Chapter 440
Chapter 440:
“Mr. Todd, please — just stop for a moment and breathe!” Kristine urged.
The line went dead. Victor had already hung up.
She lowered the phone slowly. In all the years she had known him, she had never once heard him sound like that — raw, furious, past the point where reason could reach him. Whatever patience he normally possessed had been completely burned away by this betrayal.
She called Asher immediately and told him everything.
“Should I have someone intercept Mr. Todd before he acts?” Asher asked.
“Yes,” Kristine said, her free hand tightening into a fist. “Colton is shielding Elyse. If Victor confronts her directly, Colton will come down on him with everything he has. It won’t go well for Victor — not at all p>
“I’ll take care of it,” Asher said.
She ended the call, but the knot in her chest didn’t loosen.
She understood Victor’s anger completely. An entire team had given their expertise, their precision, their care to that sculpture — and now a fraud was standing in front of cameras accepting the world’s gratitude for it.
It was the kind of injustice that burned.
Victor caught up with Elyse just as she was in the middle of an interview with a reporter from the City Gazette.
R𝘦а𝗱 𝗐𝗂𝘁𝘩𝘰𝘂t 𝗶𝘯𝘵𝗲𝗿𝗋uрt𝗶о𝗇𝗌 oո ѕ.𝖼о𝗆
“Miss Lloyd, I understand the antler was an extraordinarily difficult repair,” the reporter was saying. “Microfractures, hidden hollow points — how did you manage it p>
“Honestly, it wasn’t that complicated,” Elyse said with practiced ease. “As long as you know how to build a three-dimensional model on a computer, it’s quite manageable p>
The reporter blinked. “You do computer modeling as well? Is there anything you can’t do p>
Elyse ducked her head with a performance of modest embarrassment. “It’s really nothing special p>
Victor stood a few feet away and felt the rage moving through him like heat.
That technique — the digital modeling, the virtual simulation — had been Kristine’s idea entirely. And Victor’s team had been the ones to explain their methodology in writing, at the request of the inspectors, before the work began. At the time, no one had understood why those written accounts were being collected. Now it was blindingly clear. Elyse had used their own documentation to construct her lie.
He drew a slow breath, steadied himself, and walked toward her. “Miss Lloyd p>
Elyse turned and looked at him with a blank, unrecognizing expression. “Do I know you p>
“I’m Victor Todd, director of the Arbfact Institute. I’d like a word with you. Privately p>
Something flickered behind Elyse’s eyes — interest, perhaps calculation. “Of course,” she said pleasantly, and followed him out of the room.
They reached the far end of a quiet corridor and Elyse stopped, folding her hands and waiting with the composed patience of someone expecting good news.
“You can speak freely here, Mr. Todd,” she said.
“Stop lying to people,” Victor said.
The pleasant expression on her face evaporated.
Message from Noa: Beautiful Friday dear reader. God loves you and Noa wishes you all the best. p>