Once a Doormat Now Untouchable (Caleb and Sydney) novel Chapter 528

Chapter 528

When James saw how calm and composed Sydney looked, he couldn’t help but ask in a gentle, brotherly tone, “You’ve really let it go?”

He wasn’t even sure why he asked. Maybe he didn’t want her pretending to be fine if she wasn’t. Or maybe, deep down, he wanted her to admit she was still hurting. If she did, he’d find a way to stop that marriage himself.

Sydney heard the sincerity in his voice and smiled. “I’ve really let it go.”

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’s choices?

If she and Caleb stayed friends, fine. If not, that was fine too. Some things were better left behind.

Of course, she wasn’t 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.

Seeing her so steady, James finally relaxed and gestured toward the plate in front of her. “Do you like this flavor?”

Sydney almost gave the polite, automatic answer: “I like it.”

However, something about his quiet attentiveness made her pause.

“Do you want the truth?” she asked playfully, her eyes bright.

James smirked, and for a moment, he felt the strange urge to ruffle her hair. “The truth.”

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. ‘What the hell. Did I just see Mr. Hutton smile?’

When the assistant left, Sydney took a small bite of cake and grinned. “I love mango when it’s just fruit. But when it’s turned into other foods, not so much.”

Even so, she kept eating, spoonful by spoonful, until her plate was clean.

When several quiet seconds passed without a reply, she glanced up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” James blinked, snapping out of his thoughts.

However, the longer he looked at her, the more her expression blurred into another face-one buried deep in memory.

“James,” a childish voice echoed in his mind. “I like mangoes, not mango candy, okay?”

He drew in a slow breath. “My little sister… She had the same habit as you.”

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Sydney smiled faintly. “Likes mangoes but not mango cake?”

“Do you like mango candy?” he asked suddenly.

“Nope.” Her answer was quick and certain.

James rubbed his hands together unconsciously. “Then you really are alike.”

He remembered how, back at Seraph Villa, the maids always served her juice with a slice of cheesecake-his sister’s favorite, too.

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.

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?

After sitting a little longer, she stood to leave.

Almost as soon as she stepped out, James picked up his phone and made a call.

It rang twice before Diana answered, her voice crisp and cool. “Speak.”

“Diana,” James said, his tone lower than usual. “You said you were planning to run another DNA test for Penelope. When are you doing it?”

He didn’t say it outright, but his meaning was clear. He didn’t believe Penelope was really their sister.

Diana’s expression didn’t change. “We haven’t gotten a usable DNA sample yet.”

Her tone was calm but chilly. She knew she wasn’t being paranoid. Something about Penelope’s identity was fatally wrong.

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.

“So you think there’s definitely something off about her too?” James pressed.

“If there weren’t, you wouldn’t be calling me right now,” Diana snapped.

And she wouldn’t still be insisting on another test.

Even through the phone, he could sense her irritation, so he got straight to the point. “Then why not just do it directly-”

“Because when you pull out weeds, you take the roots with them,” she cut in sharply,

Her eyes narrowed. “If we’re going to act, we act thoroughly. There’s 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’ll just find another loophole.”

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She paused. “We’ll handle everything in one clean sweep. If our family had been clean from the start, Vee might never have been kidnapped.”

Silence followed.

James didn’t argue as he knew she was right.

After a long pause, he asked the question that had been haunting them both.

“If she really isn’t our sister, then how did the original test come back positive? Where did the real sample come from?”

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