Chapter 4

"Sit down." Andrew pressed a hand on Lauren's shoulder and looked coldly at Evelyn. "Lauren has been in this family for eighteen years. That seat is rightfully hers.

"You're the one who just showed up. What right do you have to point fingers here?"

"Outsider?" Evelyn repeated, a faint smile tugging at her lips. "So the biological daughter is the outsider in this house."

"Andrew." Mary shot Andrew a glare, then turned to Evelyn and said, her tone softening. "Andrew doesn't know how to talk. Don't take it to heart.

"Of course you're this family's real daughter. I went through so much to find you."

"I know." Evelyn stood up, picked up her bowl, walked to Lauren's side, and smiled. "Lauren, let's switch seats."

Lauren froze.

She hadn’t expected Evelyn to be so blunt. She'd envisioned two possible reactions: Evelyn would either swallow her grievances quietly or fly into a fit of rage.

If Evelyn held her tongue, Lauren would retain the upper hand. If she erupted, the Bennetts would grow far more hostile toward Evelyn. Either scenario benefited Lauren.

But Evelyn picked a completely different third option.

"I..." Lauren looked at Andrew, then at Mary, tears trembling in her eyes. Evelyn tilted her head.

"Why are you looking at them?"Evelyn tilted her head and said, "Can't you decide for yourself whether to switch seats, or do you just like that seat too much to give it up?"

"Enough." Andrew yanked Lauren behind him and stood in front of her. "Evelyn, you've gone too far."

"Andrew." Evelyn looked him straight in the eye. "Let me ask you something."

He replied, "What?"

"If Lauren were the one asking to switch seats today, would you say she was bullying anyone?" Evelyn asked.

Andrew opened his mouth, but no words came out, because the answer was obvious.

*****

If Lauren had been the one asking to switch seats, Andrew not only wouldn't have gotten angry, he would've given up his own seat for her.

That double standard was so natural to him he didn't even notice it.

"That's exactly the problem right there." Evelyn smiled, dropping the matter of the seats. She turned and walked back to her own spot, sitting down. "Forget it, I won’t switch. It doesn’t matter where I sit."

She picked up her chopsticks and resumed eating as if nothing had happened. But everyone at the table had been stung hard by her words.

Richard gave her a long look, then suddenly said, "Evelyn, come to Bennett Holdings with me tomorrow."

"Dad?" Andrew stared at Richard in disbelief.

"Let her get familiar with the family business early," Richard said calmly. "She's Bennett blood, after all."

Lauren's face changed for a split second, but she quickly smoothed it over and said softly, "Evelyn, you're amazing. Dad's going to teach you himself."

Without even lifting her head, Evelyn said, "Thanks, Dad. But I'm not interested in business. Andrew can go instead."

Richard's frown deepened. He had made the offer to test her ambition and pressure Andrew. Andrew had grown increasingly arrogant at the firm lately, and someone was needed to keep him in check.

But Evelyn rejected it without hesitation.

"Are you sure?" Richard asked.

"I'm sure." Evelyn set down her chopsticks, dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "I'm finished. Please enjoy the rest of your meal."

She stood up and left the dining table, leaving everyone seated there wrapped in their own tangled thoughts.

At the dining room door, she looked back once at the family. Lauren whispering to Andrew, Mary scolding a maid, Richard silently observing them all.

Lauren leaned close to Andrew’s ear, whispering something to him, while Andrew patted her back with a look of tender sympathy.

Mary berated the servants for over-seasoning the dishes. Richard sipped his soup blankly, his gaze sweeping across every person at the table.

What a family. Everyone was putting on an act, everyone had schemes of their own.

"Evelyn looked away, headed upstairs to her room and shut the door.

She unlocked her phone and pulled up an encrypted folder holding all the intel she'd gathered on the Bennetts over the years."

Inside lay evidence of Richard's tax evasion, loopholes in Bennett Holdings’ internal shareholding structure, records tracking Susan King's movements all these years, and most crucial of all, the DNA test matching Lauren and Susan.

Yes, she already knew the truth. Lauren had never been adopted from an orphanage at all. She was Richard's illegitimate daughter with Susan.

Back then, Susan had taken Evelyn so her own daughter could steal Evelyn's place as the Bennett heiress, and Richard, that so-called respectable man, had known about it all along.

The next morning, Evelyn came downstairs for breakfast and immediately noticed the strange mood at the table.

Lauren's eyes were swollen from crying. She sat beside Mary without uttering a word. Andrew looked murderous, squeezing his sandwich so hard it was nearly crushed out of shape.

Mary seemed furious, and Richard had already left for the company.

Evelyn paid them no mind whatsoever. She took her usual seat and picked up a slice of toast, eating it slowly.