The Double or more Life of the Fake Heiress (Mirabella) novel Chapter 1561

Hank was feeling the heat. If he didn't clear things up now, this misunderstanding was going to spiral out of control. "Dr. Ray, there's been a mix-up. Actually..."

Dane cut him off with a raised hand. "Let’s get to the point—what's the deal with the patent?"

Hank's fingers fidgeted as he tried to figure out where Dane was headed with this. After a pause, he admitted, "The patent application didn't go through."

Dane's eyes narrowed, locking onto Hank's face. "Is it that the application didn’t go through, or has someone else already submitted it?"

Even though Dane's voice was calm, Hank couldn't miss the edge in it. Realizing he couldn't wiggle out of this, he came clean, "I didn't expect Prestige College to beat us to it."

Dane regarded Hank with a level gaze. "Hank, you’ve been with the institute for over twenty years. You should have a handle on some basic academic principles by now, right?"

The head of the DO Group had dropped by today, supposedly to clear up the misunderstanding, but they were really looking for answers. This "misunderstanding" had put their Tech Center in an awkward spot.

Hank’s face turned crimson. He wanted to explain further, "Dr. Ray, I..."

Dane wasn't in the mood for more excuses. He cut in, "I don’t need to spell out how serious it is to steal research. Figure out a way to handle the Prestige College situation."

With that, Dane left the room without sparing Hank another glance.

Hank sank back into the sofa, feeling drained. Dane hadn't explicitly said how he'd be punished, but it was obvious Hank was now persona non grata.

He’d been banking on the DO Group project to secure the open deputy director role for himself. Now, that dream was shattered.

A wave of bitterness washed over Hank. It was all Calvin's fault. If Calvin hadn’t brought up the DO Group, none of this would’ve happened.