The Transactional Marriage That Imploded novel Chapter 164

Bianca rested her chin on her hand, thinking for a moment before calling Mathis to test the waters.

"Why are you spying on my computer?"

Mathis didn't admit to it. "What makes you say that?"

Knowing he might be recording her, Bianca couldn't admit to what she had done the night before.

"Is it so you can steal my research and hand it to Cynthia?"

Mathis neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply said, "There's a storm raging outside. You'd better find an umbrella to take cover."

Bianca glanced up at the clear blue sky, finding his words completely baffling.

Just last night, he was pouring his heart out with a deep, emotional confession, and now he had already laid a trap to sabotage her.

Thank God she hadn't bought into his bullshit.

Bianca hung up the phone without another word.

She then called Cillian Calder to report her carelessness regarding the compromised laptop.

"Cillian, I'm so sorry," Bianca said guiltily. "I don't even know how much data he copied."

Cillian rubbed his throbbing temples. Recently, Aeterna Dynamics had been poaching talent globally, offering salaries far above industry standards. Several of Stellaride Computing's top engineers had already received offers.

Fortunately, their stock options kept them loyal, and they had all reported the poaching attempts to Cillian.

"Mathis is despicable," Cillian sighed. "He knows your R&D capabilities, and since he can't poach you, he resorts to these dirty tricks. What stage is your new patent at?"

"Phase two. The algorithm modeling isn't finished yet."

Cillian let out a breath of relief. "Even if he stole your phase-one theoretical papers and handed them to a team, they wouldn't necessarily develop it faster than you. Don't stress too much over it. Just switch to a new laptop and be more careful from now on."

Cillian never had the heart to be harsh with Bianca. Life had already been cruel enough to her. She had fought her way to where she was, line of code by line of code. There was no need to grill her over a minor slip-up.

"You're the best, Cillian. Any other boss would probably think I was putting on a show and secretly colluding with Mathis."

Originally, she thought she just needed to hold on until Bianca gave birth. But Bianca had lost the baby and was now entirely alone.

Mabel simply couldn't bear to leave her like this, but her days were severely numbered.

For her final act, she planned to take that Quinn woman down with her.

It was the only way to bring her granddaughter some peace.

Weathered by a lifetime of hardships, Mabel was an expert at hiding her emotions. Bianca had no idea what she was thinking and continued to enjoy the trip.

"Grandma, the lighting is gorgeous here! Let me take a picture of you."

An elderly passerby smiled at Mabel. "You're so blessed to have such a filial granddaughter."

Mabel's heart ached. The poor girl was carrying far too much weight on her shoulders.

As they continued walking, Bianca spotted a familiar figure.