"What are you panicking about?" Julian rcer shot her an irritated glare and snapped.
"It’s been so long. Who could possibly dig it up?"
"Twenty years ago, technology wasn’t advanced. It’s impossible that we left any loose ends."
"Besides, even if soone did dig it up, there’s no evidence to prove we bought her."
"But..."
"No buts," Julian rcer warned Judith Caldwell, his face dark.
"I’m warning you. Don’t start blabbing everything just because you’re nervous and scared."
"You have to believe, without a doubt, that there’s no evidence. The police can’t touch us."
Judith Caldwell asked, her body trembling, "We deny it to the bitter end?"
"Yes. Deny it to the bitter end."
Julian rcer gritted his teeth, his eyes glinting nacingly.
"As long as there’s no evidence, no one can touch us."
Judith Caldwell paced back and forth in the living room, head bowed, muttering incessantly.
Seeing this, Julian rcer’s brows knitted together, and he let out a low growl in her direction.
"I’m talking to you! Are you even listening?"
Judith Caldwell jumped, startled by his shout.
"I... I heard you."
Julian rcer shot her another venomous glare from the sofa, then pulled out a cigar and lit it.
"I told you not to cause trouble online, but you just had to ignore ."
"Nothing I said could convince you. You just had to record that stupid video."
"And look what happened. One post from Claire rcer, and it’s stirred up all this attention and discussion again."
"The rcer Family has been thrown into the spotlight again, and our family’s reputation has been damaged ti after ti."
"Is this the result you wanted? Are you satisfied now?"
With that, he took another long, hard drag from his cigar.
Annoyance and frustration crashed over him like a violent storm, threatening to consu him entirely.
Judith Caldwell knew she had screwed up badly and didn’t dare to argue back.
"I didn’t know it would turn out this way."
"You didn’t know?" Julian rcer snorted.
"Didn’t Oscar tell you to stop making trouble? To avoid throwing the rcer Family back into the spotlight?"
"And what did you say? Huh?"
"You said you couldn’t let it go, that you had to teach Claire rcer a lesson..."
"Is this what you call ’teaching Claire rcer a lesson’?"
At the ntion of Claire rcer, Judith Caldwell gritted her teeth in hatred.
"Who knew that little bitch Claire would actually keep all those records..."
"And even find those teachers and classmates to vouch for her."
After she finished, she asked Julian rcer, "Julian, with things the way they are now, is there anything we can do to fix this?"
Julian rcer shot her a sidelong, annoyed glance. "Fix it? How?"
"Are you going to keep making up lies and hand her a knife to stab us with?"
That left Judith Caldwell completely speechless.
Claire rcer had organized all the physical evidence perfectly.
As for witnesses, her teachers, classmates, and even colleagues from her old sumr jobs were all testifying for her.
She wanted to refute it, but she didn’t even know where to begin.
Any attempt to argue or make excuses would be futile. It might even backfire.
Judith Caldwell wracked her brain and finally decided to contact Claire rcer.
"What if... what if we call Claire? Ask her to delete the post and then explain things to everyone online..."
Julian rcer shot her a look, asking irritably,
"You want to call her now and ask her to delete the post and issue an explanation? Do you really think she’ll agree?"
"She’s probably already blocked our numbers."
"How will we know if we don’t try?" Judith Caldwell said. "We did raise her for twenty years, after all..."
"You have the nerve to say that?" Julian rcer cut her off angrily.
"I told you to be nicer to her back then. After all, we never knew when she might have to give our son a blood transfusion."
"But you? You wouldn’t listen. You were just willfully cruel and sharp-tongued."
"Always going on about how you’d already paid for her, so why should you have to give her good food and treat her well?"
"Now it’s all backfired. She’s exposed your lies in public. What right do you have to talk about the ’favor’ of raising her?"
"If you had just been a little nicer to her in the past, she might have rembered our kindness and not been so ruthless."
"The rcer Family wouldn’t be in this ss today, with the entire country pointing fingers at us."
"Thanks to you, I’ve lost all face."
Julian rcer grew more and more furious as he spoke.
Finally, he couldn’t even be bothered to look at Judith Caldwell anymore.
He stood up and stord upstairs.
"You weren’t exactly nice to her either. Now you’re just pinning all the bla on ."
Judith Caldwell muttered at his retreating back.
Then, she collapsed onto the sofa.
She was panting with rage.
After thinking it over and over, she still wasn’t ready to give up. She pulled out her phone and called Claire rcer.
She expected, just as Julian rcer had said, that Claire rcer would have blocked their numbers.
But surprisingly, the call went through, and Claire rcer answered almost imdiately.
"Mrs. rcer, to what do I owe the pleasure of this late-night call?"
Claire rcer’s light, cheerful voice ca through the phone.
Judith Caldwell had to brace herself for a mont before she could speak, stamring out a na.
"Um... Claire..."
The mont she heard her say "Claire," Claire rcer knew she was up to no good and imdiately cut her off.
"If you have sothing to say, just say it. Don’t play these gas with ."
Seeing Claire’s attitude, Judith Caldwell was so angry she nearly smashed her phone.
But she couldn’t.
She was still counting on Claire to delete the post and issue an explanation.
She took another mont to compose herself, then shalessly began.
"Claire... I know I was wrong in the past. I was too hard on you."
"But I was just trying to teach you to be self-reliant from a young age."
"So that you wouldn’t be naive and get taken advantage of when you finished school and entered the real world..."
Before Judith Caldwell could finish, Claire rcer couldn’t help but laugh.
"Mrs. rcer, don’t you find what you’re saying laughable?"
"Teaching to be self-reliant? By making eat your leftovers and wear cheap, bargain-bin clothes?"
"If you’re going to make excuses, at least find a believable one, alright?"
"Other people might believe a tiny fraction of what you’re saying, but do you really think I will?"
Judith Caldwell: "What will it take for you to delete the post and issue an explanation..."
"It’s not going to happen," Claire rcer refused flatly.
"I gave you a chance. You’re the one who didn’t take it."
"If you had just signed the ’Adoption Annulnt Agreent’ back then, we could have gone our separate ways, and none of this would have happened."
"I’ll sign it now..."
"Too late," Claire rcer interrupted coldly.
"So now you want to sign? What did you say when I ca to you?"
"You told to give you twenty million..."
"So, how about it, Mrs. rcer? Can you afford the twenty-million-dollar price tag now?"
At her words, Judith Caldwell lost all composure, her face flushing with rage.
"Claire rcer, you’d better not take things too far..."
Claire rcer interrupted her with a cold laugh.
"When you locked in that dark little room, why didn’t you think about not taking things too far?"
"When you tried to sell to that Mr. Bower, why didn’t you think about not taking things too far?"
"And now you’re telling ** not to take things too far? Where do you get the nerve to ask that of ?"
"Don’t you realize how ridiculous you sound?"
"Claire rcer, I never knew you could be so vicious."
Even through the phone, Claire rcer could practically hear Judith Caldwell grinding her teeth.
She scoffed and said coldly,
"That word, ’vicious’... I’m hardly worthy of it. I think it fits you much better."
Judith Caldwell: "You..."
"If there’s nothing else, don’t call again."
"If you want to sign the adoption annulnt agreent now, you can. But don’t try to make any more demands."
"If you don’t want to sign, I’ll see you in court."
With that, Claire rcer hung up.
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