The Wife He Forgot to Marry (Winona and Yule) novel Chapter 638

Nobody on the team was stupid enough to follow in Eloise's footsteps and openly sabotage Winona.

Realizing her theatrical exit had flopped, Eloise stormed out of the lab, practically vibrating with resentment.

***

Jasper Shepherd touched down in Riverton ahead of Margaret. Instead of going straight to Winona, he headed directly to Karina's apartment.

Seeing her father walk through the door, Karina instantly dissolved into tears, finally feeling like she had backup. "Dad, you have to save me! Winona is out to destroy me. She's trying to throw me in prison, and Stefan is completely taking her side! What am I supposed to do?"

Recently, Jasper had taken Winona's business advice to heart. He had hired a team of highly competent executives to manage his subsidiary's projects, and the results had been immediate. Not only had he earned praise from corporate headquarters, but the subsidiary was finally turning a serious profit. Because of this, his entire perspective on Winona had drastically shifted.

He had realized that instead of burning his energy fighting Stefan's siblings for scraps of power, it made much more sense to focus on his own ventures and build his own empire. Success was the best revenge.

Even his wife had warmed up to him now that he was actually working hard, finally letting go of the endless arguments about his past infidelities.

Jasper narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "When you asked me to fund a lab for you, were you planning to plagiarize Winona's research data to get it off the ground?"

Caught red-handed, Karina avoided his gaze.

Jasper couldn't believe his daughter was actually that foolish. "Are you out of your mind? Do you realize you almost dragged me down with you? If I funded your lab using stolen data, and Stefan found out—and given how obsessed he is with Winona, he definitely would—he would have crucified me right alongside you!"

"But I didn't even get to use it!" Karina shot back defensively. "It's not like Winona lost a single dime!"

"If we play our cards right and support her now, we become her early investors. The eventual payoff will be massive."

Karina looked skeptical. "But I've already made her hate me. Why would she forgive me now?"

"An apology is only as good as the cash behind it," Jasper said knowingly. "If she doesn't forgive you, it just means the check wasn't big enough."

It was a philosophy he had perfected while groveling to his wife, and he firmly believed it applied to everyone.

Karina suddenly realized that apologizing to Winona wasn't just going to bruise her ego—it was going to take a massive chunk out of her trust fund.

But backed into a corner, she had no choice but to follow her father's lead.