The Best Revenge It Wasn't Even Your Child novel Chapter 623

"Most average men wouldn't even bother changing their own kid's diaper."

Lorinda crossed her arms, studying Lance from a distance. "He's at the absolute top of the food chain. If he sneezes, the financial markets panic. Those hands shouldn't be dealing with dirty diapers; they should be signing multi-million-dollar deals!"

She clicked her tongue in sheer disbelief.

"He—" Catherine instinctively tried to offer an explanation.

But the moment she opened her mouth, she couldn't figure out where to even begin.

"Honestly, he's not so bad. Maybe you should just consider coming clean?" Lorinda's eyes darted around shiftily as she sniffled, trying to hide her underlying guilt. "I actually think you two are great together."

Catherine stared at her. "???"

When Catherine had wanted a divorce, Lorinda had been her biggest cheerleader, constantly cursing Lance out and preaching that a loveless marriage was a prison. What happened to that Lorinda?

"I just think the baby deserves a family," Lorinda explained, squirming under Catherine's scrutinizing gaze. "Becoming a mom shifted my perspective. Lance is Lanny's real dad, after all. You can't replace a biological father..."

"You used to tell me to steal Lance's top-tier genes, have a baby, and run as far away as possible so my child wouldn't inherit his toxic personality."

Catherine threw her past words right back at her.

Lorinda hesitated, letting out a dramatic gasp. "Like I said, having a kid changes your outlook!"

"You said that when Jasper was six months old."

Lorinda had already been a mother when she made that comment.

Catherine remembered it crystal clear.

"Oh, does Jasper want to ride a pony? Come here, sweetie, let me take you."

Lorinda pivoted sharply, marching away toward Harrell and Jasper, who were happily playing on the far side of the field.

Catherine watched her go, utterly baffled.

Poor Jasper. He had barely learned to walk, and he was already being used as his mother's ultimate escape route.

One second he was enjoying himself, and the next, Lorinda was scooping him up and plunking him onto a pony's saddle.

Catherine pulled her gaze away and looked back through the window at Lance and Lanny.

Lanny must have been hungry, because after finishing the diaper change, Lance was now preparing formula.

Catherine gave a faint "Oh," immediately pulling out her phone to text Aaron.

She harbored a tiny sliver of hope that maybe Aaron had some insider discount and it wasn't obscenely expensive.

A moment later, Aaron sent over the digital receipt for the purchase.

The good news was that it wasn't as exorbitant as she feared. The bad news was that it was only a few hundred dollars cheaper.

Doing the mental math, once she paid Lance back with the cash in her bag, she would only have enough left to get by for a short while.

She then asked Aaron to send a complete itemized list of everything purchased for Lanny, terrified she might have missed something and accidentally shortchanged Lance.

Aaron didn't overthink it and sent the file right over.

Sure enough, there were several small baby items Lance had bought that Catherine had completely overlooked.

Tallying it all up, she owed Lance another fifteen hundred dollars.

The more she calculated, the more a suffocating wave of despair washed over her. Without hesitation, she texted Gavin to arrange an early return to work.

Gavin bypassed the text and called her directly. The harsh buzzing of her phone echoed loudly in the quiet lounge.