Chapter 51 But You Have to Apologize to Her
Daisy slapped her with full force, so much so that after hitting Vanessa, her own hand went numb.
Vanessa was knocked down by the slap, and half her face immediately swelled up red.
She covered her face, tears streaming down instantly, looking at Daisy with a mix of grievance and fear.
"Daisy, why... why did you hit me?"
Daisy's hand was still shaking, her whole body trembling, wishing she could slap her again.
"You have the nerve to ask me? You know exactly what you did!"
True, Luna was so young, maybe she couldn't have stolen all that data by herself, but what if someone was teaching her?
Daisy had only been suspicious before, but after what Vanessa just said, everything clicked into place.
This woman had actually manipulated Luna into stealing, just to take her hard work!
Daisy didn't know what she she felt strongly, anger or heartbreak.
Meanwhile, Vanessa was playing up her victimhood to the fullest, tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked pitifully at Vincent.
Vincent was completely stunned that Daisy would actually hit someone without warning.
Daisy, such a gentle and good-tempered woman, actually hitting someone?
He quickly helped Vanessa up. Vanessa said through her tears, "Vince, I really don't know what she's talking about. This project was truly developed by my research team. The lab has complete records."
"I know Ms. Hart has always been unhappy with me, but you can attack me all you want. This patent represents the hard work of everyone on the research team. I can't and don't have the right to just hand it over to you."
With just a few words, she made Daisy look like an unreasonable madwoman trying to steal others' work.
Vincent moved Vanessa behind him, his voice turning cold, "Daisy, we haven't even figured out what happened yet. How could you hit someone?"
"I hit someone? I want to kill someone!" Daisy said through gritted teeth. "Vanessa, didn't you claim to love Luna so much? Is this how you show your love? Getting her to steal my things, did you ever think..."
"Enough!" Seeing Daisy dragging Luna into this, Vincent shouted sternly, his brow furrowed. "Daisy, you need evidence when you make accusations, and don't drag Luna into adult matters!"
"Besides, Nessa has complete research records. What do you have?" Daisy smiled bitterly.
Research records, those things were so easy to fake. Even if she produced hers, Vanessa could just claim they were forged.
Her voice trembled, "Vincent, you know what I've been working on this past year. You know how late I stay in the lab every day. Now all my hard work has become yours, and I don't even get credit..."
Vincent fell silent.
Of course he knew how hard Daisy had worked this past year, especially these last few months, pulling all-nighters constantly. She had poured all her energy into this research project.
Vincent's voice softened a bit, taking on a coaxing tone, "Go home and calm down first. I'll get to the bottom of this."
"Get to the bottom of it? With how you're protecting her, what will you find out?"
Seeing Vincent's expression, Daisy grew even angrier, pointing at Vanessa.
"Vincent, Vanessa, you two are shameless . You deserve each other. I'm telling you, I won't let you get away with this!"
Vincent's face completely darkened. "Daisy, watch what you say."
"Watch what? What should I watch?" Daisy's infinite sadness turned into a cold laugh. "You want a divorce, don't you? You want to marry her, don't you? I'm telling you, until I get my work back, I won't sign! I won't divorce you! And Vanessa will always be a mistress!"
By the end, she was practically shouting, her voice echoing through the large lobby.
A crowd of employees had gathered around, all whispering among themselves.
Vincent looked at Daisy, a strange emotion rising in his heart.
He had never seen Daisy like this. For the first time, he realized that those gentle eyes could also be filled with hatred and rage.
He wondered, if she had a knife in her hand right now, would she actually stab him?
As soon as this thought emerged, a sharp pain shot through his heart—a pain that hurt more than the slap mark on Vanessa's face.
"Daisy..." He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but Daisy didn't want to hear it anymore.
Without another glance at him, she turned and walked straight out of the company.
Vincent stood there, watching her figure gradually disappear through the door, not moving for a long time.
Vanessa covered her face and gently tugged at his sleeve, her voice full of grievance, "Vince..."
"Go to the hospital. I'll have my assistant take you to the hospital. Don't come to work today." After a pause, he added, "And don't let Luna see you like this."
Vanessa froze in place, the grievance on her face slowly hardening into stiffness.
--
Vincent returned to his office, sat in his chair, and slowly examined both patent documents.
Technical parameters, experimental data, clinical reports—he read every page carefully.
The more he read, the deeper his frown became. He didn't understand the technology, but he understood Daisy.
He knew what project Daisy had been working on for the past six months. She had told him about it, after all, he had invested money in the early stages.
This nanorobot had always been her research direction, and many of the data recording habits were typical of her work.
As for Vanessa, he picked up the phone and dialed an internal line, "Have the Deputy Director of R&D come up."
Ten minutes later, Joe knocked and entered. "Mr. Black, you wanted to see me?"
Vincent handed him the document. "Look at this patent. From your professional perspective, who did this?"
Joe took it and looked it over carefully, puzzled. "Isn't this the new patent our company just applied for?"
"Has our company been working on this project in the past year?"
Joe hesitated, "Not that I recall. I remember this project was added at the last minute. The company barely invested anything in it. I thought at the time, isn't this ridiculous? But surprisingly, within just a month, they actually produced a patent."
Vincent's eyes darkened, "Did Vanessa submit this project?"
"No, actually. As you know, Director Drake has always been in management, occasionally handling external business. She doesn't really get involved in R&D."
"Then who was the applicant?"
"I'd have to go back and check to know for sure. Should I email you after I look into it?"
Vincent nodded, "Yes, as soon as possible."
After this exchange with Joe, Vincent had a pretty good idea of what happened.
Daisy wasn't making baseless accusations, this patent really was hers.
But Vanessa hadn't lied either, she really didn't know about it. At most, someone below her sent her the research results and she approved them.
She had just suffered an undeserved disaster because of Daisy's dissatisfaction with her.
Vincent sighed and called Daisy from the company phone. She didn't answer, so he sent her a message.
[I've looked into it, and the patent issue is indeed a problem on my end.
Since it's already happened, I can grant Reed Corporation a free license and promise that Black Group will withdraw from the nanorobot market competition.
But I have one condition, you must apologize to Nessa. She really didn't know about this, and hitting someone was wrong on your part.]