Chapter 142
In the shadows around the corner of the hallway, Dahlia leaned against the wall, her fingers gripping her phone so tightly her knuckles turned white.
She watched the direction Manuel had left, her eyes churning with hatred so thick it couldn't be dissolved.
A billion dollars.
Manuel had given her a billion dollars without a second thought.
In her twenty years with the Douglas family, all the allowances she'd ever received didn't even add up to a fraction of what was on that card.
She bit her lip, turned, and went back to her room. The door slammed shut behind her.
She stared at her twisted reflection in the mirror. Her lips pressed into a thin line. The light in her eyes slowly turned cold.
That woman—what gives her the right?
The next morning, Lucinda sat at the dining table, flipping through a financial newspaper. A nutritionally balanced breakfast sat in front of her.
She read intently, her brow slightly furrowed. Her fingers tapped lightly on the edge of the paper, as if calculating something.
Just then, footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Dahlia descended from upstairs. She wore a pale yellow dress, cinched perfectly at the waist, making her look like a freshly bloomed forsythia. She'd clearly dressed up on purpose.
She walked to the dining table but didn't sit down immediately. Instead, she deliberately stood in front of Lucinda for a moment.
Lucinda didn't even look up.
Dahlia didn't seem to mind. Her fingers lightly brushed over her skirt, as if displaying some precious treasure.
She cleared her throat. Her voice carried poorly concealed smugness. "Lucinda, don't you think this dress is beautiful? It's CASA, you know. Manuel gave it to me. He brought it back a few days ago. He said the moment he saw it, he thought it would suit me."
Lucinda turned a page of the newspaper. Her gaze remained fixed on the dense rows of financial data. She murmured an acknowledgment.
Dahlia's smile froze for a moment.
She waited. When nothing followed, she took two more steps forward and sat down in the chair across from Lucinda. She smoothed her skirt again and again, as if waiting for the person across from her to take a closer look.
Lucinda picked up her coffee, took a sip, and continued reading the paper.
Dahlia's fingers tapped lightly on the table. The smile on her lips barely held. A thin layer of displeasure surfaced in her eyes.
Does this woman not even recognize the CASA brand?
She's from some backwater. She probably doesn't even know who the most famous designers are. No wonder she had zero reaction to the dress.
The displeasure in her heart slowly morphed into smugness.
No matter how much Lucinda stirred things up, she was just a research nerd from nowhere. When it came to fashion and taste, Dahlia was leagues ahead.
With that thought, Dahlia took a sip of water, set the glass down, and slowly ran her finger around the rim. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, her eyes lit up.
"Oh, right." She removed a watch from her wrist, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward Lucinda. "Do you recognize this?"
It was a smartwatch. It looked understated and ordinary, but anyone in the know could tell at a glance that it was anything but.
The faint blue light film on the watch face was last year's most cost-effective invention.
Dahlia's mouth curved upward. Her tone was confident. "This is last year's most cost-effective smartwatch. It was designed by Felix, the most famous expert in the research world. It doesn't just tell time—it monitors heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen levels in real time. If anything's wrong with your body, it alerts you immediately. Manuel gave it to me. He said when I'm out on my own, wearing this gives him peace of mind."
She paused. Her gaze landed on Lucinda's face. Her tone took on a pointed edge. "Lucinda, you don't have one, do you?"
Lucinda set down the newspaper and glanced at the watch on the table.
Her gaze lingered on the watch face for a moment. She couldn't help but smile.
Of course she recognized this watch.
More than that—the core algorithm, the underlying architecture, the sensor layout—all of it had been designed by her own hands.
When this product launched last year, she'd been in the research lab monitoring the test data from the first batch of prototypes. She'd pulled three all-nighters in a row.
She looked away and picked up the newspaper again. Her tone was flat. "I know it. I saw it when it launched last year."
Dahlia's smile faltered for a moment, but she quickly recovered.
She picked up her water glass and took a sip. Her voice dripped with superiority. "Well, you do research, so of course you've heard of it. After all, this watch won several awards last year. Everyone in the industry knows about it."
She slipped the watch back onto her wrist and turned the dial, letting the pale blue light film flash in the sunlight, as if deliberately showing it off.
"But hearing about something and owning it are two different things." Dahlia's voice was airy. "Manuel is so good to me. He thinks of everything. Lucinda, you just got back. You probably haven't received any gifts from Manuel yet, have you? It's okay. Once you've been in this family longer, Manuel will be good to you too."
Lucinda turned another page of the newspaper. She didn't even look up. Her tone was indifferent. "I have plenty. And that one's from last year anyway. This year's newest model, with even more features, is already in development."
Dahlia's pupils contracted. Her fingers clenched.
She stared at Lucinda. The smugness in her eyes cracked, revealing a thin layer of suspicion.
How does she know there's a new model this year?
The development of this watch had been kept confidential. She'd only heard about it last week at an industry salon. Even the official release date hadn't been announced yet.
"How do you know that?" Her voice tightened. Then a surge of resentment welled up inside her.
It was always like this.
Every time she tried to show off something in front of Lucinda, that woman acted completely indifferent, as if everything she brought out wasn't worth mentioning.
But somehow, every single thing she said was like a bucket of cold water, dumped precisely on the thing Dahlia was most proud of.
Just then, footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Manuel came down from upstairs, wearing a dark blue cashmere sweater. His hair wasn't fully styled yet—a few strands hung over his forehead. He looked more relaxed than usual.
He held his phone in one hand, looking down at something. Only when he reached the dining table did he look up.
His gaze landed on the watch on Dahlia's wrist. He paused, then smiled. "You still have that watch?"
He pulled out a chair and sat down, his tone casual. "Isn't that Cindy's work?"
Dahlia's hand froze.
She sat there like she'd been turned to stone, her fingers still poised mid-motion over the watch dial.
But in that instant, something detonated in her mind. A loud ringing filled her ears.
"Manuel… what did you say?" Her voice floated, unsteady.
Manuel picked up the water glass on the table and took a sip. His tone remained casual. "I said that watch was designed by Cindy. That famous Felix in the research world? That's Cindy."
Lucinda's fingers paused mid-turn of the newspaper. She looked up at Manuel.
Manuel knows?
When did he find out?