She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 423

"Yes, exactly! I heard Oakridge Timberworks lost more than half of its market share overnight..."

"Who in their right mind would dare cross Mr. Whitmore's fiancée now?"

She didn't catch every single detail of their gossiping, but she definitely heard enough to know that 'Mr. Whitmore's fiancée' referred to her.

*It is a massive misunderstanding!* Melanie reasoned that the only explanation for the red-carpet treatment today was that these executives wrongly assumed she was engaged to Gabriel.

After all, whenever anyone in the industry mentioned 'Mr. Whitmore,' Gabriel was the only name that came to mind. But... how did the rumor even start?

She tilted her head, completely baffled. As far as she could remember, she hadn't crossed paths with Gabriel in ages.

Yes, the Royce Group was co-developing the new severe-cold medication with Stellaris PharmaTech, but Stellaris had assigned their own project managers to handle the day-to-day operations.

Furthermore, Stellaris was a colossal empire. With countless projects in their pipeline, it was impossible for Gabriel to micromanage everything personally.

Since they had been out of contact for so long, how on earth did a rumor about her being his fiancée gain this much traction?

With the summit officially over, Melanie made her way toward the exit, pulling out her phone to dial Gabriel's number.

He picked up almost instantly. Before she could even get a word out, Gabriel's bright voice rang through the speaker. "Melanie!"

Melanie froze in her tracks.

"Ah, cough... my bad, I was just talking to someone else!"

He sounded incredibly awkward, but she brushed it off. If he was talking to someone else in the room, then that greeting was obviously meant for them.

She recalled that Stellaris PharmaTech was run by the two Whitmore brothers. However, it was the younger brother who served as the Vice President and frequently handled public relations, making him a household name in the corporate world.

The older brother, on the other hand, was notoriously elusive. While a few elite executives might have crossed paths with him, he was a total stranger to her—she didn't even know his first name.

Since Gabriel just called out to a sister-in-law, that meant his mysterious older brother was already married.

The call abruptly ended, leaving her staring at her screen, utterly perplexed. "What on earth is he talking about?"

She had never found the formidable Mr. Whitmore this impossible to communicate with before.

Miles away, Gabriel clutched his chest, exhaling a long sigh of relief. "Looks like I need to minimize contact with my future sister-in-law. One wrong word and I'll blow his cover entirely!"

Back at the venue, Melanie made another call, this time to Dr. Hayes.

During the summit, multiple sources had confirmed the initial discovery of the mutated Dendrobium officinale in Medora. However, the exact details were fragmented and unverified.

Their new cold medication project desperately needed this specific raw material. Realizing the urgency, she had already looped in her father, and now she was coordinating with the lead researcher.

"Yes, understood, Dr. Hayes. Let's move forward with that plan." Ending the call, she pushed through the heavy glass doors of the convention center.

Just as she was scanning the dimly lit parking lot for her car, a pair of warm hands slipped over her eyes from behind.