Betrayed and Dumped She Rose Stronger Than Ever novel Chapter 226

As chatter rippled through the crowd, Sonja caught the latest rumor. She grabbed her phone, pulled up the livestream, and her eyes went wide. It was true. Sunforge Tech had actually bought the patent for the automatic interest rate curve model.

No way. This couldn’t be happening! Dr. Palmer had sworn up and down that the professor would never sell.

Then it hit her. Stephen was Dr. Palmer’s nephew. Of course. Dr. Palmer must have sold the patent to family behind their backs and lied to all of them.

But that wasn’t even the worst part. The real disaster was happening in the room. People were quietly getting up, slipping out one by one, making their way next door to the hotel.

It was a domino effect. Within minutes, half the room was empty.

Bruce came out of the bathroom just in time to see the mass exodus. He hurried over and stopped one of his longtime clients. “Jax, what’s going on? Why are you leaving now? There’s still a banquet later.”

Jax looked uncomfortable. “Sorry. I figured things were wrapping up here, and I have somewhere else to be. Hope you understand.”

Bruce frowned, glancing at the big screen. The presentation had only just finished the first segment. This wasn’t anywhere close to wrapping up. Something was off.

Kane walked over and leaned in. “Mr. Lamont, I asked around. Everyone who left is going to the hotel next door.”

Bruce’s eyes narrowed. That was where Sunforge Tech’s launch was happening. His jaw clenched. “Let’s go see for ourselves.”

Sonja, not far behind, spotted them heading out and rushed to follow.

She was livid. “They sold the model to Sunforge Tech. Dr. Palmer totally screwed us over. He’s a liar!”

What were they doing here?

She really didn’t want to deal with them right now, but NovaStack Cloud was still a competitor and an industry peer. She’d already told everyone they were welcome, so she had to follow through.

“Welcome to our product launch. Here’s a brochure. Let me know if you have any questions.”

She delivered her line, completely expressionless, and turned to leave. Sonja’s angry voice called out after her.

“Rebecca, this isn’t a fair win!”

Rebecca arched an eyebrow. “Glad to hear your confidence in us, Sonja. The event’s not even over yet and you already think we’ve won. But don’t worry, your new product isn’t totally useless.”