Clarissa finally found out that Hilary switched babies back when she was born.
In truth, it wasn’t hard to find out as the secret wasn’t water-tight.
It was just that she hadn’t thought along the lines.
Despite knowing the truth, Clarissa didn’t feel like doing anything about it.
“Don’t you want to get to know your birth parents?” Matthew asked.
Clarissa had never met the Smallwoods, and they were not aware that their daughter had been switched with another baby.
Clarissa shook her head. “There’s no point doing so. It’s not going to make a difference anyway. Although Hilary didn’t treat me well, Dad and Grandma are still family to me. As for the Smallwoods, their love for Shermaine will not change. Therefore, revealing the truth isn’t going to change anything.”
Matthew didn’t force her to do anything, placing the decision in her hands.
However, after pondering for a moment, Clarissa looked up at him, her eyes glistening with curiosity.
“Matthew, if I wasn’t switched with Shermaine then, would she now be your wife instead? Hmm?”
Clarissa sounded extremely upset as she spoke. She even poked Matthew’s chest while doing so.
“Hmm? Would she?”
Matthew had wondered what sort of serious question she was about to pose and didn’t expect it to be this.
Feeling helpless, he brushed his finger across her eyelid as he looked at her affectionately.
“Do you think I’m in love with your person or your name?”
Clarissa pouted. “What do you mean? What has it got to do with my name?”
Matthew smiled as he continued to brush his finger across her face.
He retorted, “Isn’t that the case? Other than having your name, which part of her resembles you?”
Pouting, his words caught her by surprise. It took her a while to finally comprehend what he meant.
Suddenly, her face lit up.
“Are you saying you love everything about me other than my name?”
He had indirectly confessed his love for her. After all, he only loved Clarissa for who she was. If it was anyone else in her place, he would not have any feelings for them.
At that moment, the woman’s eyes sparkled in joy, as if a thousand stars were glowing at the same time. It caused Matthew’s heart to race. At that moment, he kissed her eye affectionately. As for Clarissa, she kept her eyes shut and smiled, relishing in the warmth of his lips.
By the time he was done, she hugged his waist and raised her gaze to smile up at him. She looked adorable doing so.
Pinching her cheeks, Matthew placed his forehead against hers as he said in a deep voice, “Clare, what is there to question? I love you for who you are. Isn’t it the same for you too?”
Clarissa smiled as she squirmed her lips. “For me?”
Tilting her head, she played dumb, refusing to admit to it.
Matthew kissed her on the lips again. “Don’t you love me?”
Wanting to tease him, she simply giggled without answering.
The man kissed her again as his voice resonated right between their lips. “Do you love me? Hmm?”
The more she refused to answer, the more aggressive his kisses became. Finally, she raised her arms to surrender.
She replied with her reddened lips, “I do. If not you, who else?”
Clarissa wasn’t sure if Matthew was satisfied with her answer. Without saying a word, he kissed her again. Soon, the atmosphere in the office grew amorous.
If not for Donnie knocking on the door suddenly, Clarissa and Matthew would have done it there and then.
After pushing Matthew away, Clarissa quickly hid in the break room.
While Matthew was busy outside, she sat on the bed, scrolling through the news on her phone.
Unexpectedly, the first thing she saw was news related to Hilary.
The headline read: Famous screenwriter refuses to acknowledge mother. Mother decries daughter for being heartless!
As Clarissa and everyone at Tyson Corporation ignored her, Hilary decided to escalate matters.
Given how famous Clarissa was, Hilary she was sure she could force her daughter’s hand by making the issue a trending topic.
However, Clarissa wasn’t going to stand for it.
“How shameless can she be!”
Just as she cursed, she got up and barged into the office. “Damn it, Matthew…”
Inside, a large group of people turned to look at her.
She froze at once before returning to the break room awkwardly.
Meanwhile, Matthew, who was sitting at the meeting table, grinned for a fleeting moment before recovering his dispassionate expression.
“That’s all for today. You are all dismissed.”
Everyone else maintained an indifferent expression as they gradually packed up their things and left.
Once the office was empty, Matthew entered the break room. To his astonishment, he was unable to find her, but he soon noticed a bump on the bed underneath the blanket.
Walking over, he patted her gently. “Clare, what did I do? Why were you swearing at me?”
Underneath the blanket, a guilty voice rang out. “I wasn’t cursing you. I was scolding someone else.”
“Who got on your nerves?”
Clarissa climbed out of the blanket and suddenly felt that the embarrassing situation a moment ago no longer mattered.
She quickly showed Matthew the trending topic.
After reading it, the man glowered, fury visible in his features and stance.
“I’ll get Donnie to deal with it at once.”
Although the news could be easily dealt with, Hilary wasn’t going to give up easily. She would definitely hound them until she achieved her objective.
Worried about Clarissa, Matthew stroked her head and comforted, “If you don’t feel like meeting her, I’ll do it.”
“No. Both of us know what her agenda is for seeing either one of us. Since Shermaine can no longer provide her with any benefits, she now plans to extract them from me. That’s how despicable she is. It’s not hard to guess what she desires. Since she’s desperate to meet, I’ll give her what she wants.”
Hilary was delighted to have finally received Clarissa’s reply.
Now that Clarissa was famous, she felt she could always use this tactic going forward. After all, celebrities were always concerned about their reputation.
Despite it being a threat, Hilary suddenly felt that she enjoyed the rush of threatening someone.
She was supposed to meet Clarissa in a cafe near Tyson Corporation.
Despite not having seen each other for a long time, Hilary was neither distant nor awkward to Clarissa. In fact, she acted as if she was still a caring mother.
“Clary, it’s been such a long time since I last saw you. I missed you so much. By the way, why didn’t you bring my adorable grandson along?”
From the get-go, Hilary kept talking about Damian. She wanted to find out more about him from Clarissa.
“Since you and Mr. Tyson are busy with work, and finding a good nanny is difficult, why don’t you let me take care of him? After all, I’m his grandma. I would be delighted to help watch over my grandson…”
However, she was mercilessly interrupted by Clarissa.
“Forget it. Haven’t you hurt me enough? And now you plan on hurting my son too?”
Hilary smiled awkwardly. “Don’t say that. It was all just a misunderstanding. Besides, why would I hurt my own grandson? I only got to know about him from someone else. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Remaining expressionless, Clarissa sneered, “Is this all you have to say after going through so much trouble? If it is, there’s nothing else for us to talk about.”
At that, Hilary let out an exaggerated sigh. “How can you talk to me that way? Am I not showing you concern? Now that you have a son, he will be the future heir of Tyson Corporation. Therefore, you have to be more guarded. How is your relationship with Mr. Tyson? If he marries someone else and has other children, I bet you won’t be as calm as you are now. Let me give you a piece of advice. You cannot allow him to have more children unless you are the mother. That way, Tyson Corporation will be yours…”
Hilary didn’t bother hiding her thoughts. She even made it sound like she was doing it for Clarissa’s own good.
However, the latter just stared at her coldly. For some reason, the feeling she got was no longer the same as before.
She had previously thought she looked like Hilary. But come to think of it now, there wasn’t any resemblance at all. Due to her beauty, people would usually comment that she took after her Hilary. However, no one ever described how.
Since Hilary obviously knows I’m not her biological daughter, what does she think about our relationship?
To have used me repeatedly while claiming to do so for my own good, doesn’t she ever feel bad? Am I just a tool to her?
At that moment, Clarissa burst Hilary’s bubble.
With an indifferent expression, she calmly asked, “Do you like me? No, what I want to ask is, have you ever liked me as your daughter?”
Clarissa could remember spending a few happy years at the Quigley residence when she was little. At that time, Hilary still treated her well.
Hilary was stunned by her sudden question. However, she quickly replied with a smile, “Clary, what do you mean by that? Why would I not like you? You’re my daughter, for goodness sake.”
Clarissa was disappointed by that answer.
But, it was within her expectations as there was no way Hilary was going to be honest.
In the face of Hilary’s hypocritical smile, Clarissa declared, “I am no longer related to you in any way. I can see through your thoughts. All you want is to extract some form of benefit from me. However, you’ve got the wrong person. You should look for Shermaine instead.”
With that, Clarissa got up and left. Meanwhile, Hilary sat stunned in her seat. It took her a long time to regain her senses.
