Three Years Forgotten, Why Go Crazy When I Say Goodbye? novel Chapter 257

It turned out he was also very interested in this field.

The two of them walked over to his massive mahogany desk. Silas pulled a sleek, bound dossier from a drawer and handed it to her. The moment Willow read the cover, she gasped. "How did you get this?"

The Broad Institute had just published a groundbreaking paper in Nature regarding large-fragment safe integration. The breakthrough involved synthesizing a single-stranded DNA template inside the cell nucleus, achieving kilobase-scale precise insertion without the immunotoxicity associated with double-stranded DNA.

It was a monumental leap forward, carrying massive implications for the treatment of hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and other whole-gene therapies.

The dossier in Silas's hand contained the raw, foundational data driving that very research.

This data was completely unprecedented. It hadn't been shared in any public forum, let alone distributed to third parties.

The fact that he not only possessed it but was willing to just hand it over to her?

Willow didn't dare accept it. She knew exactly how valuable this was; it was intellectual property that couldn't be quantified with money.

"Mr. Thorne, this is far too valuable. I can't take this."

"Relax. I acquired it through entirely legal channels," Silas assured her. It had cost him an obscene amount of effort and leverage, but for her, it was worth every ounce of it.

But Willow still refused. Whatever he had obtained belonged to him, not her. "I'm sorry, I really can't take it." The sheer weight of the favor was more than she could carry.

Silas didn't want to hear her excuses. He cut straight to the point. "Just tell me one thing. Do you want it?"

Worried he was overlooking the risks, Willow began breaking down the cost-to-benefit ratio for him.

Silas waved off her concerns dismissively. "You know I'm a businessman. Before I make a move, I assess the board from every angle. I only did this because I deemed it absolutely necessary."

Willow seized on his logic. "If that's true, shouldn't you be prioritizing financial returns?"

"Who said that?" Silas countered. "Money doesn't even make the list on this one. I have a completely different priority."

"What is it?" Willow was genuinely curious. For a ruthless billionaire, what could possibly eclipse profit and wealth?

"A dream." Silas looked down at her. The icy detachment that usually commanded his features melted away, leaving only a dark, bottomless warmth. His gaze landed on her, soft enough to protect something fragile, yet heavy enough to leave her entirely cornered. "Do you remember when I told you I have someone I love?"