Chapter 4

4: 4

4

Maybe they were afraid I'd drag their precious girl back to Cloud Lake Estate to work herself ragged again, because my father-in-law and mother-in-law were shipped back to their hometown overnight.

Winifred also claimed she had family matters to attend to, spent a single day in the hospital, and hurried off to her hometown.

Carissa and I sat there calmly savoring red wine and top-grade steak at the five-star hotel.

I swallowed the last bite of grilled red snapper, dabbed the corner of my mouth, and looked at Mike Finch, my tone easy.

"Expert Finch, any interest in working together?"

"I'll invest five billion in your research and development. If it succeeds, half the rights are mine. And if you're willing, the Gilbert family can keep funding the production and launch too."

Mike nearly sprayed his mouthful of wine. He managed to swallow it, coughed a few times, and stared at me in disbelief.

"Ms. Gilbert, you're not joking? You'd invest five billion?"

I smiled.

"What, no confidence in yourself?"

The truth was, I already knew from Carissa that their research had hit a wall. It wasn't only the funding. They'd run into a technical bottleneck too.

In my last life, I never knew how much of themselves Mike and his team poured in, how much pressure they endured, before the research finally paid off.

But right now, he was truly at the end of his rope, sunk into the lowest point.

This life, I meant to lift him to success as fast as I could. Not only for Carissa's happiness, but because I wanted my own solid ground to stand on.

I wanted to stand at the highest point and crush Hubert Delgado until he had nothing left to fight back with, not fall into a war that wounded us both and dragged the Gilberts down with it.

Because the embedded ultra-thin chip, with its later breakthroughs, didn't just shatter the foreign monopoly. It vaulted straight to fourth in the world's new-tech rankings.

A single share impossible to come by, the whole thing worth a hundred billion.

Mike would rise overnight to become one of New York's new elite, a diamond bachelor. A pity that by then Carissa was long gone, and Mike only stood silent at her grave for a whole day.

I was getting a bargain off them, and a big one.

I said, almost sheepishly,

"Expert Finch, if you think it's too little, I can add more. Another five billion."

I wiped my forehead and murmured to myself,

"Dad, I'm pouring out everything you own this time. Hold on for me."

Mike shot to his feet at once and gripped my hand, shaking with excitement.

"It's not too little. Thank you, thank you so much, Ms. Gilbert. You really are our savior. Thank you, thank you."

He tipped his head back and downed a full glass of red wine, his face flushed red. I laughed and clapped his shoulder. "I have one more condition. When you make it big someday, you'd better treat Carissa well. If you ever dare mistreat her, I'll be the first one who won't let it slide."

Mike caught Carissa's hand in his and spoke to me with grave seriousness.

"Ms. Gilbert, you have my word. If I ever wrong Carissa, do with me whatever you want."

Then he looked at Carissa, his eyes full of feeling.

"Carissa is the kindest, sweetest girl I've ever known. I'd sooner wrong myself than ever wrong her."

Watching the two of them hold each other so tenderly, something in me warmed.

Good. This was good.

Detective Mercer sent over Hubert's movements right on schedule, but I stopped watching Hubert and instead followed the development of the embedded ultra-thin chip myself.

I even flew abroad to bring in international experts to advise.

Time flew. Before I knew it, half a year had passed.

That day, Detective Mercer sent me a message.

"Winifred's had the baby. A seven-pound boy. The test is back. Paternity with Hubert Delgado, ninety-nine point nine nine percent."