She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 486

Aria froze mid-step, a flash of undeniable guilt crossing her face before she could compose herself.

"Do you need something else, Melanie? You're the COO of the Royce Group now. Someone like me, who's just trying to hustle for work, can't afford to get on your bad side."

Aria turned her head to look at Melanie, her tone dripping with deliberate, defensive sarcasm.

Melanie dropped her gaze directly to the box in Aria's hands.

"What are you holding?" Melanie asked, her voice dangerously calm.

Aria's complexion paled instantly, though she tried desperately to maintain a mask of indifference.

"Just some experimental samples. I need them for breeding new varieties of the Silver-Leaf Orchid for my project."

Saying that, she attempted to walk past Melanie once more.

Without warning, Melanie's hand shot out. With a violent *smack*, she slapped the box right out of Aria's grip.

The box hit the concrete, and vials scattered everywhere.

Aria was stunned.

Her socialite friends gasped in horror.

"Melanie, what the hell are you doing?! Are you a psycho?!" Aria shrieked.

Ignoring Aria's screaming, Melanie stared down at the scattered vials on the ground.

Some of the glass had shattered, but a few remained intact.

And regardless of the broken packaging, Melanie instantly recognized what was inside those vials.

They were sample vials of the Royce Group's top-secret, heavily guarded nutrient solution.

In a fraction of a second, all the disparate puzzle pieces violently snapped together in Melanie's mind.

Like why Aria had come to the plant today dragging a gaggle of loud socialites with her—a perfect cover to make it look like she was just out having fun with friends.

Like why Dominic Hale had suddenly become so friendly with Aria, actively acting as the middleman between her new studio and the Royce Group.

And why the very first project Aria's new studio took on was a desperate, high-stakes attempt to breed a new variation of the Silver-Leaf Orchid.

Everything...

It had all been a smokescreen.

She assumed Melanie hadn't.

Otherwise, why would Melanie have just stood there and let her walk away with the surviving vials?

To Aria, securing the samples was infinitely more important than winning a screaming match with her rival.

Once Aria and her entourage disappeared from sight, Melanie marched straight into the facility and summoned the director.

"Director Ashford, what exactly did Aria Royce take from this plant?"

Seeing Melanie's icy expression, Quentin Ashford immediately plastered on a fawning smile.

"Oh, nothing important... just a few small vials of nutrient solution for an experiment."

He didn't dare lie to her face.

But his tone was frustratingly casual, as if the matter was entirely trivial.

"Nothing important? Just a few vials?" Melanie scoffed coldly.

"Director Ashford, the company's security protocol explicitly states that absolutely nothing—not a single blade of grass, not a loose screw—is allowed to leave this facility. Yet you stood by and let Aria walk out with an entire box of our proprietary nutrient solution!"