Chapter 176
Tears welled in Grace’s eyes, her lips trembling. “But you won’t let this go. Even without today, I still broke the law.”
“Actually, I was planning to let it go. The university fired you, and I’m republishing the paper – both journals are eager to work
with me. I had no reason to destroy you completely.”
She looked at Grace sincerely, clearly not lying.
Grace stared at Sarah in disbelief. “Impossible! Impossible!” She thrashed about, shouting, “She told me you were going to blacklist me everywhere! After I was fired, I thought about opening my own practice, but she said you wouldn’t let me. I was
desperate – that’s why I tried to force you to write for me.”
Sarah challenged her. “Even if I wrote something, how could you publish it?”
“She said she’d help! Her family is powerful, they could definitely help me.”
Sarah sighed. “Did you really think I had that kind of power to completely blacklist you?”
Grace glanced at Zachary. “Not you, but he does, She told me you two had something going on.”
Sarah unconsciously looked at Zachary. “Who exactly is ‘she‘?”
“I can’t say. She’ll retaliate if I do.” Grace shook her head frantically.
Sarah pointed to Zachary. “She wouldn’t dare, not with him here.”
Grace lowered her eyes, then looked up with tears. “I know I was wrong. Lucy gave me the paper. She said to publish it under my name. I wondered if something was off, but after reading it, I couldn’t resist. I’ve written and read many papers, but never one with such detailed data and professionalism. I barely hesitated before submitting it the next day.”
She paused. “You know what happened next. The journal accepted it, the university announced it, and within two days I was
exposed.”
Sarah coughed several times. “How did she get the paper?”
Grace shook her head. “I don’t know. After I was fired, she found me again, said you wouldn’t let me start over. The only way was
to lddnap you and make you write another paper.”
Sarah laughed bitterly. “How naive you both were”
“She said even if you wrote it, publication wasn’t guaranteed But she’d use the Chancer family’s influence to help me. Half a million was just a down payment
H
Zachary smirked “She played you. She’d never let herself lose. That money’s already been transferred out of your account.”
Grace’s eyes widened in shock. She’d risked everything for that money
1/2
How could money in her account just vanish? What had it all been for?
