Chapter 12
That afternoon, I got a new haircut and went to see Sarah. We lived close by, just a few minutes’ drive away.
Even though we’d only been apart for a few days, she had bought me a bunch of things again. She said, “I saw this dress while shopping and thought it would look perfect on you, so I bought it. And these two bags go perfectly with that dress you bought with me last time. Do you like them?”
I said happily, “I love them, thank you.”
Sarah and I had similar taste – clothes she thought looked good,
I liked too.
Suddenly there was commotion outside: “This is the place.”
It was Alan and his biological parents. I frowned.
Tate said seriously, “Mr. Ellis, Mrs. Ellis, we have something we’d like to discuss with you.”
Sarah asked, “What is there for us to discuss?”
Out of politeness, Sarah still invited them into the living room to sit down.
Hazel said, “As you know, Alan is getting married soon, and we wanted to discuss the wedding.”
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“What does his marriage have to do with us?” I interjected.
Sarah gently patted the back of my hand, gave me a gentle look, then said to them, “Please continue.”
Hazel said, “You know our family’s situation. We only have one self-built house, we can’t come up with much money, and we can’t afford a house and car due to financial reasons, so we’re hoping you could provide this money. After all, Alan has called you Mom and Dad for over twenty years, and your family is wealthy and successful – this amount of money should be nothing to you.”
She acted like it was perfectly reasonable.
Sarah continued asking, “Is there more?”
Hazel said, “We won’t trouble you to prepare the specific details. You just need to provide five million dollars – more would be even better – and we’ll handle the rest.”
I really hadn’t expected there could be such shameless people in the world.
Alan kept his head down the whole time, clearly agreeing with his parents’ approach.
Marcus, having been in business for many years, immediately sneered, “Your son is getting married – why should we pay for it?
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Tate said, “I read in the newspaper that your group makes billions in profit every year. This amount shouldn’t be difficult for you, right? Besides, you’ve raised him for so many years – might as well see it through and pay this money.”
Alan, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke up: “Just this once. We won’t bother you again after this.”
Marcus looked at him and said, “We’ve raised him for so many years without asking you to reimburse us for all the money we spent on him – we’ve been merciful enough. Please leave. We won’t be paying any more money.”
Tate argued back, “We spent quite a bit raising Liam too. He’s so outstanding now because we put in a lot of effort…”
“What effort did you put in?” I couldn’t help but interrupt him.
“I’m asking you – what exactly did you contribute? How do you have the nerve to say such things? Your so-called contribution was sending him away to work as cheap labor, forcing him to earn his own tuition. Not only did you never pay his college tuition, you started asking him for money. I’m asking you – what exactly did you do?”
Hazel stammered, “Why are you being so harsh? We were doing it for his own good, to train his independence…”
I smiled and continued, “Then why don’t you let your biological son get some training? Instead you bring him here asking for money? He’s been lazy and good-for-nothing for over twenty years – shouldn’t he start getting some training now?”
They couldn’t say another word.
Sarah said, “I might as well tell you – I’ve already filed a police report for investigation.”
They suddenly stood up, saying frantically, “We just came to ask for money – why did you call the police?”
Sarah said, “If you refuse to leave, we’ll naturally sue you for extortion. As for why I called the police, you should know in your hearts.”
“We don’t know. We haven’t done anything illegal.” She shook her head desperately, which only made her look more guilty. “We don’t want your money anymore.”
Alan was curious and asked, “Police? What’s this about?”
Hazel’s face went pale: “We just came to ask for money. Since you’re heartless and won’t give it, fine, but why do you have to falsely accuse us like this?”
Just then, the police arrived.
Regarding the baby swap, Marcus and Sarah had already filed a police report for investigation. Today the police had just finished verifying everything and confirmed that it was indeed orchestrated by Hazel. The nurse at the hospital was her relative, who acted on her instructions to switch Liam and Alan. This wasn’t just immoral behavior – it was criminal.
That nurse had already been found by the police and confessed to her crimes.
Hazel never expected that coming to ask for money would result in walking into a trap.
The police took them away, restoring peace to our home.
Thinking about what they had done to Liam all these years made me furious.
So when Liam came home to have dinner with us, I took extra care of him. Marcus and Sarah watched us with gratified expressions.
