This Time, I'll Be the Villain's Favorite Daughter novel Chapter 77

Chapter 77 The Girl Who Shouldn’t Be There

Finished

Anyone paying attention could tell the school leadership wasn’t that interested in praising top students.

They were more interested in meeting the parents from the international program.

The whole thing had an agenda under the surface.

Raymond picked a seat close to the door. Easy exit. No hesitation when it was time to leave.

Parents kept filing in, one after another.

“Mom, I got a perfect score this time.”

A little boy bounced in, holding his mother’s hand. He wore the same uniform, big bright eyes, the kind of kid who looked naturally cheerful.

“You did great, Derek.” His mother smiled warmly.

Maya only glanced at them for a moment. She was about to look away when something caught her eye.

Thomas walked in. Right on time, just before the meeting started. He didn’t look good.

It wasn’t just the recent hit his business had taken, the pressure, the losses. He still hadn’t properly recovered from his injuries.

Too many days of nonstop work had worn him down. The fatigue showed. And beneath it, there was something sharper. Irritable. Hard to hide.

Maya looked away without a trace of emotion. She rested her chin in her hand and stared blankly toward the front.

Raymond, meanwhile, was barely conscious. He sat there, half-asleep through the entire thing.

Maya and Alfred got bored fast. Under the table, they started playing rock-paper-scissors, with the loser gets a tap on the head.

After losing six rounds straight, Maya covered her forehead and protested, “I’m done. fou always win.”

Alfred spread his hands. “You’re just bad.”

Maya reached over and knocked his head twice.

They kept messing around like that. Two long hours slipped by before they noticed.

Raymond cracked one eye open and checked the time. Perfect. He planned to leave the second they announced the end. He’d had enough of this place.

Up front, Thomas sat in a reserved seat, listening without really listening.

When businessmen had a quiet moment, they defaulted to scanning. Looking for people worth knowing.

8:07 pm G P

Chapter 77-The-Girl Who Shouldn’t Be There

His gaze swept across the back rows. Faces. Outfits. Posture. Signals of status.

For a brief second, Raymond caught his attention.

Finished.

Not because he stood out, but because he didn’t fit. There was something too careless about him, almost rough around the edges, the kind of presence that felt out of place in a setting like this.

But it was only a glance. Thomas quickly dismissed him as not worth noticing and turned away.

It wasn’t until the moment replayed in his mind that something clicked. There had been someone else. A girl. Back there.

Her face had felt… familiar. Strikingly so.

Like.. like who?

When it finally hit him who she resembled, Thomas’s heart started pounding hard, his vision dimming. The surge of emotion hit all at once, a sharp, electric numbness shooting up his spine.

She looked like Lawrence.

He turned abruptly, almost on instinct, eyes locking onto that spot. Trying to see her again.

But the seat was empty. The girl who had been sitting there, chin propped in her hand, quietly spacing

out, was gone.

Raymond had already left. The second the meeting was about to wrap, he grabbed both kids and walked

out.

That seat by the door hadn’t been random. He was the first one out. He hated parent meetings.

The announcement came. Meeting adjourned. Chairs scraped. People stood. The room dissolved into movement. Parents headed for the exits. It got crowded fast.

Thomas shot to his feet. His heartbeat was loud in his ears. He didn’t even look at Kaia. Didn’t register anything else.

He pushed forward, almost frantically. “Excuse me. Sorry, let me through.”

r

He spoke as he pushed through the crowd, brushing people aside with little regard for politeness, his gaze sweeping the back rows and aisles like a searchlight.

But everywhere he looked, it was the same. Children in identical uniforms, similar in height and build, their moving figures blending together until they were impossible to tell apart.

Where is she? That girl…

The school was simply too big. Too many exits, too many stairwells leading off in different directions. Searching like this in a crowd was basically hopeless.

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