Betrayed and Dumped She Rose Stronger Than Ever novel Chapter 228

The chatter in the room was getting wilder by the minute, and Cindy couldn’t take it anymore. She rolled up her sleeves, ready to jump in and defend her best friend.

Before she could stand, the man next to her caught her arm.

Jon let out a sigh, sounding half exasperated and half amused. “You really haven’t changed, have you? After all these years, you still rush into things without thinking.”

Cindy shot him a glare. “Who says you get to boss me around?”

“You really think I don’t?” Jon looked at her.

The memory of that night flashed in Cindy’s mind. Her cheeks turned pink and she mumbled, “That was nothing. My stuff is none of your business.”

Jon’s eyebrows pulled together, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Stephen cut in.

Stephen glanced at them, his tone easy. “Rebecca doesn’t need you to jump in. She can handle herself.”

Cindy huffed. “You sound way too sure about that.”

Stephen just smiled, stretching out in his seat, hands draped over the armrests. His eyes narrowed a little, thoughtful. “I am sure. Rebecca is even more impressive than I ever realized.”

On stage, Rebecca’s eyes met Stephen’s. She gave a little nod, her look steady and reassuring. She had this under control.

Rebecca turned back to the crowd, picking up the mic. Her voice was calm, not a hint of nerves.

“Everyone, everything Sonja from NovaStack Cloud just said is completely false. I’ll go through her claims one by one.”

“First, Sonja says we picked today for our product launch just to embarrass NovaStack Cloud. That’s just not true. Sunforge Tech set this date for our launch long before anything else.”

She pressed the remote in her hand. A large screenshot appeared behind her. It was Sunforge Tech’s development plan, with the product’s release date clearly marked—decided all the way back in January.

Rebecca’s smile was cool. “In fact, NovaStack Cloud’s original launch date was at the end of March. They just changed it to today. So who’s really trying to make the other side look bad here?”

Sonja’s face flushed, her embarrassment obvious even from a distance.

The people who’d just been whispering doubts about Rebecca realized the truth and turned to glare at Sonja. Their stares made Bruce squirm in his seat beside her.

Wait, what? Rebecca was the patent holder? Wasn’t it supposed to belong to Dr. Palmer from Larkhaven College?

Rebecca took the mic again, smiling as she explained, “When I was an undergrad, I was lucky enough to be mentored by Dr. Palmer. With his help, I was able to apply for this patent.”

Her words sent another ripple of surprise through the room.

Someone at the front clapped and called out, “Ms. Harper, are you just showing off? Getting a patent like that as an undergrad is just next-level!”

People started to laugh and join in. “Seriously, Ms. Harper, that’s some humble brag right there!”

Meanwhile, Sonja just sat there, stunned. Her eyes stayed glued to the patent on the screen, refusing to believe it. No way. This had to be fake. How could the patent for the automatic interest rate curve model belong to Rebecca?

Why had Dr. Palmer never mentioned this to them before?

Bruce, after getting over the initial shock, couldn’t take his eyes off Rebecca up on the stage. There was something greedy in his stare now. Before, he’d always thought Rebecca was just capable, sweet, and easy to handle. But ever since their breakup, he was starting to realize he’d never really known her at all.