The moment Helena arrived at the hospital, Flora burst into tears again the instant she saw her.
Once Flora had calmed down, Helena pressed her for details, coaxing the whole story out of her–except Flora conveniently glossed over the harrowing effects of the drug itself.
The more Helena listened, the deeper her frown grew.
But when Flora mentioned that Evangeline had found someone to provide the antidote, Helena abruptly cut in. “Was this friend of hers a man or a woman?”
Flora wiped her eyes. “A man.”
Helena’s frown tightened, her gaze sharp and contemtive. “So you get poisoned, and she just happens to have ess to the antidote–doesn’t that seem a little too
convenient?”
Helena’s words struck Flora like a bolt of lightning.
Up until now, she’d simply followed Evangeline’s lead, never once questioning her motives. But thinking back, the strangest thing about the whole ordeal was how, the moment she was drugged, Evangeline immediately produced the
antidote within minutes, no less.
Unless it was all nned in advance, it was almost impossible to exin.
Evangeline must have orchestrated tonight’s ident to get back at <b>her</b><b>. </b>
The realization left Flora fuming.
<b>She’d </b>even called her “sister–inw” just a little while ago. What a joke.
The more Flora stewed, the angrier she became. She blurted out her suspicions to Helena. “Mom, I’m almost certain it was her.”
Helena shared the same suspicion, but at this point, suspicion was all they had.
Without concrete evidence, there was nothing she could do to Evangeline.
She asked Flora if she knew when Evangeline had slipped her the drug.
Flora was at a loss. She had no idea when or how Evangeline could have done it.
But…
“It doesn’t matter anymore. We have our doubts, we have a motive. Go fetch her and confront her–she’s definitely the one behind this.” Flora sounded utterly convinced.
If it were anyone else, Helena wouldn’t have hesitated to do just that. But this situation was moreplicated.
They had no proof, and Helena doubted Evangeline would have the guts to pull something this bold.
If they forced a confession from Evangeline and the family matriarch found out, the entire Fawkes family would explode.
Especially now, with the matriarch’s seventieth birthday celebration just around the
corner.
If they failed to produce evidence, it would only turn the matriarch against Flora.
“We can’t be reckless about this. And not a word of it leaves this room,” Helena said firmly. “Get some rest. I’ll think things over<b>.</b><b>” </b>
Meanwhile, Evangeline had no idea she was already under suspicion.
After returning to the office, she grabbed a coffee to stay alert, then gathered her team and ducked into theb, busy calibrating and troubleshooting thetest prototype robot.
Theo poked his head into theb from time to time, watching Evangeline direct her team, a smirk ying at his lips.
Quite the performance, he thought. He wondered how she nned to exin herself when the month was up.
I
He nced at his watch. It had already been twenty days since Evangeline had made her boast about finishing the new product in a month.
He’d seen her shut herself away in theb every single day. But scientific projects took group effort, and she’d only just started involving the rest of them. Wasn’t it a bitte for that now?
Theo let out a dismissive chuckle and turned back toward his office–only to find the head of Human Resources waiting for him as he walked in.
The Tech Division had been swampedtely and was desperate for new assistants. When Theo learned the HR manager was there to deliver resumes for candidates who’d applied to assist Evangeline, he reached out and took the stack. “I’ll take
<b>2/3 </b>
those. From now on, she doesn’t need to handle interviews.”
He wanted to pick the technical staff himself.
He didn’t trust Evangeline’s judgment–or her technical skills, for that matter.
The HR manager hesitated, looking rather troubled by Theo’s directive.