Lahat ng Kabanata ng Shredding Riches, Sparking Madness: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 8

The next day, I arrived at the research institute as usual. Before I could even sit down, I saw Juniper wiping away tears, looking extremely pitiful.She said, "Victoria, I truly wished nothing but the best for your patent, but how could you steal my data and use it as your own? I understand how desperate you must've felt, but this is still wrong!"The second she said that, it was like lighting a match in a gas leak. The whole research institute burst into chaos."What? Juniper, has there been a misunderstanding? Victoria is the best. She's not only helped you, but all of us with our data," a researcher said. Another researcher agreed. "Right. Besides, Victoria has plenty of patents. Maybe you were mistaken."I watched Juniper put on that fake, sympathetic act in front of everyone, and couldn't stop myself from laughing."Juniper, just because you accuse me of something doesn't naturally make it true. If you're gonna slander me, at least produce some evidence," I said. I had a

"Dr. Harrison?" The initially dazed Hector quickly put on a smile as he welcomed our director, Jared Harrison. "Dr. Harrison, you're back. I thought you'd be attending the conference for a couple of days."Jared's expression was grim as he slammed a document onto the table. "Good thing I came back just in time to stop all hell from breaking loose."The room instantly fell silent. The colleagues who had been yanking on my collar quietly let go.Jared strode over, helped me to my feet, and turned to glare sharply at those who had shoved me."Well? What did she ever do to you to deserve this kind of treatment?" he questioned. "She's always helped you guys, and this is how you repay her? If I didn't know better, I would've thought you guys were thugs!"No one dared say a word, except for Juniper, who stepped forward with a smile. She said, "Dr. Harrison, don't let her fool you. She's just a plagiarist who steals other people's work. Not only did she steal my research data, she sabot

"What are you talking about?" Juniper asked, confused.She was initially startled, then gently looped an arm around Lucas'. "Come on, Lucas. You're not seeing this right. How could I have misled you guys? I know I was wrong earlier, but there must be a misunderstanding—"Lucas shook her off without hesitation, glaring at her as she fell to the ground. "You think we're all idiots? Do you get a kick out of playing everyone like fools? Huh?"Everyone froze in shock. Only Connor rushed over to help Juniper up.He glared at Lucas and snapped, "Hey, Lucas! Juni's always been good to you! You know she's not in great health, so why would you push her like that?"Lucas chuckled coldly. "Are you sympathizing with her? At least ask what she's done before you do that!"As everyone exchanged confused glances, he turned to me and solemnly apologized, "I'm truly sorry, Victoria. I was blind and wrongly accused you. Please accept my apology. I hope we can move past this."Although I was surpris

Jared had always been interested in the patent I was developing. Whenever there was any progress, I made sure to report to him right away.First, so he could keep track of the overall progress. Second, so he could help me out as much as possible.The last time I gave him an update was a week ago. By then, most of the research data was basically finalized. The key results were confirmed, and only the finishing touches were left.Then, a couple of days ago, Connor swapped my original manuscript. In other words, besides me and him, Jared already knew about the data back then.Connor thought he was clever, replacing my real manuscript with a fake one, but he didn't realize that Jared had already gone through all the content from my original manuscript. His knowledge of my research data became solid proof that I developed everything on my own.By some twist of fate, I ended up destroying the fake manuscript, while Connor had the real one in his hands. Without Jared's intervention, that