Chapter 50
Chapter 50:
Brogan responded with a quiet, dismissive laugh. He turned his back on Cole entirely and looked at June.
His eyes fell immediately on the dark, purpling bruises forming on her forearm where Richard had seized her. A flash of genuine anger crossed his face.
Without a word, Brogan shrugged off his suit jacket, stepped close to June, and draped it gently over her shoulders.
“You’re hurt, June,” he said, his voice dropping to a low, careful murmur. “We don’t need to spend another second in this room p>
𝖳h𝗲 𝖻𝘦𝗌𝘁 𝘳evie𝘄𝘀 𝘰𝗇
Cole stared at the midnight-blue jacket resting on June’s shoulders. The sight of it felt like a physical violation. A savage, possessive jealousy clawed up his throat.
“If you walk out that door with him, June,” Cole warned, his voice a barely contained growl, “you will regret it for the rest of your life p>
June did not look at him. She pulled the lapels of Brogan’s jacket closer around her chest.
“Take me out of here,” she said to Brogan.
Brogan nodded. He turned to face Cole and the sea of wide-eyed spectators.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Brogan said, his voice projecting clearly across the ballroom, “allow me to formally introduce my colleague. This is Ms. June Erickson — not only the Shadow Lead Scientist of Apex Bio, but the sole patent holder of the neural blocker we are launching tonight p>
The room erupted.
Gasps broke from every corner. The socialites who had watched June with pity moments ago stared in open-mouthed shock. Richard and Susan Beasley physically shrank back, their faces draining to the color of wet cement. The woman they had just assaulted was the most important scientist in the room.
Cole stood paralyzed.
Shadow Lead Scientist. Sole patent holder.
The image of June at his private server, downloading files, flashed through his mind. The pieces collided. She had not been stealing. She had been reclaiming her own stolen work.
Before he could process the full weight of what he had done, Brogan placed a protective hand at the small of June’s back and guided her through the parting crowd toward the exit.
Cole lurched forward to follow.
But the press had heard the announcement. Dozens of reporters swarmed, blocking his path, shoving microphones and cameras into his face, each one desperate for a quote from the Shadow Scientist’s ex-husband.
Alycia grabbed his arm and called his name.
Cole tore his arm free.
He stood trapped behind a wall of reporters and flashing lights, his chest heaving, watching Brogan’s broad shoulders shield June from the cameras as they disappeared through the golden doors.
A wave of nausea crashed through him — acidic and merciless. She was not playing games. She was not performing. She was genuinely, irreversibly flying away from him.
Cole raised his hand and hurled his crystal champagne flute at the marble floor. It exploded into a hundred pieces.
“Investigate them!” Cole roared at his PR manager over the noise of the crowd. “Dig up everything on Apex Bio. I want every detail — now p>
Monday morning.