The Year I Stopped Being His novel Chapter 570

Vanessa paused, plucking the cigarette from her lips and crushing it out against the leg of her chair.

The butt shredded between her fingers, ash scattering across the floor. She looked up, meeting Garrison's eyes with a strangely unapologetic gaze.

"The Professor is a true megalomaniac."

"He never just wanted Vitas-1. He wanted the entire global cancer drug market. To get it, he forced me to secretly collude with Knox—using their distribution channels to build our own empire."

"I refused at first. I told him, 'Knox is the reason my life was ruined. You want me to work with them?' He just looked at me, smiled, and said, 'Suit yourself. But think carefully. If you burn bridges with me, you will have no place left in this country. And you can never go back to Europe. Do you still think you're that twenty-year-old prodigy? You're nothing. Without me, no one will take you in.'"

"I eventually saw the light. Hah, practicing medicine, saving lives, all those bullshit ideals—none of it matters. Money is what matters. Power is what matters."

She let out a short, hollow laugh. It sounded like self-mockery, but also like a brutal, definitive eulogy for every choice she had ever made.

"So we partnered with Knox in the shadows. We helped them expand their network, conquer the domestic market, and even... smuggle organs."

"After David Lancaster died, we set up Deep Blue and propped Grant Lennox up as the frontman. Hah, he was nothing but a dog we kept on a leash, a puppet wearing a 'Chairman' badge. Deep Blue's Genesis-1 was just a copy we made by stealing The Vitas Strain. The results were decent enough. It could have monopolized the market globally. But who could have guessed—"

"That you would actually succeed with Vitas-1."

She stood up, pushed the chair aside, and turned to face him. Her expression was complex, as if looking at a rival she had hated for half her life but ultimately had to respect.