Octavia did not want to eat, but she threw a glance in Latham's direction.
"Latham, will you eat something? Let Cindy bring you a meal. You have been busy at the office all day."
Latham glanced at Cindy. Back when he believed this girl was his biological daughter, he had genuinely wanted to make up for lost time. He had treated her quite well, certainly showing her more affection than he ever showed Claire. But she was not his flesh and blood.
Logically, he knew the child was innocent. Children could not choose their origins. Yet, Octavia's betrayal still thoroughly disgusted him. Because of that, he could barely mask his coldness whenever he looked at Cindy.
He closed his eyes briefly. "I am not hungry."
Octavia did not push the issue. She simply gave Cindy a meaningful look.
Cindy stepped out into the hallway alone. She had no appetite either, so she pulled out her phone to call York.
When York heard about the car crash, he was completely stunned. Finding out the accident happened on the way to the West End made him suspect there was more to the story than simple bad luck. The Byron family was already in a precarious position with that development project.
York comforted Cindy, promised to head to the hospital shortly, and ended the call. He immediately relayed the grim news to his father, Frederic.
Like his son, Frederic suspected Lance's accident was deeply connected to their troubled business dealings.
Frederic was cut from a different cloth than Latham. He was far more flexible and willing to swallow his pride. If the West End project truly became unsustainable, he was prepared to cut his losses and walk away. The tricky part was finding a buyer. There were very few players in Apex with pockets deep enough to swallow such a massive undertaking.
"I will arrange a meeting with Keen tomorrow. By the way, his daughter Mabel is quite beautiful, and she is an only child."
"Frankly, her background is infinitely superior to Cindy's, who just stumbled out of the countryside."
"York, have you ever met Mabel?"
Frederic was already mapping out his next chess move.
York was caught off guard, clearly not expecting his father to sever ties with the James family so abruptly.
"Dad, Cindy and I are engaged. If we call off the wedding now, it will look terrible for both of our families."
"Our company has always maintained an excellent reputation. Are you really willing to tarnish that?"
Frederic frowned. "I have no idea how I ended up with such a self righteous son. Let me make this clear. If you marry Cindy now, neither of you will have any future options."
"Think about it. If we go bankrupt alongside the James family, what kind of life will you be living?"
"The Dean family is entirely different. Mabel is their sole heir. Even if our company shrinks to a third of its size after this disaster, the Dean family's backing would guarantee your comeback."
"York, I need you to be more ruthless in business. When survival and profit are on the line, youthful romance must be tossed aside."
"Dad!" York protested, fiercely disagreeing with his father's cold calculus.
Frederic scoffed coldly. "You were perfectly happy to break your engagement with Claire. Why the sudden moral high ground?"
"You grew up with her. Did that shared history mean absolutely nothing to you?"
York froze. He did care for Claire, but the bitter truth was that Claire had never truly looked up to him. She was exceptionally brilliant, and being with her had always made york feet arunbearable weight of inadequacy.
With Cindy, it was different.
"I will give it to you straight. The current Cindy is not even a fraction of the woman Claire is."
"If you refuse to break the
engagement, fine. But you are
paving your own road. When you are
left without a single penny
your
name, let us see how you manage to support her."
"She is not like Claire. Cindy cannot even survive on her own!"