Queen of Wild Cards novel Chapter 579

Julius systematically peeled the garlic butter prawns, placing the meat neatly into a small bowl so she could eat them without getting her hands dirty.

He pulled a wet wipe from the dispenser, cleaning his fingers meticulously before replying, "It's a standard electronic lock, not a top-tier biometric security vault. Not exactly a challenge."

Stella popped a piece of prawn into her mouth, savoring the rich flavor, then picked up another piece with her chopsticks and fed it directly to him.

"Right, right. Mr. Blackwood is a genius. Nothing is a challenge for you."

Not a challenge?

He made it sound like picking a high-end security lock was a parlor trick!

Anyone else would have been locked out in the hallway!

"I have plenty of other skills that are far more impressive. Care for a demonstration, Mrs. Blackwood?"

His voice dropped an octave, the implication heavy.

Stella chewed on another prawn, feigning absolute innocence. "Not really."

They had been married long enough that she didn't need a translator for his bedside innuendos.

Julius chuckled darkly, smoothly changing the subject. "So, how is the research going?"

His little wife was getting good at dodging his traps.

"We finally broke through the bottleneck. We've got a solid path forward, but we need time to validate the new data models. Once those numbers are confirmed, we move to clinical trials."

Data validation was unpredictable. It could take weeks, or it could collapse entirely, forcing them back to square one.

Because of this, the R&D burn rate was astronomical.

But the payoff for successfully bringing a revolutionary new drug to market was equally staggering.

Of course, her primary motivation had always been medical accessibility, so she never intended to price gouge the public once the drug launched.

Julius's eyes lit up. "Does that mean you're done? We can go home?"

Stella nodded. "I'm going in tomorrow to oversee the final transitions and assign the monitoring protocols. After that, I'm clear."

The rest was just a waiting game. Her physical presence was no longer required; her team would track the metrics and flag her if anything anomalous popped up.

The Waterfront Pavilion.

By the time Stella and Julius arrived, Kyson was already lounging in the private dining room.

"Kyson, this is my husband, Julius Blackwood."

Kyson stood up, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kyson Sterling. Wait—Julius Blackwood, as in the head of the Blackwood Group?"

"Nice to meet you too. Yes, that's me."

"A pleasure."

The two men shook hands and took their seats.

Whenever Kyson had asked who she married, Stella had always brushed him off. He had genuinely assumed she married some low-level nobody she was too embarrassed to name.

He had fully planned to interrogate the guy tonight to see if he was worthy. He never expected her husband to be a literal titan of industry.

As the second son of Bay City's wealthiest family, Kyson was intimately familiar with Julius's reputation. His own father's empire had overlapping business ties with the Blackwood Group.