What She Overheard in Her Own Marriage novel Chapter 312

"Dr. Chavez is my idol. I always thought I'd grow up to be just like her. Guess I was dreaming."

"What do you mean? Are they here to steal the project?"

"It's not stealing. It's putting out a fire. The R&D guys hit a massive wall."

"Man, ever since Dr. Chavez transferred, Aethelstan has been falling apart. Turns out she doesn't need Aethelstan—Aethelstan needs her."

"No kidding. It's a total embarrassment for the whole company."

"Who cares about pride right now? Fixing the project is priority number one. Haven't you noticed Ms. Lawrence has been keeping a low profile?"

Wendy Vance happened to be walking past the restroom. Hearing the chatter, her face twisted in disgust. These busybodies were insufferable, always using Ms. Lawrence as their punching bag. Sooner or later, she would see them all fired.

Conference Room 7 had been cleared out. Kaia's team set it up as their temporary headquarters.

The moment she sat down, Kaia began delegating. "Daniel, handle the data analysis. Jenna, review their experimental procedures. Liam, you're with me on the raw data."

Her commands were sharp and decisive.

The Aethelstan staff hovered awkwardly nearby, waiting for orders, only to realize Kaia didn't need them at all.

"When I said the data was incomplete, I meant it. You only gave me the last two months of logs," Kaia said without looking up. "I need every single record from the very beginning of the Cytogene partnership. Go get them."

The Aethelstan project manager froze for a second before frantically sending someone to retrieve the files.

Upstairs, Noelle sat in her office, her complexion pale. It was hard to tell if it was from a lack of sleep or sheer anger.

Her assistant had just informed her that Kaia had arrived with a full entourage.

She knew she should be relieved—the project was likely saved.

But all she felt was a suffocating knot in her chest. She wasn't happy at all.

She dreaded to think what people were saying about her now.

The last time Kaia transferred to Veridian Future, they had clashed over work, and Noelle had lost miserably.

The whispers behind her back were vicious. People claimed she was coasting on the Sanders family's influence, that she stole a leadership role she lacked the skills for, and that she was just lucky. They said if she were anyone else, she wouldn't even be fit to tie Kaia's shoes.

Noelle felt as if someone had stuffed cotton down her throat. She couldn't breathe.

She closed her eyes and took a long, shaky breath.

Gordon appeared in her doorway.

Kaia slid a file across the table and tapped it with her pen. "I found a pattern in your raw data. These sets of experimental results are actually correct. But your evaluation standards were fundamentally flawed."

Noelle snatched the file, her eyes widening as she scanned the numbers. Her hands began to tremble.

"Impossible. How could this happen?"

"If you had targeted the correct demographic from day one, this project would have advanced months ago," Kaia stated flatly.

She didn't raise her voice, but the words struck Noelle like a physical blow. Her cheeks burned.

Noelle looked up, feeling as though Kaia was intentionally humiliating her.

But the truth was, Kaia was merely stating an objective fact—a fact Noelle simply couldn't stomach.

"I see," Noelle managed, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace.

Kaia nodded. "For the next two weeks, my team will verify everything from this room. Just ensure your department cooperates."

Noelle blinked, then quickly offered, "I'll assign a few of our senior technicians to work on this with you."

"No need," Kaia rejected her flatly. "I want this project handled exclusively by my team. We don't need outsiders getting in the way."