Chapter 4

My right eyelid twitched twice.

Jared froze for a beat, then cleared his throat.

He lifted his eyes to me.

"I've watched this child grow up. Of course we're close."

"Close is one thing. It doesn't explain her calling you Daddy."

I said it slowly, word by word, my eyes cold.

"Unless that's what she calls you in private."

"Or you really are her father."

The moment I said it, the crowd erupted.

Besides family, this birthday banquet had plenty of friends here too.

None of them knew the truth.

They whispered among themselves, eyes darting back and forth between Jared and his cousin's wife.

Her face flushed red in an instant.

"What are you trying to say!"

I spread my hands, all innocence.

"I only said Georgie might be Jared's daughter."

"I never said she was yours. Why are you so worked up?"

"Or is it that you already knew, and you were in such a hurry to dump her on me just to save yourself the trouble?"

She couldn't get a word out, swallowing nervously.

She jabbed Jared with her elbow.

I followed the motion and looked at him and Georgie.

"They really do look alike. Anyone who didn't know would think they were father and daughter."

His color went from red to white, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Then his voice shot up several notches.

"Penelope Henson!"

"We've been married five years, and I have never once done anything to wrong you!"

He looked at me like his heart was breaking.

"There are things I didn't want to bring up, but you keep making a scene, so don't blame me for this!"

The words were barely out before he pulled up a photo on his phone.

The same people who'd been talking about him a second ago all changed their tune, mockery and amusement in their eyes.

His cousin's wife leaned in, shrieked, her face going scarlet.

"Oh my God. Penelope, how could you do something like this?"

Even Doris slapped her own thigh.

"We never should have let you into this family! What kind of woman throws herself around like this!"

In the photo, I was walking into a hotel on another man's arm.

The line of my face in profile looked stiff.

The danmaku flashed past.

【They photoshopped this a long time ago. They were just waiting for you to cause trouble so they could pull it out and force you to keep the baby.】

【There's even an AI watermark in the bottom left corner they didn't crop out.】

I stood where I was and didn't move.

"Really?"

"If that's actually me, then why is there an AI watermark still sitting in the bottom left corner?"

Jared's face changed. He snatched the phone back while it was still being passed around the relatives.

"That's from when I did a high-res restoration on the photo!"

"Penelope Henson, I put everything I had into you, and you went behind my back to find a man and deliberately lost the baby. You're the one with the real scheme here!"

I looked at him, and suddenly I smiled.

"Really?"

"Jared, just this morning, I sent your DNA and Georgie's off for a paternity test."

The screen behind me jolted.

His face drained white in an instant.

"Based on the available records and DNA analysis, Jared Cross and Georgette Finch..."