She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 373

"She hasn't. She's finishing up her combined Master's and PhD program at Cyranth University right now. Very brilliant girl! I heard she came back specifically to work on a major project with Dr. Hayes. It's that new specialized cold medication being co-developed by the Royce Group, Stellaris PharmaTech, and two major universities. They even managed to bring on that pharmaceutical genius, Schrödinger's Pill, as a consultant."

"Ah, that makes perfect sense. Promoting her to COO now will definitely speed up the R&D process."

"It's clear Mr. Royce favors his younger daughter."

"Well, she has the elite education and the technical skills to back it up. How else would she have secured such a prestigious internship?"

"Especially when you compare her to the older one..."

A few gossiping guests instinctively cast side-eyes in Melanie's direction.

"Ms. Royce's only real talent is looking gorgeous."

"It's a shame. I heard she's... incredibly slow."

One of the guests leaned in closer, dropping his voice to share the scandalous rumor.

"She couldn't grasp the basics of pharmacology, so Mr. Royce was forced to have her switch majors. Even then, she barely managed to scrape by with a basic bachelor's degree."

"Originally, Mr. Royce hoped to secure the family's standing by marrying her into the Hale family. Who would have thought she'd pull such a massive stunt with that messy divorce? She practically tanked the Hales' stock overnight."

"Too young and far too immature. She clearly doesn't understand that marriage is a business partnership. When one falls, they both fall."

"Exactly! Sure, Dominic stepping out on her was wrong, but a smart woman would have just turned a blind eye. Now look at her. She has none of Aria's academic pedigree or actual talent, and she intentionally torpedoed the very family that was supposed to back her up. A daughter like that is entirely unfit to run an empire."

"I saw Mrs. Royce scouting all the eligible young executives earlier. Once Aria secures a solid match, Melanie will be completely irrelevant."

Gabriel heard every single word of the malicious gossip.

He shot frantic, meaningful glances at Preston over and over again.

But Preston was solely focused on cracking open more pistachios.

And every single one of those seeds was for Melanie.

Seeing how much she enjoyed them, he had quietly taken over the task. Melanie hadn't objected, and she'd comfortably settled into letting him feed her.

To an outsider, their dynamic looked incredibly intimate.

Honestly, if they hadn't been in such a public setting, she would have politely declined. But with so many eyes on them, rejecting him now would only embarrass him.

Gabriel watched the two of them—one shelling the seeds, the other happily eating the kernels—and practically rolled his eyes into the back of his head out of sheer frustration.

Unable to take it anymore, he pulled out his phone and fired off a text to Preston:

*Man, I know you've got great hands and can shell those things even with gloves on, but is this really the time?! If you don't do something right now, Ms. Royce is going to lose whatever standing she has left in her family and the company!*

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