?Chapter 948:


    And Nina? She was loving every second of this mess—stirring up trouble inside the institute, fanning the mes while Ste was on a temporary leave. If they couldn’t pin down the cause of the disaster soon, the resentment among her coworkers would only get worse.


    The Carter family caught wind of the situation pretty quickly, and Lance didn’t waste time—he called Ste right away to check in.


    “Stel, how are you holding up? Grandpa and I heard about what happened at the research institute. Are you okay?” His voice was thick with concern.


    The moment she heard his familiar, caring tone, the tight grip she’d been keeping on her emotions started to slip. Her chest ached, her eyes burned, and it took everything in her not to cry.


    She sniffled, trying to steady her voice. “I’m alright. I’ll deal with it.”


    Lance knew how she was—always trying to shoulder everything alone—but he still gently reminded her, “Hey, Grandpa and I are here for you. You don’t have to do this on your own, okay? We’re family.”


    His words stirred something in her heart. After a pause, Ste finally gave in with a quiet “Okay.”


    Once the call ended, she headed for the shower, hoping the water might wash away some of the heaviness. When she came out, her phone was already buzzing with messages—most of them from Sharon.


    The whole situation had blown up online. Ste didn’t even need to open anything to know what kind of noise was out there.


    Still, she took a breath and braced herself before checking thements. And just like she expected—they were brutal.


    “Why let an outsider mess things up for the entire research institute and the Carter family?”


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    “We said it before—she had no business being involved in core projects.”


    “William might be rich, but even he can’t keep throwing money into a ck hole. Who knows what other screw-ups areing? The Carters are doomed if they keep backing her.”


    Ste stared at the screen, trying to keep her cool, but it was impossible not to feel the sting.


    Her chest tightened. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, but she typed nothing. She ended up sitting in front of herputer for hours, just staring at that ring nk section in her experiment data. The silence around her was deafening.


    Later that evening, there was a knock on her bedroom door. It was William, his tone light, casual. “Hey, I heard we might be able to catch some shooting stars tonight. Want to go stargazing?”


    His words snapped her out of her spiral. She nced over at him standing in the doorway. After a beat, she shook her head. “Shooting stars aren’t that easy to see.”


    She didn’t have the energy to hike up a mountain and wait around in the dark for a “maybe.” Right now, it just felt pointless.


    Besides, this wasn’t the time for starry skies and wishful thinking.


    William didn’t seem fazed. He just smiled gently and tried a different angle. “Alright, how about a movie then? There’s a new one out—supposed to be pretty decent.”


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