Chapter 91

Chapter 91

Simon also showed up at the reception.

He wore a perfectly tailored black suit, his face stern and his posture upright. The moment he appeared, he drew a lot of attention.

His gaze swept across the crowd and quickly locked onto Teresa's figure.

But when he saw Michael beside her, and the natural chemistry flowing between them, his eyes suddenly darkened, and his fingers tightened slightly around his wine glass.

Without hesitation, he walked straight toward Teresa with his glass in hand.

The surrounding conversations gradually died down. Everyone sensed the unusual atmosphere, their eyes intentionally or unintentionally turning toward the three people in the center of the hall.

"Ms. Bennett, Mr. Collins, what a coincidence."

Simon stopped in front of Teresa, his voice flat and emotionless.

Teresa looked up, her gaze calm as she looked at him, as if looking at a stranger she'd only met a few times: "Mr. Smith, nice to see you."

Michael nodded slightly.

"About some misunderstandings regarding the Horizon Group project, I think it's necessary to clear things up."

Simon lowered his voice, getting straight to the point, his eyes fixed on Teresa.

"The Smith Group's design was completed independently by our team. I deeply regret what happened to you, but it has nothing to do with my company. Business competition should be fair and square."

His voice was calm, but his tone carried a hint of awkwardness that even he could clearly detect.

He wanted to tell her it wasn't him, that he wasn't that kind of person.

However, to Teresa, these words were full of hypocritical cover-ups and condescending lectures.

Teresa couldn't help but laugh coldly. Did Simon have the right to say these things?

She gently swirled the champagne glass in her hand, lifting her lips slightly in a smile that didn't reach her eyes at all.

"Mr. Smith, you're right. Business competition is about ability, but the premise is keeping to basic principles."

She paused, looked up, her gaze clear and direct as she stared at Simon, speaking word by word.

"Plagiarism, slander—these underhanded tactics might win for a moment, but they won't win forever, and they certainly won't win respect. What do you think, Mr. Smith?"

Her voice wasn't loud, but every word rang clear.

These words were like slaps across Simon's face, and also across the hearts of those secretly speculating.

Complete silence surrounded them.

No one expected Teresa to publicly strike back at Simon so directly.

This was essentially a public declaration of war.

Simon's expression instantly became extremely ugly, disbelief churning in his eyes, along with a trace of anger at being completely misunderstood.

His hand gripped the glass tightly. He wanted to say something, wanted to grab her shoulders and demand to know if she really didn't trust him that much. He wanted to tell her he was investigating too.

But with everyone watching, he couldn't do anything, couldn't say anything.

The atmosphere remained tense. He looked at Teresa, wanting to speak but stopping himself. Teresa looked back at him defiantly.

But for the moment, neither spoke, neither willing to give in first.

Michael stepped forward half a step at the right moment, cleverly blocking Simon's too-intense gaze, his tone polite.

"Mr. Smith, today is a good day for industry exchange. Perhaps some misunderstandings can wait until the investigation results are out. Excuse us."

With that, he gently guided Teresa's arm, leading her away toward another part of the crowd, leaving Simon standing there with an ashen face.

Simon stood in place, watching Teresa and Michael's backs as they walked away side by side.

His right hand hanging at his side clenched slightly. He took a deep breath, suppressing the anger churning inside.

Teresa didn't even look back at him once.

He tilted his head back and drained the rest of his drink in one gulp.

The final presentation date for the Horizon Group project was approaching day by day, and the pressure kept mounting.

Teresa's team worked in a closed environment, going all out to adjust the proposal, while Michael used considerable resources to investigate the leak from both technical and personnel angles.

But unfortunately, the investigation was moving slowly. Their opponent seemed very cunning, having erased most of the traces.

The weather was nice. The afternoon sun hung high, sunlight streaming through the windows, quite warm.

Teresa was in the conference room listening to opinions on the proposal adjustments when her phone suddenly vibrated several times in a row.

She didn't want to deal with it, but the vibrating continued.

She nodded apologetically to everyone and walked to the window to take out her phone.

It was messages from Daisy's kindergarten teacher, along with several photos.

[Hello Daisy's mom, this afternoon our kindergarten held a parent-child sports day, requiring at least one parent to accompany and participate. Daisy has been looking forward to it, saying you promised to come.]

[The event is almost over now, and Daisy has been sitting alone watching the other children play with their parents. She looks a bit sad. Could you possibly come over? Or could Daisy's dad come?]

In the photos, Daisy wore a cute sports outfit, her little face without a smile.

She sat alone by a flower bed, watching the children and parents playing nearby, her big eyes full of disappointment and envy.

In another photo, she seemed to be secretly wiping her eyes.

Teresa's eyelid twitched. She instantly remembered that when she went to Samantha's house to see Daisy a few days ago, Daisy had told her about the sports day and asked her to come.

She had agreed at the time, but she'd been so busy these past few days, spinning non-stop, that she'd actually gotten the date wrong.

Teresa tapped her head in frustration. Looking at the photo of Daisy sitting alone, guilt, heartache, and self-blame all came flooding in.

She had actually forgotten something so important. She had clearly promised Daisy, but she'd broken her word.

Teresa pressed her lips together and immediately checked the time—3:30 PM.

If she went now, the event probably wouldn't be completely over yet.

But the Horizon Group proposal adjustment was at the most critical discussion stage. As the core member, leaving now would delay the team's progress.

Just as she was caught in this dilemma, her phone rang again. It was Samantha.

"Teresa, the kindergarten teacher called me. She said Daisy is sitting there all alone looking pitiful. You can't get away, can you? I'll go right now."

Samantha's voice was both urgent and upset.

"Samantha."

Teresa's voice was a bit choked up. She bit her lip: "I really can't get away from here."

"Don't say anything more. I understand. Work is important. Leave Daisy to me. I'm heading out now."

Samantha said decisively.

"Thank you, Samantha."

Teresa hung up, her heart full of gratitude toward Samantha.

But she felt empty inside.

As a mother, she had failed in her duty.

After thinking for a few seconds, listening to the faint conversation behind her, she took several deep breaths, forcing herself to pull her attention back to the meeting, but the corners of her eyes were slightly red.

At this moment, Simon also received a similar message from the kindergarten teacher.

This time, he almost immediately put down everything he was working on and drove to the kindergarten.

On the way, he was even unusually nervous and expectant.

This time, he wanted to make up for it.

However, when he arrived at the kindergarten and explained his purpose to the teacher, the teacher looked somewhat troubled.