Chapter 128
Lorelei trembled all over, instinctively covering her belly, terrified that Gideon would truly make her lose the baby—lose everything she had now. Tears welled up again: "Gideon, I... I didn't..."
"Whether you did or not, you know in your heart." With that, Gideon turned to leave.
"Gideon!" Lorelei called out to him, her voice thick with tears. "I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have gone with Ms. Hughes. Please don't be angry, okay?"
She walked to Gideon's side, trying to grab his sleeve, but he stepped away.
"I care about you, too. Forgive me this once, please?" Lorelei looked at him pitifully, cradling her swollen belly as she pleaded, "I promise I'll listen to you from now on. I'll never act on my own again."
Gideon's gaze held no warmth whatsoever.
Lately, Lorelei had been using her pregnancy as an excuse, wielding tears as her weapon. At first, he would soften, but now, he only felt annoyed.
"Lorelei," Gideon spoke, his voice eerily calm, as if casually disposing of some worthless object. "If you can't behave yourself, we don't need to keep the baby."
Lorelei's face went instantly pale as paper. She stepped back, looking at Gideon in disbelief.
She couldn't see even a trace of emotion in his eyes.
Not even desire—as if their past entanglements were just a dream of hers, an unrealistic fantasy.
She finally realized Gideon was serious.
This man would actually do it!
"I... I understand." She lowered her head dejectedly, her voice trembling, forced to submit. "I'll behave... I promise."
Gideon turned and left.
Lorelei stood there, her fingers clutching the fabric of her clothes so tightly her nails nearly dug into her flesh. She lowered her head, a flash of resentment and unwillingness in her eyes, though she quickly concealed it.
The living room was warm, but both women felt chilled to the bone, as if plunged into an ice cellar.
The Getty Group, top-floor conference room.
Afternoon sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting bright patches on the gleaming conference table.
Josephine and Cedric sat facing each other, the NGRAS project's technical documentation and data analysis reports spread between them.
"The third module's algorithm needs to be redesigned." Josephine pointed at the data curve on the screen, her brow slightly furrowed. "There's a critical point here. Beyond this threshold, the system becomes unstable. I drafted a preliminary solution last night."
She pulled up another file, and a complex algorithm flowchart appeared on screen.
Cedric leaned forward slightly, his gaze focused, fingers lightly tapping the table. He looked at Josephine with a hint of assessment in his eyes. "Good thinking, but difficult to implement. Especially this feedback loop design."
"I know." Josephine was prepared—she never fought unprepared battles. "I added a buffer layer here."
She zoomed in on a section of the flowchart.
Josephine's cool voice echoed through the conference room. "When the system approaches the critical point, this buffer layer activates and temporarily takes over control. Once the system stabilizes, it returns control to the main program."
Cedric stared at the screen for a long time, so long that Josephine thought he'd discovered some fatal flaw. The conference room was quiet except for the soft hum of the air conditioning.
"Smart." Cedric finally spoke, a trace of admiration inevitably showing in his eyes. "This design is quite clever. However... how much will it increase costs?"
Josephine calmly pulled up another file: "Hardware costs will increase by approximately 15%, but it can save at least 30% in long-term maintenance expenses. From a long-term perspective, it's cost-effective."
The corner of Cedric's lips curved into a barely perceptible arc, generous with his praise: "You've thought this through very thoroughly."
"That's the basic requirement," Josephine said softly, her lips lifting slightly.
Cedric looked at her, appreciation flickering in his eyes. Perhaps in a good mood, in the quiet conference room, even his voice seemed especially gentle. "We'll go with your plan. However, I need you to produce detailed design documentation and a testing plan within a week."
"No problem." Josephine nodded, noting the timeline in her notebook.
The two discussed several more technical details, and before they knew it, it was noon. Cedric glanced at his watch—already twelve-thirty.
"Let's eat first," he said. "We'll continue this afternoon."
Only then did Josephine realize the time. She rubbed her slightly sore eyes: "Okay."
They gathered their files and walked out of the conference room together. Just as they reached the elevator, the doors opened, and Kenneth stepped out.
"Josephine." Kenneth's eyes lit up when he saw her, but then he noticed Cedric beside her, and that brightness dimmed.
"Kenneth?" Josephine smiled slightly. "Now that you're back, get to work."
The last time she'd seen Kenneth, he'd looked haggard. Today he wore a charcoal gray suit, his hair neatly styled—he looked in good spirits.
Josephine noticed his face was still somewhat pale, with faint shadows under his eyes.
"If you're not feeling well, speak up anytime," she advised.
Josephine still cared about him.
Kenneth felt satisfied and smiled. "Don't worry."
As he spoke, his gaze involuntarily drifted to Cedric. Cedric stood beside Josephine, his posture casual but his presence commanding. His sleeves were rolled to his elbows, revealing the smooth lines of his forearms.
Standing together, they looked exceptionally well-matched.
Kenneth's eyes darkened.
"Good." Josephine smiled. "Perfect timing—we're discussing the third module of the NGRAS project. Now that you're back, you can participate."
Kenneth nodded: "Great, I—"
Cedric spoke casually: "It's lunchtime anyway. Let's eat together and talk over the meal."
"Sounds good." Kenneth readily agreed.
He had pulled himself together, deciding to stop wallowing in self-pity and to strive for what he wanted instead.
The three went to a Western restaurant near the company. Cedric was a regular here, and the server immediately greeted him: "Mr. Getty, your usual table?"
"Yes," Cedric responded.
The server led them to a window booth. Cedric sat beside Josephine. Kenneth had no choice but to sit across from her.
The seating arrangement made Kenneth somewhat uncomfortable, but he didn't show it.
After ordering, the atmosphere grew slightly awkward. Kenneth broke the silence first: "Josephine, regarding the NGRAS project, I've been thinking about it even while you were hospitalized. I believe we could add an intelligent filtering module at the data preprocessing stage..."
He began elaborating on his ideas in detail. Josephine listened attentively, nodding occasionally and raising questions here and there. She truly appreciated Kenneth—at work, she valued his opinions highly.
But Cedric's presence changed everything.
"Good thinking."
Kenneth was somewhat startled to hear Cedric's words. Was he actually affirming his idea?
But the next second, Cedric's tone shifted: "Intelligent filtering increases system complexity. And have you considered the false positive rate?"