Chapter 4

Georgia opened the door without the slightest pause, as if she hadn't heard anything.

Back in her office, she leaned against the door and took a long, deep breath. Her fingers, clenched around the file, had gone pale from how hard she was gripping it.

Compared to muddling through and swallowing lies, what scared her more was the unknown variables she couldn't control.

She sat down at her desk, picked up the landline, and made a call. "Rebecca, could you please forward me the archived materials for the project named Development of an Enhanced Sustained-Release Delivery System for Calming Vitality Granules? I have something important to announce at the 3:00 pm meeting today."

Then, she turned on her computer and accepted an incoming document. This project, which had great potential, was one that Fred's grandmother, Marie Bronson, had helped arrange. Outwardly, it was billed as a collaboration between the two sisters-in-law. If it succeeded, it would be a nice little story for people to talk about.

Now that the project was nearing its end, Georgia looked at the application materials. The solution to the key problem was credited to the formulation innovation team led by Helena, while her own name appeared only in the list of personnel providing pharmacology support.

"I knew it. This again." She reached out and began typing on the keyboard.

At 3:00 pm, Fred sat at the head of the table in the conference room, his gaze dark and complicated as he stared down at the file in front of him.

That day's meeting was a phase summary for the Calming Vitality Granules project. R&D and all the key technical staff from various departments were present.

When it was Georgia's turn to speak, she calmly spread out a stack of documents and walked up to the podium. The materials projected on the screen were the ones she had quietly revised.

She said evenly, "There are some discrepancies between the project application materials and the original records. I'd like to take a moment to clarify those for everyone."

At that, the entire room was stunned. The application had already been submitted. For Georgia to suddenly claim there were errors was genuinely shocking.

Fred's gaze turned even more complicated as he watched her.

Her voice remained cool and steady as she presented the photocopies of her original lab notes with her own markings and dates, the early sample test data, and a series of email exchanges between her and Helena. One by one, they appeared on the screen.

Fred stared at the projection, a grim line cutting across his handsome face. Taken together, the chain of evidence pointed to one clear fact—the core breakthrough technology and key parameters of the project had been led and developed by Georgia.

The conference room fell into dead silence. Then, a few people couldn't help whispering to each other.

"Dr. Walker!" Lara Judd, an assistant from Helena's project team, was the first to speak up, her tone edged with accusation. "We're already in the approval stage. Isn't it a little inappropriate to bring this up now? If word gets out that we switched project leads at the last minute, people will just think we're a joke."

Another middle-aged researcher chimed in, "This is a collaborative project. The credit was always going to be hard to separate. Dr. Linden is the project lead, and she's been coordinating everything. Her contribution is significant. Dr. Walker, aren't you being a bit too hung up on this?"

"Exactly. Dr. Linden has just lost her husband. She's grieving and in pain. Can't you cut her some slack?"

Dissatisfaction rippled through the room. To them, Georgia's move to claim credit at this time looked petty and narrow-minded. She seemed unforgiving and lacking basic generosity or kindness.

By doing this, she'd broken an unwritten rule that the official lead got the lion's share of the credit. The ones who worked quietly in the background were expected to know their place.

Everyone thought she was aggressively grabbing power, using the fact that she was Fred's wife to step on the already fallen Helena while she was down.

Georgia barely even batted an eye. Her tone remained calm and measured. "I understand everyone's concerns. But I believe that in R&D, we have to stand on facts and the principle of originality. We need to clarify what's technically true, not get bogged down in personal gain and losses.

"If the source records are unclear and a dispute ever arises over technical details or intellectual property, the company will bear the cost and the blame."

She paused, letting her gaze rest for a moment on a few of the faces that looked the most displeased. "Given the actual technical contributions, having me take over to lead the final integration of this project and to handle the subsequent tech support for production is the most reliable way to ensure the project proceeds smoothly."

Seated at the head of the table, Fred wore a dark and gloomy expression. No one knew what he was thinking as he kept his gaze locked on Georgia, who stood in front of the projector.

She finished what she had to say and went back to her seat.

"What is Dr. Walker trying to do? Steal credit?"

"Never realized she was this petty."

"You think Mr. Seele is going to let this through?"

"Dr. Linden's been close to her for years. Imagine how betrayed she must feel."

"Silence." A deep, steady male voice cut through the noise, pressing down all the murmurs of criticism.

"That's enough for today. Everyone's dismissed," Fred continued. He didn't give a final decision, choosing instead to simply dissolve the meeting.

"Georgia, do you really have to do this?" Georgia had just finished gathering her documents and was about to leave when his voice came at her like a weight. "Do you have to push her off the edge?"

She looked at him, her arms full of files. "I'll be submitting a formal report to the R&D leadership and company management."

"And what if I say no?" Everyone else had already left. Fred reached back and pushed the conference room door shut. He stuck his hands into his pockets, displeasure written across his face as he said, "She's not just my sister-in-law. She's family. You picked the wrong person to challenge."

"I'm doing what I believe is best for the company and the project," Georgia replied calmly, meeting his cold, angry stare without flinching.

"What's best?" The anger in his eyes surged, but he forced it back down. "Have you thought about the state Helena is in right now? She lost her husband and is being forced to go abroad. And at this moment, you pull something like this to strip her of her project, to lay out all of this so-called 'original evidence' in front of everyone.

"You corner her in public like you're staging a coup. Are you really thinking about the company? Or just about yourself? What do you think people will say? They'll say you waited until your sister-in-law fell from grace to kick her while she was down, to steal her credit and her power. They'll say you're cold-blooded, incapable of empathy, and utterly lacking in basic decency."

Fred was truly angry now. He couldn't accept that Georgia had chosen this moment to act like this. He stepped closer, his hands settling on her shoulders. His fingers, out of habit, gently smoothed back the hair by her ears.

He said, "Georgia, it's just a project. It might not even make that much money in the end. Is it really worth throwing away your reputation for this? Is it worth grinding Helena under your heel?"

Georgia lowered her eyes and gently pushed his hands off her shoulders. She said quietly, "I'll wait for the higher-ups' decision and arrangements. As for whether it's worth it—I have my own principles, and I'll stick to them."

With that, she opened the conference room door and strode out. She wanted to tell Fred that he'd lost the right to talk to her about circumstances and decency. From the moment he and Helena plotted to have a healthy child together to secure her place in the Seele family, that so-called decency was already shattered.

…

Less than three minutes after the meeting ended, Lara was on the phone with Helena, relaying every detail of what had happened in the conference room.

An hour later, a Bentley rolled to a stop in front of No. 6, Pinelake Bay. Fred sat in the backseat, the cigarette between his fingers yet to burn out.

As soon as the car stopped, he flicked the cigarette onto the floor, grinding the butt out with the toe of his black leather shoe.

"Mr. Fred!" Wanda Monroe hurried over and took the coat draped over his arm.

"Has she eaten anything?" Fred asked.

Wanda lowered her voice. "Yes, but not much."

Just then, Helena's figure appeared at the top of the stairs. She wore only a thin silk robe, with a cardigan casually thrown over it. It was late autumn, and she was clearly underdressed for the weather. Her face was pale and bare of makeup, her eyes rimmed in red and slightly swollen.

She looked nothing like the polished, impeccable eldest daughter-in-law of the Seele family she usually presented to the world. She looked more like a previously vibrant bird, now floundering on the ground with broken wings.

"Fred…" Her voice was hoarse and broken, threaded with the hint of a sob.

The next second, her tears spilled over.