Lemira held her phone, and the noise around her seemed to fade away.

"Is something wrong?"

His voice was as deep and magnetic as ever.

Lemira hesitated before speaking. "Are you free right now? I need your help with..."

"I'm free."

Orion didn't wait for her to finish. He cut the meeting short and stepped outside.

He sounded a little anxious. "Where are you? I'll be right there."

"I'm at the exhibition center for the prototype showcase. There's a problem, and I can't reach Thaddeus, so you were the only one I could call."

"Okay. Don't worry, I'm on my way."

Orion looked at the person who had followed him out, then hung up. "I have an emergency. I have to leave."

"But sir, the meeting isn't over."

"You can chair it. Stick to the bottom line we agreed upon for the negotiation. If they don't accept, we walk."

With that, Orion turned and hurried out of the building.

Lemira looked at her phone after he hung up. If Orion could make it, today's events wouldn't end so easily.

She sent him a text, briefly explaining what had happened.

She couldn't leave to verify Asher's patent claim, but Orion probably could, and quickly.

"What are you doing? Don't touch our prototype! Can you afford to pay for it if you break it?"

Lemira turned to see someone trying to shoo away her colleagues.

She walked over immediately. "You have no right to do this until the matter is properly investigated."

"We're just following orders. They're going to take a group photo here soon. Could you please just move aside a bit? Otherwise you'll

the shot

in

The team leader rolled up his sleeves, indignant. "We were invited to participate tool Our company. Company used to be the industry leader You'll regret treating us like this!"

Lemira pulled him back. "Calm down. Let's just move our things to the side for now."

"They're being such bullies! They think they can pull these stunts just because they

have the Waverlies backing them, trying to push us out!"

"Yeah! They just wave some patent document around and kick us out. It's obviously all rigged!"

Lemira looked at them. "Don't worry yet. Just wait."

"Lemira, you can wait until the end of time, but it won't do any good."

Evelina walked over, holding a

bouquet of roses, and kicked the et

prototype. "Does this piece of junk really think it can compete with the Langston Group?"

"Eve is right. Lemira, I suggest you leave that failing company before you get dragged down with it."

Evander also approached, his steps a bit slow.

Lemira glanced at his leg and clicked her tongue. "You're not feeling well, are you? A

bit of a burning sensation, perhaps?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Evander's eyes were wary. How did Lemira know what he was feeling?

Lemira smiled. "A burning sensation means it's bleeding. You should probably check

it."

Evander instinctively bent down to lift his pant leg, but Evelina stopped him.

She said cautiously, "Don't listen to her. If a reporter catches that on camera, they'll twist the story."

Evander abandoned the idea of checking, but the uncomfortable feeling in his leg persisted, the pain growing more intense.

He looked at Evelina. "Eve, I think I need to go rest for a bit."

"We have to take a group photo and do interviews later. Just hold on a little longer. We can't leave."