CHAPTER 165

Chapter 165

Damon: [Drinks tonight.]

Caleb Goddard: [?]

Nathaniel Preston: [You’ve been avoiding us like the plague lately. What’s with the sudden enthusiasm? Got your heart broken?]

Damon: [Shut up.]

Nathaniel: [Alright, alright, I hit a sore spot. I’ll stop. There’s a new bar on North Saint Street. I’ll book a private room.]

Damon: […]

Nyla had just returned to the lab when Melody approached her, asking, Nyla, why are you so late today? Hey… what happened to your hand? Did you cut yourself during an experiment?”

Nyla didn’t want too many people to know about yesterday’s incident, so she nodded along. “Yeah.”

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“Then let me handle the operations for now. You can supervise,” Melody offered.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t affect my work,” Nyla declined.

They chatted briefly before starting the morning’s experiment.

The morning flew by.

Nyla took off her protective goggles and gloves, ready for lunch.

Melody, staring at her phone, said, “Nyla, a friend just told me several companies have terminated their contracts with Prospectus Technology. Even the company she works for did. Do you think

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something’s going on with Prospectus Technology?”

Nyla had a bad feeling. She asked with a frown, “Which companies exactly?”

Melody listed several companies, all of which had close ties with Gen Pharma and the Rainford Group. It seemed Tom and the Rainfords had decided not to wait for her apology and had started targeting

Prospectus Technology instead.

Nyla felt a pang of worry and considered texting Damon to ask but hesitated, remembering how he had told her not to appear before him.

After a few seconds, she closed the chat window.

Forget it. Going to him now would only annoy him.

Elsewhere, Jacqueline sat on the black leather sofa in Gen Pharma’s CEO office, looking at Tom with admiration.

She gushed, “Tom, you’re amazing. So many companies have terminated their contracts with Prospectus Technology. Damon must be really stressed right now.”

She couldn’t believe that, with so many companies pulling out, the Sumners could still allow Nyla to remain hidden without coming forward to apologize.

Tom, glancing at his phone, gave a perfunctory hum.

He had coordinated the contract terminations to position himself to capture Prospectus Technology’s market share. The Sumners had dominated Saintornia for too long, and it was time for others to get a piece of the pie.

Jacqueline’s issue just pushed up the timetable for his and the Rainfords‘ plans. It wasn’t primarily about her.

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If Gen Pharma and the Rainford Group weren’t capable of standing up to the Sumners, the Rainfords would have been the ones apologizing for what Jacqueline had done.

“Tom, will Ms. Weir be upset with you for helping me like this? She misunderstood us last time… Should I go explain to her?” Jacqueline asked.

Tom frowned as he remembered how Valarie had berated him over the phone for supposedly orchestrating Nyla’s humiliation of Jacqueline.

His expression darkened. He had been busy with work these past few days and hadn’t contacted her. Yet, she hadn’t reached out either.

This realization soured his mood even more.

Seeing Tom’s displeasure at the mention of Valarie, Jacqueline quickly said, “I’m sorry, Tom. You don’t want to talk about Ms. Weir. I-”

Before she could finish, Tom cut her off, “Enough. I have work to do. You should go.”

Jacqueline bit her lip. She was disgruntled but knew this Tom wasn’t the same boy who used to worry over her every frown. She didn’t dare act out.