I Forgot I Ever Loved You (Zoe and Hayden) novel Chapter 285

Numerous companies eagerly entered the bidding war, desperate to secure a partnership.

Hayden simply sat in his seat, completely motionless.

Zoe kept her eyes fixed on the hand resting on her thigh. She batted it away several times, but Hayden showed absolutely no intention of letting go.

An usher escorted someone to the empty seat beside Sienna.

She had entirely lost interest in the bidding event, consumed solely by the agonizing question of why Hayden had gone to sit next to Zoe.

Her mood was absolutely foul.

"Professor Layne, please take a seat."

Sienna heard the organizer's voice, followed by Professor Layne's annoyed confusion.

"I'm with the Sterling Group team. Why did you seat me here?"

Professor Layne had assumed his seat would be right next to Garrett.

The organizer looked intensely apologetic.

"There was a last-minute adjustment. Please bear with us, Professor Layne. The bidding event will wrap up shortly."

Professor Layne had no choice, but Sienna was absolutely thrilled.

Wasn't this a godsend?

She completely misunderstood the situation. She assumed Hayden had purposely moved to the other section.

He had done it to give her and Professor Layne the perfect opportunity to talk one-on-one.

Professor Layne was a titan in the AI tech world. With his endorsement, her AI companion robot would spark a bidding frenzy.

Partnering with one company meant nothing; securing bids and investments from hundreds of companies would inject an astronomical amount of cash flow into her project.

Sienna had no real intention of running a legitimate business. This project was nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

The ultimate goal of her patent was to rake in a massive wave of funding. As long as the cash came in, whether the final product was actually marketable was the investing companies' problem.

Sienna took the initiative to greet him.

"Professor Layne, we meet again. It's an honor."

Professor Layne looked thoroughly displeased, his eyes constantly darting toward the right side of the room.

He was scanning the crowd for Zoe and Garrett.

When Garrett had mentioned that Zoe was heading up a massive new project, he only needed the briefest summary before his interest was entirely hooked.

As long as he stuck close to his brilliant goddaughter, his golden years were going to be remarkably entertaining.

Professor Layne was a hardcore tech fanatic.

For a man of his age who already had boundless fame and fortune, profit meant nothing. What drew him was whether a project was genuinely fascinating.

And he found Zoe's concept endlessly fascinating.

He could only imagine how thrilling the coming years of his life would be.

Cutting-edge tech in a brand-new era—if he could ride this wave of innovation in his late fifties, he could die a happy man.

"Yes, an honor!"

Unrivaled, indeed.

Professor Layne refused to listen to another word of her nonsense.

Sienna didn't even realize he was entirely repulsed by her.

She was still planning to give him a detailed pitch on her AI companion robot.

She hoped he would publicly endorse Easton Group later. With his authoritative backing, Sienna could already picture the massive dividends rolling into her Easton shares.

Recently, the funds she had been siphoning into Zoe's account had suspiciously dried up, and she had also noticed that Zoe's obsession with Hayden seemed to be fading.

She desperately needed money. She couldn't let her cash flow break, otherwise...

Professor Layne wasn't listening to a single word Sienna said.

He merely offered absent-minded nods—'sure,' 'okay'—without so much as glancing in her direction.

Sienna talked until her throat was completely dry, finally grew furious, and clamped her mouth shut.

Professor Layne mentally spat in disgust, glaring furiously at Hayden sitting next to Zoe.

Why was that bastard so completely oblivious?

When was he going to crawl back over here and return his goddaughter to him?

He refused to acknowledge Zoe as his wife, yet he still had the audacity to cling to her side like a parasite.

He was the absolute definition of shameless.

After the first round, the presentation for Easton's project concluded. The host moved on to the next announcement.