Chapter 145 It was just that Alan hated socializing. Every year, the only person he invited was Sydney. In recent years, Marcus had joined them. With their son abroad, Sydney felt like a daughter to them. "If your mentor hears that, he'll be over the moon," Eliana chuckled, admiring Sydney's thoughtfulness. "We're at the supermarket. Anything you want us to pick up?". Sydney played the dutiful student. "It's Alan's birthday. Whatever he likes, I'll eat." Eliana laughed.
"Listen to this girl, always knowing the right thing to say." She called out to Alan as she headed toward the seafood section, remembering Sydney's fondness for salt-baked prawns. Then she spoke into the phone again. "All right, when you're off, just come with Marcus." "Okay," Sydney agreed sweetly, hung up, and called in her next patient. After Marcus left for a meeting, Sydney sat in the car with the heater on and waited for him. She had been staying up late for the new drug research project, and the warmth and exhaustion combined to make her drowsy.
Marcus wouldn't be back for at least 20 minutes, so she figured she could sneak in a nap. She reclined the seat, eyes just closing, when someone knocked on the window. Her eyes fluttered open. Outside stood Penelope. Sydney lowered the window, her voice faint with fatigue. "What do you want?" Penelope glared at her. "Did you say something to Cal?" Lately, Caleb seemed unchanged on the surface, but Penelope felt his constant probing. A sharp, gnawing sense of danger had taken root. She needed to know exactly where she stood. "I don't know what you're talking about," Sydney replied.
She knew it was about the pendant, but she had already decided to play dumb. After the fiasco Penelope had stirred up at the hotel, Sydney still felt shaken. She had no intention of getting dragged back into that mess. Penelope pressed, "Don't play dumb. I'm talking about the pendant. Did you say anything to him?" "No." Sydney's tone was cold. "Why would I? He dotes on you. Whether that pendant is truly yours or something you stole makes no difference to him." She had told Caleb it wasn't Penelope's, yet the two had still been inseparable at the mall just two days ago.
Penelope narrowed her eyes. "Really?" Sydney smiled suddenly, her gaze sharp. "Penelope, that pendant doesn't hide some dirty little secret, does it?" Otherwise, why cling to it so desperately? Why care if Caleb found out? "It's just a piece of jewelry. What secret could it possibly hold?" Penelope forced a calm look and stepped back." I'm just warning you. Stay out of things that don't concern you." Sydney didn't reply. She rolled the window up. Furious, Penelope stormed off toward her car. The moment she turned the corner, a hand slammed her against the wall.
Victor's face twisted with rage as he yanked her hair back. "You bitch. Dodging me for days, huh? Thought I wouldn't find you myself?" Penelope had been too clever for her own good. She had whispered promises of "mutual benefit" at Dorothy's birthday party but had used the chaos at the hotel auction in the Hamptons to slip away. Victor was left to deal with the fallout alone. For days, he had sent men to track her. She either hid at home or clung to Caleb's side. S Pain flared across her scalp. "I haven't been avoiding you!
It wasn't my fault the hotel plan failed." She had arranged everything perfectly. Even if Julian's people had arrived quickly, it should have given Victor enough time to ruin Sydney's reputation. If anyone had botched it, it was Victor himself. How dare he pin it on her.