiana,\u201d James said, his tone lower than usual. \u201cYou said you were planning to run another DNA test for Penelope. When are you doing it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t say it outright, but his meaning was clear. He didn\u2019t believe Penelope was really their sister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Diana\u2019s expression didn\u2019t change. \u201cWe haven\u2019t gotten a usable DNA sample yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her tone was calm but chilly. She knew she wasn\u2019t being paranoid. Something about Penelope\u2019s identity was fatally wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If that girl had nothing to hide, why was she so careful about everything? Even at home, she wiped down every glass she drank from, making sure no trace of saliva remained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you think there\u2019s definitely something off about her too?\u201d James pressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there weren\u2019t, you wouldn\u2019t be calling me right now,\u201d Diana snapped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And she wouldn\u2019t still be insisting on another test.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even through the phone, he could sense her irritation, so he got straight to the point. \u201cThen why not just do it directly-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause when you pull out weeds, you take the roots with them,\u201d she cut in sharply,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her eyes narrowed. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to act, we act thoroughly. There\u2019s no point in just kicking her out. The last time we tried to collect samples under her nose, she found a way to tamper with them. If we force another test now, she\u2019ll just find another loophole.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
She paused. \u201cWe\u2019ll handle everything in one clean sweep. If our family had been clean from the start, Vee might never have been kidnapped.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Silence followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
James didn\u2019t argue as he knew she was right.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After a long pause, he asked the question that had been haunting them both.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she really isn\u2019t our sister, then how did the original test come back positive? Where did the real sample come from?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
COIN BUNDLE: get more free bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
P\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When The Ocean Learned My Name and Whispered It Back to You by Aurelia Novel 528 Chapter 528\u00a0 When James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-when-love-is-gone-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}