Chapter 717



Keely smiled and prompted, “I had your daughter deliver that doll to your brother’s study. No one suspects it’s bugged. That little gadget might just solve our problem.”

“You made Elma do it?” Cara asked, fixing Keely with a sharp glare.

Terrified by Cara’s intense stare, Keely immediately assumed she had messed up. She quickly dropped to her knees. “I’m so sorry! It was my fault!” she blurted out. “I shouldn’t have involved your daughter, but it was the only way to get the bug into his study.”

This was Clayton’s private study, a sanctuary where he conducted his research and stored his confidential documents. If they were caught, Keely would definitely be fired, and who knew what else Clayton might do to her. He was a powerful and ruthless man.

Keely had a plan of her own to protect herself. If their scheme was exposed, she would simply pin the entire thing on Elma. Anyway, Cara despised Elma. But Keely hadn’t anticipated the shift in Jake’s demeanor toward Cara. Was Cara going to be nicer to Elma now?

Keely trembled, convinced she was about to face Cara’s wrath. But to her surprise, Cara burst into triumphant laughter. “Excellent!” she exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with wicked delight.

Instead of reprimanding Keely, Cara praised her, giving her a pat on the shoulder. “Your plan is brilliant,” she said approvingly. “Just make sure they don’t suspect my involvement. They’re so fond of that little brat, Elma, aren’t they? Let her take the fall for everything.”

A flicker of jealousy crossed Cara’s face as she spoke. Others might not know, but she and Clayton knew the truth.

Elma was actually the child of Jake and that woman, Kallie. Elma was Chloe, the child everyone thought had been lost. That was why Jake hadn’t found any discrepancies despite numerous DNA tests. Jake was Elma’s real father.

In the beginning, Cara had told the world that Elma was her and Jake’s daughter, solely to fulfill her dream of a family of three. But over time, Elma became more of a pawn in Cara’s game than a cherished daughter.

Now, as Elma grew older, Cara occasionally caught glimpses of Kallie in Elma’s features. This realization filled Cara with a mixture of fear and loathing. She was terrified that everything she had worked so hard to achieve would crumble around her like a house of cards. And with that fear, the last vestiges of love she had for Elma vanished.

Elma’s rejection of Cara had its reasons.

Cara had been so afraid that Elma would be recognized as Kallie’s daughter that she had sought out a specialized research team and given Elma a drug to stunt her growth.

This drug made Elma appear much younger than she actually was, like a three or four-year-old. In reality, she was close to Calvin’s age.

However, the drug had serious side effects that could potentially shorten Elma’s life. But Cara couldn’t care less about the consequences.

Every single time, Cara dragged poor little Elma along to those dreaded injections.

Elma had endured those agonizing shots for a whole year, each one a fresh wave of agony.

At that time, Elma was just a baby, barely a year old. It was absolute torture for her.

No wonder Elma dreaded seeing Cara, the woman who always seemed to be dragging her off for another round of pain.

The connection between Cara and Elma had deteriorated significantly.

.

.

.