II

Hearing Veronica's voice, Roger raised his eyelids. The dark, bottomless glare he shot her was colder than the ice at the bottom of a frozen ravine.

Veronica's heart skipped a beat, and she shrank back defensively. "I'm just worried about you," she murmured.

"It's none of your business."

"And focus on your own life!"

Dropping those freezing words, Roger shifted his gaze back to Charlotte, his eyes instantly softening. "Let's go."

"Mhm."

Charlotte stood up, supporting her belly. As she walked past Veronica, she paused.

"I hear the International Forensic Association has annual evaluations," Charlotte said lazily. "Those who fail get kicked out."

She had done a quick background check on Veronica Ham.

Her family had been in forensics for three generations, giving her solid connections. When she joined the International Forensic Association, her family had undoubtedly pulled some major strings.

Otherwise...

Given her sheer incompetence, how could she have ever gotten in?

Unless the president of the association had lost their mind.

II

Veronica's face drained of color. She frantically tried to read between the lines.

Was she threatening her?

Charlotte was Asclepius. Even the president of the Association bent over backward to accommodate her.

If she really wanted to ruin Veronica's career, she could.

Watching the two of them walk away, Veronica wrung her hands into tight fists, a cold panic seizing her chest.

What was she supposed to do now?

Just then, the hushed gossip of the remaining team members drifted over.

"Is Dr. Roger's hand really that bad?"

"I think so," someone replied with a nod. "Asclepius did almost all the heavy lifting last night. Dr. Roger only handled the minor tasks, and he was using his left hand."

"It's so weird. How did he even get hurt? Dr. Roger isn't the type to be careless."

"..."

Veronica paused, then spoke up. "Didn't he get hurt when he volunteered at Montara School?"

"Ah."

The gossiping stopped instantly. The team turned to glare at her, frowning. What was her problem now?

They had all heard that Roger's mother personally brought a girl to the lab that morning.

It didn't take a genius to figure out she was the girl Dr. Roger was pursuing.

With things crystal clear, and Roger actively despising her...

Why was she still clinging to him like a leech?

Have some self-respect.

"Right."

A colleague offered a dismissive

reply.

her. One wanted to engage with

her. Tugging at each other's sleeves, the rest of the team quickly scattered.

Veronica was left standing alone in the lobby.

Montara School?

Roger really wasn't a careless man. Without a very specific reason, he would never have gone out of his way to do something so trivial.

Unless...

There was someone at Montara School he wanted to see.

Her mind racing, Veronica pulled out her phone and called a friend. She cut straight to the chase In that list of names you gave me, did any of them go to Montara School Over the break?"

"Montara School?"

Her friend put the phone on speaker and clattered away on a keyboard, checking

the university database.

The answer came quickly.

"Actually, yes." Her friend scrolled through the files. "Look at the last person on page three."

Veronica swiped to the third page and checked the bottom.

Stella. Sophomore, Psychology.

The photo was a standard black-and-white ID picture.

The girl in the photo had stunningly gorgeous features, her long hair falling over her shoulders, framing delicate ears.

More importantly, she wasn't

wearing a drop of makeup. Even

under the notoriously unflattering

glare of a university ID camera, she

looked radiant, striking, and

undeniably beautiful.

She really was pretty.

Veronica's brow furrowed. She scanned the background info. It was bleak.

Father in prison. Mother deceased. Broken home...

With a background that pathetic, how could the Blair family or the Gates family ever accept her?

But she was now absolutely certain that the girl in the picture was the same one who had visited the lab today.