She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 66

The sharp retort was right on the tip of Abby's tongue, but she swallowed it down. Out of basic professional decorum for Hulda's title, she managed to keep the biting words to herself.

She stood silently at the door, watching as Hulda pulled a portable hard drive from her bag.

"This contains all my theoretical derivations and algorithm optimization summaries from the past few years. Take it, organize the files, and distribute them to the team. Let's see if they find it useful," Hulda said, walking over and handing the drive to Abby.

Abby blinked in surprise. She had fully expected to be ordered around to do menial chores—fetching coffee, moving chairs, or decorating the office.

She had already mentally prepared her refusal and a cutting comeback.

To her shock, Hulda had immediately pivoted to actual academic work. A fleeting pang of guilt twisted in Abby's chest.

But it vanished just as quickly.

A woman who had been out of the loop for years, who hadn't stepped foot in a real lab in nearly a decade? Whatever 'research' she had cooked up in her kitchen was probably entirely worthless. If Abby actually distributed it, it would just turn the new director into a laughingstock.

Despite her doubts, Abby took the drive. However, she was never one to hide her true feelings. The heavy reluctance and disdain on her face were painfully obvious as her fingers closed around the plastic casing.

"Alright. I'll handle it."

Whatever. If this backfired, the gorgeous Director Atherton would be the one humiliated. And by extension, it would embarrass Conrad and Brandon for forcing this nepotism hire down their throats.

"Thank you. I appreciate it," Hulda replied softly, her eyes curving into a genuinely warm smile.

Faced with Hulda's gentle demeanor and utter lack of arrogance, Abby was thrown off balance once again.

In this institute, she was used to dealing with demanding, explosive researchers with massive egos. She had assumed Hulda would be an absolute nightmare to serve.

Surprisingly, the woman was completely approachable.

Because of that, Abby actually had a lot of respect for him.

"Thank you, Mr. Dalton. But she hasn't been difficult. Director Atherton is actually pretty easy to communicate with," Abby replied honestly.

Regardless of Hulda's actual scientific competence, their brief interaction had proven she was far from a tyrant.

Ursula let out a harsh scoff. "She's just putting on an act for her first day. Watch your back, Abby. A pretty face usually hides a lot of ugly secrets."

Abby didn't argue. She set Hulda's hard drive down on the counter and quietly started brewing her coffee.

"What's that, Abby?" Harvey asked, pointing at the drive.

"Oh, Director Atherton gave it to me. She said it's her theoretical derivations and algorithm optimizations from the past few years. She wants me to organize it and send it out to the team."