The Man Who Never Looked Away novel Chapter 200

They stood by the shore watching for a long time.

The tide was rolling out, pushing the driftwood-plugged bottle toward the island.

"They'll definitely receive it," Charley said, his voice steady.

Lavinia pulled his suit jacket tighter around her, wrapping herself in his scent, feeling as though a new surge of strength had settled inside her.

Charley turned to look at her and reached out, gently ruffling her hair.

"A few miles up the road, there's a really good seafood stall. I'll take you there," he said.

"Let me treat you this time, okay?" Lavinia asked.

"No. Wait until you pass your probation, then you can treat me," he replied smoothly.

Lavinia pouted. "I don't even know if I'll pass yet."

"You absolutely will," he said.

***

Lavinia pulled several all-nighters at home, finally finishing her presentation report just the day before the second evaluation meeting.

The report was packed with primary data she had gathered during her week-and-a-half-long undercover mission.

She was confident that no one knew the truth about Renova Biosciences' new drug better than she did.

Early the next morning, Lavinia walked into the Industry Research Department office carrying her laptop bag, making her final preparations for the evaluation.

Hardly anyone greeted her. They were all at their desks, yet deliberately pretended she didn't exist.

The atmosphere felt even worse than the last time she had been isolated.

Ethan was decent enough to secretly pull her downstairs for coffee, offering a few heartfelt words of advice.

"Lavinia, you're being too stubborn about this Renova thing. Are you worried that if the report is inaccurate, you'll be held responsible later? You won't be."

Lavinia shook her head, forcing a bitter smile. "Maybe it's just the stubbornness of a former medical student. I really can't look at a fake drug and call it real."

Ethan sucked in a sharp breath. "Fake? It's that serious?"

Lavinia looked at him steadily. "Ethan, thank you for telling me the truth. Come listen to my presentation this afternoon. It might be my last one at Celestial Capital."

Listening, Mr. Coleman neither nodded nor shook his head.

Then it was Lavinia's turn. Without a USB drive, she simply passed out copies of her printed report.

Mr. Coleman scanned the pages quickly, then looked up at her. "Where exactly did you get this primary data?"

Even though she knew perfectly well that Mr. Coleman and Quentin Miller were old classmates, she couldn't hide her source. The credibility of her entire report depended on it.

Lavinia looked around the table at the executives, her voice steady and clear.

"I went undercover in NeoGenix's Renova clinical project team for a week and a half, and I retrieved the core data for Renova Biosciences' new drug."

Silence instantly blanketed the room.

Sigrid's hand paused as she flipped a page, her eyes snapping up to look at Lavinia.

Chester leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, his mouth twitching slightly.

Mr. Coleman tapped his finger on the desk twice, then stopped.

"Continue."