Betrayed? I Upgraded to His Billionaire Brother novel Chapter 252

Chapter 252

He’d just been thankful she wasn’t in the car.

Thankful she wasn’t by his side.

Gavin reached out and pinched my cheek, a lazy smile tugging at his lips. “I don’t really remember. Do you want to kiss it better for me? His tone WAS decidedly lacking in seriousness.

But his words sent my mind reeling.

When I was little, Gavin had spoiled me into being ridiculously fussy. The slightest scratch and I’d whine and pester him to “kiss it better.”

Nowadays, it felt a bit like ancient, embarrassing history.

I looked up at him. “…It’s already healed. How could kissing it help now?”

“If you know that, why ask?” Gavin didn’t want her getting distracted right now. “Whether it hurt or not, it was a long time ago. The most important thing for you right now is the drug development. Don’t focus your energy on other things.”

-How could anything about you be considered ‘other things‘?

The thought, rising unbidden from my subconscious, sent a jolt through me. I hid my panic by looking down. “I know.”

Honestly, I had a clear head about what I needed to do most right now.

So many of the things I wanted to do depended on this project’s success. Otherwise, I’d be stuck.

I decided to stop thinking about anything else and just plunged headfirst back into the lab.

Finally, we pushed the project to the stage of applying for clinical trials.

One day, I walked into the R&D department with my bag as usual, only to be steered toward the conference room by Elias.

I was confused. “Elias, what is it? An impromptu meeting today?”

“Not a meeting,” Elias said with a gentle smile. As we neared the conference room door, he covered my eyes. “Get ready. It’s a surprise.”

I was still processing that when I heard the door open and the entire R&D department speak in unison:

“Group Leader Windsor! Congratulations on the successful development!”

“Congratulations, Group Leader Windsor! And congrats to the R&D team for a brilliant victory!”

“Group Leader Windsor! You’re incredible! This time, you’ve really and truly one–upped all of us!”

Someone noticed Caíus hanging back in the crowd without speaking and couldn’t help but prompt him. “Caius, why are you spacing out now? Hurry up and congratulate your team leader.”

Caius, who seemed lost in his own thoughts, snapped back to attention. “Oh! Right, I’m just… too happy!”

“Elara, congratulations,” Elias said, removing his hands. “Whether as your senior or your partner, I’m thrilled for you.”

I opened my eyes to see genuine smiles on everyone’s faces. The conference room was decorated, and there was a huge cake on the table.

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Betrayed? I Upgraded to His Billionaire Brother

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Thank you everyone. This project succeeded thanks to the support of each and weary penn heissid, ferling dy happy mulde, Buy tent shifted gears. “However, whether it’s a final morsk still depends on the clinical trial roads

Yesterday, the final development data completed us last round of checks and was submitted to the relevant authorities. The next step is it m production arrangements and clinical trials.

Every stage was a hurdle.

Abbott smiled.

“Group Leader Windsor, we all believe in you. You need to believe in yourself, too!”

After all, since I’d joined the project team, apart from the incident where Sullivan and the others tampered with things, all the other experiments had been successful on the first try. This final data had been checked and re checked, there surely couldn’t be a problem

Then, he beckoned to me. “Our star contributor, come cut the cake! Everyone’s waiting to share in your celebratory spirit.”

Even though Elias and I were the primary developers, once this drug hit the market, everyone in R&D would benefit.

“Alright,” I said with a smile, walking over and starting to slice the cake, placing pieces onto plates.

Right in the middle of cutting, the conference room door suddenly opened. Vera stood in the doorway, smiling. “I see you’ve already started the party?”

Abbott rubbed his nose. “With news like this, who could wait?”

“What I mean is,” Vera said, walking over to me and putting a hand on my shoulder, “are you really going to celebrate Group Leader Windsor’s achievement in such a… perfunctory way?”

“Well, the budget is a bit tight…”

“No need to use the R&D budget for this,” Vera announced with a wave of her hand. “The Group has arranged a celebration banquet for the entire R&D department tomorrow night. And nobody is allowed to skip it!”

“For real?” Everyone in R&D looked surprised. “Don’t we usually have the celebration banquet after the drug actually hits the market?”

“This project,” Vera said, drawing out the suspense and glancing at me, “is different. This drug holds special significance for the Group, too.”

Everyone was instantly thrilled. The Group’s celebration banquets were always lavish.

A hefty red envelope for every person in R&D was practically guaranteed.

The real question was what kind of reward the Group had in store for Group Leader Windsor, the star of the show.

Even if it was a bonus of several hundred thousand right now, no one would bat an eye. With skills like hers, she deserved every bit of it.

After we’d finished the cake in the conference room and stepped out, Elias smiled. “Does the old man know yet?”

“He knows,” I said, walking towards the lab and unable to suppress a laugh. “He’s been calling practically every single day for updates. I think he might know the project’s progress better than Jiang Ze himself at this point.” But I understood; he was worried I might crack under the pressure.

Sometimes, when I hit a research bottleneck, just one sentence from him would make everything click, and my efficiency would skyrocket.

We walked into the lab one after the other.

Elias looked at me, a complex, unreadable emotion swirling in his eyes. After a moment, he asked, “When are you planning to resume your normal

schedule at the clinic?”

For this project, I’d cut back to just two clinic days a week. Patients called every day, urging the clinic to schedule more appointments for Dr. Windsor, complaining it was impossible to get a slot.

Thas 1 wald, looking up and studying him before joking. “I’m starting to think you have the potential to become project barely roaches a milestone, and you’re already pushing me to get back to fall line for 5.

Elias raised an eyebrow, playing along. “Alright then, I’ll tell the scheduling more of the rhede in give you a late sararen. Take the god toro waki

“Don’t you dare!” I quickly objected. ‘Let’s resume the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow, I want to go spend time with the old man and his wife, sn them to the banquet in the evening.” I’d been so busy lately, I hadn’t visited them in ages. Besides, for an important occasion like this celebrati banquet, my mentor and his wife simply had to be there,

Elias gave me a teasing smile. “Not calling me a corporate overlord anymore?”

He knew me too well. With my medical skills, if I were willing, the old man knew plenty of wealthy families. Taking on just one private consulting job here and there would set me up comfortably. But instead, I’d chosen to work all these years in the clinic, seeing patients regularly. If he really did give me time off. I’d be the first one to protest.

The next day, I slept in until the crack of noon–a rare luxury. Before stepping into the elevator, my eyes unconsciously drifted toward the apartment across the hall.

Since that incident, Gavin had been sticking to a strangely… pure routine.

Every time he called me over, it was just for meals, talking about work, or, at most, pinning me on the sofa and kissing us both breathless.

But he never took it any further.