The employees were coming and going around them, and Vincent Hawthorne didn’t want to make a scene. He grabbed Tanya Sinclair’s wrist and lowered his voice: "Tanya, I know what you want. When we get home tonight, I’ll show you what you want. Now, Tanya, as your husband, I’m giving you one last chance..." Vincent moved half a step forward, the scent of Cindy Lynn’s perfume on him almost made Tanya Sinclair want to vomit. But compared to the smell, Vincent’s next words made her even more sick. "Cooperating with Manager Lynn is the best choice for you and the company." "..." Tanya Sinclair raised her eyes to stare at Vincent Hawthorne’s face, so close to hers. This was the face she had loved for half a lifetime, one she could easily conjure from memory, yet now it made her feel utterly nauseous. "Then let me tell you for the last time." Tanya Sinclair broke free from Vincent Hawthorne’s grasp, leaned to his ear, eyes like sharp blades toward Cindy Lynn in the back, and said deliberately, "I will never let Cindy Lynn defile my project!" With that, Tanya Sinclair turned and walked away. Vincent Hawthorne took a deep breath, holding back his frustration. He had been more than considerate to Tanya Sinclair up to this point! Cindy Lynn walked up to Vincent Hawthorne, a bit resigned: "Ms. Tanya hates me, fine, but President Hawthorne, you’ve been thinking about her, yet she still..." "Ignore her." Vincent Hawthorne’s gaze darkly watched Tanya Sinclair’s silhouette disappear into the elevator. Retrieving his cold gaze, he turned to head for the exclusive elevator to the general manager’s office. He knew why Tanya Sinclair was so proud. She thought she was still the genius who had amazed all of Northwood and the pharmaceutical community back in the day! But she’d been stagnant for a whole five years. In today’s world, with technology advancing rapidly, not to mention five years, even five months is enough for a generation of technological advancement! By tomorrow, when Tanya Sinclair’s proudest drug development project gets rejected and she’s driven out of Westgard Pharmaceuticals by Second Young Master Pierce, she’ll learn her lesson and come back to him begging! Thinking of this, Vincent Hawthorne felt a bit better. Back in his office, he had just sat down when an assistant brought two documents for him to review and sign. Vincent Hawthorne went through them, took the pen handed to him by the assistant, and signed his name. "President Hawthorne, I’ll head out now." The assistant took the signed documents from Vincent Hawthorne, turned, ready to leave, but was stopped by Vincent Hawthorne. "Wait..." Vincent Hawthorne thought of Tanya Sinclair’s injured ankle, which seemed quite severe... After a pause, he uncharacteristically instructed, "Buy some blood circulation and bruise healing medicine for me and deliver it to the Research Department." The assistant blurts out: "Is it for Secretary Lynn?" Vincent frowned slightly: "For Research Division One, Manager Sinclair." The assistant was a bit embarrassed, scratched his head, and said, "Got it, President Hawthorne, I’ll go right now." There was a pharmacy nearby, and the assistant went to buy the best bruise healing oil there and headed straight to the research department floor. Get full chapters from N0velFire.ɴet Just coming out of the elevator, he ran into Cindy Lynn, who was coming out of the pantry with a cup of coffee. "Assistant Wallace, what brings you here?" Cindy Lynn had always been Vincent Hawthorne’s secretary, and since the secretary’s office and the assistant’s office are combined, she was naturally familiar with those around Vincent. Seeing Assistant Wallace suddenly appear in the Research Department, Cindy Lynn was a bit surprised. "Secretary Lynn, President Hawthorne asked me to deliver something for him." Cindy Lynn noticed the little pharmacy bag in Assistant Wallace’s hand, smiled slightly, and reached out to take it: "I see, it must have been hard for you to make the trip." However, Assistant Wallace avoided her hand, chuckling dryly: "Secretary Lynn, this was specially bought by President Hawthorne for Manager Sinclair." "..." Cindy Lynn’s smile froze for a moment, but only for a moment. She resumed her usual calm expression, smiling lightly, "I know, I didn’t make myself clear. When I came in with President Hawthorne, I saw that Ms. Tanya’s foot was injured, and I was wondering if I should get someone to buy her some medicine. I didn’t expect President Hawthorne to think the same. But you might need to wait a bit..." Cindy Lynn glanced at the securely locked door of Research Division One and slowly told Assistant Wallace, "Ms. Tanya went straight into the lab when she came back and who knows when she’ll be done. Access to Research Division One requires facial recognition, outsiders can’t get in." Assistant Wallace looked a bit troubled: "But I have other work later." "Here’s an idea." Cindy Lynn said considerately, "Leave the medicine with me, and I’ll give it to Ms. Tanya for you later." "Then I won’t stand on ceremony." Assistant Wallace gave a grateful smile and handed the medicine bag to Cindy Lynn. Cindy Lynn accepted it with a smile, "We’re all so familiar, no need to be formal with me." As soon as Assistant Wallace left, the slight smile on her face vanished. Cindy Lynn coolly glanced at the medicine bag in her hand, pinching it between two fingers, and strolled leisurely back to her office. Tanya Sinclair kept a set of silver needles in her office. She applied them to her sprained and bruised ankle to disperse the congestion, planning to apply some ointment in the evening. Hopefully, she’d be much better by tomorrow. "Boss, what happened to you?" Serena Holloway came to find Tanya Sinclair with a completed PPT, and upon entering, she was startled by the scene. "Nothing, got knocked by a dog." Tanya Sinclair said casually. Serena Holloway believed it, getting a bit angry: "Whose dog was it! They should keep it on a leash, letting it run around hitting people!" Tanya Sinclair chuckled. Outside the door, suddenly there was the sound of high heels. Without looking back, Serena Holloway knew who it was. In the Research Department, there was no one else walking around in high heels except Cindy Lynn and her lackey Nina Leslie! Sure enough, it was Cindy Lynn, with Nina Leslie in tow. Serena Holloway regretted not locking the door when she came in, letting these undesirable elements in! Tanya Sinclair looked coldly at the ever-present Cindy Lynn, "What do you want?" Before Cindy Lynn could speak, Nina Leslie chimed in, sarcastically, "Manager Sinclair, how come there’s not even a water dispenser in your division’s pantry? President Hawthorne is really something, doesn’t he worry you’ll die of thirst here?" Nina had a look of schadenfreude. Tanya Sinclair sneered, "Since you’re so concerned, why don’t I help you call Vincent Hawthorne, and you can ask him on my behalf what he means." Saying that, she really took out her phone, pretending to dial. Nina’s face turned a bit awkward, and she looked to Cindy Lynn for help. "Ms. Tanya, Nina just loves to joke around." Cindy Lynn said softly, "The things you’re missing in the break room, I’m sure President Hawthorne will soon have someone send them over." Serena Holloway was enraged, "If you want to act, go find a stage to perform on; one plays the good guy, the other the bad, it’s so disgusting." Cindy Lynn glanced at Serena Holloway indifferently, completely ignoring her. She smiled at Tanya Sinclair. "Ms. Tanya, I came especially to deliver something to you on behalf of President Hawthorne." She handed Tanya Sinclair a bottle of bruise-healing oil, which was clearly already used, missing a quarter! "This was sent by President. I sprained my foot when I got out of the car. Just a minor injury, wouldn’t need much, so I thought not to waste President’s intention and brought the remainder to you, Ms. Tanya." Cindy Lynn appeared understanding, gazing directly at Tanya Sinclair, "Ms. Tanya, your foot is more seriously injured than mine, you should need it more, right?" Serena Holloway was practically furious. Cindy Lynn came to flaunt, didn’t she? The redness on her foot was less significant than a mosquito bite! Yet the boss’s ankle was so swollen, and President only bought medicine for Cindy Lynn! Seeing that Tanya Sinclair had no intention of taking it, Cindy Lynn casually left the ointment on her desk. "Ms. Tanya, think of it as helping me use it. After all, it’s President’s thoughtful gesture; a shame to waste." Saying this, Cindy Lynn turned on her high heels and left. Nina glanced triumphantly at Tanya Sinclair from behind and followed. "What kind of people! Truly shameless!" Serena Holloway spat angrily, immediately shut the door, locked it, then turned back to look at Tanya Sinclair behind the desk, slightly worried. The boss loved President so much; she must be terribly upset. Serena Holloway pursed her lips, trying hard to comfort Tanya Sinclair, "Boss, don’t feel bad, it’s surely because President knows you’re good at medicine, that’s why he..." She hadn’t finished speaking when suddenly she fell silent, eyes widening. Tanya Sinclair pulled out a tissue, and with it between her fingers, picked up the bottle of oil on the desk as if handling something filthy and tossed it directly into the trash can. As if indifferent whether it was used by Cindy Lynn or even delivered personally by Vincent Hawthorne—she treated them all as rubbish! Getting close to the end of the workday. In the general manager’s office, Jonah Rivers organized documents, noticing President Hawthorne’s gaze occasionally fall on his phone. As a message arrived, Vincent Hawthorne glanced at his phone, his expression unchanged, but his eyes noticeably grew colder. "President, are you waiting for someone’s message?" Jonah Rivers, as Vincent’s personal assistant, was naturally attuned to Vincent’s subtle expressions. He had actively sent the medicine over, yet not even a thank you from Tanya Sinclair! Vincent turned off his phone screen and tossed it aside. He glanced at Jonah Rivers, "It’s nothing, you can leave for the day." Jonah Rivers turned and had just taken two steps when Vincent changed his mind. "Wait a moment," Vincent said slowly, "Go check the R&D department to see if she’s off yet." President’s cold and angry tone, the ’she’ naturally wasn’t referring to Cindy Lynn. Jonah Rivers understood, "Yes, President, I’ll go immediately." Soon after, Vincent received Jonah Rivers’ call. "President, there’s no one in the R&D department. Based on the punch card records, madam... left half an hour ago." Vincent had been leaning back in his chair, but upon hearing this, he gradually sat upright. "What did you say?" Vincent’s brows furrowed deeply, "Tanya Sinclair left before off work?" "Yes, and moreover..." Jonah Rivers, at Tanya Sinclair’s office at that moment, scanned the surroundings with a complex expression, "President, you’d better come see for yourself." Ten minutes later, Vincent appeared in Tanya Sinclair’s office. Rather than an office, it was more like an empty room! Apart from the company-provided desk, chair, and a seven-year-old computer, all of Tanya Sinclair’s belongings were gone! Even her always most private and cherished safe was opened, leaving only a few scraps of paper inside! Vincent’s face grew increasingly grim, suddenly, his eyes sharpened, and he strode over to the trash can, kicking it over. A nearly full bottle of bruise-healing oil rolled out of the trash can. Assistant Wallace had sent him a photo from the pharmacy in the afternoon, this was the bottle he bought! And Tanya Sinclair outright threw it away! What’s this woman up to! Vincent’s teeth clenched slightly, face dark as he turned to leave, manually dialing Tanya Sinclair’s number. However, it barely rang for half a second before being swiftly cut off. "Sorry, the number you dialed is currently on another call..."