The Machine I "Destroyed" Was Mine All Along
My junior accidentally broke the most expensive piece of equipment in the lab and asked me to help fix it.
I had just started touching the instrument when she suddenly stepped back, tears brimming, and said, "Michelle, I can't take responsibility for this. I really can't afford it."
Before I could even process her words, Nicky Hardy—the unattainable crush I had chased for three years—rushed in and shielded her behind him. Then he turned to me with a glare that could freeze fire.
"Michelle, don't go too far. You can't expect her to take the fall for you."
I stared at him, dumbfounded. "You know full well I was shoved into this research group. I don't understand any of this stuff. How could I do the experiments on my own?"
His eyes grew colder, dripping with disdain.
"I've been saying it—what can a nepo baby actually accomplish? And now the equipment's ruined, and you still have the nerve to push the blame onto Elizabeth?"
I opened my mouth to argue, but then I caught a flicker of triumph across Elizabeth Horwitz's face in Nicky's arms. That was when it clicked.
They only knew I got in through connections—they had no idea I'd financed this very equipment myself.
They wanted to play their petty power games over a piece of lab equipment worth over ten million?
Interesting.