But his eyes glinted strangely. Following his gaze, my heart plummeted. Ethan had cut the signal wires!
Then, with icy eyes, he tore the last gas mask in half before me and crushed it underfoot. My final hope shattered along with it.
“Back then, when you exposed Chloe, she begged you to let her go. And what did you say? That as head of the Research Institute, you couldn’t tolerate someone desecrating national resources!”
“Chloe’s fraud only cost the government a few million dollars, but you still got her expelled from the entire academic world!”
Three years ago, leveraging Margaret’s funding of my project, Ethan had forced Chloe—his childhood sweetheart—into my institute, polishing her résumé with my work.
If Chloe had behaved quietly, I might have turned a blind eye. But she stole my entire team’s data to win that award!
As a researcher serving the United States, living on taxpayer money, I could never tolerate an academic fraud in my lab!
Hearing Ethan twist black into white chilled me further.
“I only made sure she could never do research again. Compared to what you’re doing today, I’m nothing close to as ruthless.”
His face darkened, my words stoking his fury: