Chapter 259 - 258: Asher, Do You Want to Meet the Real Cecilia Caldwell?

Chapter 259: Chapter 258: Asher, Do You Want to Meet the Real Cecilia Caldwell?

The woman wearing glasses looked mature and composed. She felt older than me, but her skin was so smooth and delicate it was impossible to guess her actual age.

I watched the woman before me warily, feeling... a peculiar sense of danger.

"Silvia Lynch’s actions against Miranda Lancaster’s husband were purely self-defense. He was the one who pulled a knife on her. Silvia disarmed him and fought back. Besides, he only sustained minor injuries." Lucas Grant had finally finished throwing up, and his sharp mind was working again.

He shoved Felix Foster away in disgust and walked over to Jude Lynch and Master Lancaster. "You’re Silvia’s father, yet you’re claiming your own daughter has been emotionally unstable since she was a child?"

Jude Lynch pointed a finger in Silvia’s face, cursing, "That’s right! This little bitch has been a psycho since she was a kid. As her father, I demand a psychiatric evaluation!"

Lucas Grant sneered.

’Looks like this ’expert’ behind him already coached Jude Lynch before he came,’ Lucas thought. ’Too bad... the man is an idiot.’ He then said aloud, "Silvia was switched by your family’s former nanny, her adoptive mother, not long after she was born. She has lived with the Lynn Family ever since, yet you never raised her. So how can you claim she’s been emotionally unstable since childhood? If you ask me, you’re the one who’s emotionally unstable and needs a psychiatric evaluation."

"As long as she is a sane, healthy individual with human rights, no one has the right to forcibly restrict her freedom and send her to a psychiatric hospital!" Lucas Grant declared in a heavy tone.

The woman with the glasses smiled, calmly pushed Jude Lynch aside, and stepped forward.

She was wearing a skirt suit and high heels. She casually pulled out her phone. "This is a video of Silvia instigating homeless youths to get revenge on a classmate. Given such violent tendencies, wouldn’t you say... the family has a right to be reasonably suspicious?"

Master Lancaster raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips. He was quite satisfied with his reinforcements for the day.

I frowned, watching the video on the woman’s phone.

’Silvia... She’d been looking after those street kids since she turned eighteen. They listened to her, so whenever someone bullied Silvia, they would step up to protect her.’

"That just proves those kids saw Silvia was being threatened and stepped in to protect her." Lucas Grant’s stance was clear: he absolutely would not let anyone take me away today.

"Is that so?" The woman smiled and shot Master Lancaster a meaningful glance.

Master Lancaster nodded, signaling the man beside him with a look.

’This woman is deliberately stalling for time. I’m still her target...’

The man beside Master Lancaster suddenly spun around and came right for me.

He wasn’t carrying a weapon, but he radiated an intense aura of threat. I instinctively moved to counter-attack, but Asher grabbed me and held me back tightly.

He pulled me into his arms, shielding me with his body and kicking away the man who was closing in on me.

"Forced medical commitment only applies to psychiatric patients with violent tendencies. Without a court order, no agency has the right to lock up a citizen in a psychiatric hospital," Lucas Grant said coolly, a sneer on his face. "Ma’am, you’re trying to provoke Silvia. But unfortunately for you... even if you succeed, here in Meridia... you still need a court order to have someone committed."

The woman smiled and nodded. "You’ve misunderstood."

I gripped Asher’s wrist tightly. ’This woman is intentionally trying to get a rise out of me...’

"Silvia, aren’t you curious about who I am?" The woman seemed very confident, as if she had a thousand ways to get me sent to a psychiatric hospital.

I watched her warily. I wasn’t curious.

Asher instinctively stepped in front of me, his gaze a clear warning to the woman.

"And who are you? Jude Lynch is, for better or worse, Silvia’s father. Master Lancaster is a member of the Lancaster Family. But you?" Lucas Grant raised his arm, blocking the woman from getting any closer to me.

"Hello. My name is Nathan Lawson. I hold a doctorate in psychiatry, and I was Dr. Victor Quinn’s senior colleague." The woman smiled with great confidence, introducing herself as a psychiatrist.

I stared at her, my guard up. ’Victor Quinn’s senior colleague? Victor is almost fifty years old. How old is this woman...?’

"A doctorate? You look like you’re in your twenties. A PhD at your age?" Lucas Grant looked Nathan Lawson up and down.

Nathan Lawson tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Why, thank you. I’m fifty-two years old."

As soon as Nathan Lawson spoke, all eyes fixed on her face.

Fifty-two?

If she dressed down a little, she could easily pass for twenty-five.

Modern medical technology and cosmetic procedures are certainly impressive. Plenty of celebrities look twenty at forty, but aging is still inevitable, and you can usually spot the tell-tale signs. Yet with this woman, while she had a mature air about her, it was impossible to guess her age from looking at her face or even her neck.

"You’re fifty-two?" Zeke Shaw was stunned too. You really couldn’t tell.

"It’s all thanks to advanced cosmetic procedures, good maintenance, and a positive attitude," Nathan Lawson said with a smile, her gaze landing on me. "Silvia... are you sure you don’t want to talk to me? Biologically speaking, I am your mother."

My hand, which had been gripping Asher’s, suddenly went slack. I stared at the woman before me in utter disbelief.

’Mother? Hah... She really has the nerve to say that.’

"I’m a genetic experiment from some organization, aren’t I? Mother? Do I even have a mother?" I sneered, looking at Mrs. Lynch. "Didn’t she carry me for nine months and give birth to me?"

"Mrs. Lynch and Mr. Lynch are infertile; they cannot produce their own gametes. The in-vitro fertilization procedure used my egg, and... the sperm of another exceptional gentleman."

Nathan Lawson made no attempt to hide it, daring to bring the matter up right in front of the police.

’It was obvious. After Victor Quinn’s death, the Genetics Organization was sending her to monitor my life.’

"What does that have to do with me?" I shot back at Nathan Lawson.

Nathan Lawson just smiled. "Silvia, you and Cecilia Caldwell... you’re both my daughters."

"Bullshit," I scoffed. "We’re your test subjects, aren’t we? Are you the leader of the Genetics Organization? What’s the matter? Done hiding and decided to show your face?"

’Suddenly, I was very curious. Who was my biological father?’

’If the Genetics Organization is so particular about creating superior specimens, they must choose exceptional people for their gene pool. Nathan Lawson has a doctorate in psychiatry, so she must be brilliant. Her egg... would have to be combined with the sperm from another exceptional man to produce an experimental embryo like Cecilia. Then, they would perform gene-editing and artificial interventions on that embryo, and even clone it to create multiple test subjects.’

’That’s where Cecilia Caldwell and I came from.’

"Silvia, what are you talking about? I don’t understand," Nathan Lawson asked with a smile.

"You don’t understand? Your people monitor me every single day. They might as well install a camera on my forehead. What part of that is so hard to understand?" I said, watching her warily.

She remained perfectly composed, an expert at manipulating people’s emotions and exploiting loopholes in their arguments. "Silvia, you’re suffering from persecutory delusions, and it’s quite severe. Mrs. Lynch is, after all, the mother who gave birth to you. She’s doing this for your own good. You need to come with me for treatment."

’She was starting to build a case against me, trying to drive me crazy so she could take me away.’

’I had a feeling... The Genetics Organization had taken too big a hit this time. Claire Lawson had ripped away their final pretense, and now they were in a hurry to close the net.’

’And I was someone they had to take away.’

’They wanted to ’reclaim’ me, their test subject.’

’And Nathan Lawson’s arrival was meant to provide a legitimate way to do it.’

’After all, the police were already watching me. Only a ’legitimate’ recovery could keep them from interfering.’ 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"Silvia... you have a sister. You’re the same age, don’t you want to meet her? Four years ago, there was that car accident on the overpass involving Marcus Lancaster and Cecilia Caldwell’s parents. My other daughter was in Marcus’s car. She and Cecilia are identical twins... they look exactly the same. When she woke up, she had amnesia. But recently, her memories suddenly returned, and she’s saying that she is Cecilia Caldwell..."

’And Cecilia Caldwell—me—woke up with amnesia, like a completely different person.’

"I suspect that in the chaos of the crash scene, Julian Fletcher of the Fletcher Family saved the wrong person. He carried away my daughter, while the real Cecilia Caldwell was mistaken for her and brought to me."

My entire body went rigid as I stared at Nathan Lawson, my fingers trembling.

Even though I knew Nathan Lawson was deliberately provoking me, and even though I knew her story was full of holes, I still couldn’t stop shaking.

’Nathan Lawson wasn’t just saying this for my benefit. She was saying it for Asher, too.’

"Asher, don’t you want to meet the real Cecilia Caldwell?" And just as I’d thought, Nathan Lawson turned her attention to Asher.