Chapter 138 He Offered Too Many Benefits

Chapter 138 He Offered Too Many Benefits

In just a few days, the truth would come to light, and when it did, it was bound to send shockwaves through the entire academic community.

But that was a story for later.

Grace wasn't from Lumaria to begin with—she'd only come here to complete her academic research.

Now that she'd recovered her research results, it was time to head home and deal with divorcing Jonathan.

The only problem was that Jonathan refused to divorce her, which was proving to be quite a headache.

Grace brought up divorce constantly, but Jonathan never took her seriously.

He was dead set against it.

Even if Grace went to him again this time, Jonathan probably wouldn't change his tune.

Getting Jonathan to agree would require a different approach.

But with Grace currently abroad, some things were simply impossible to arrange. She'd have to wait until she got back.

"Let's go get something to eat."

Grace's mood had lifted considerably.

Before, she'd had no appetite whatsoever, but now things were different.

The police had gone to arrest Carol. Soon enough, there would be good news.

They could eat now and head to the police station afterward.

She wanted to ask Carol herself why she'd betrayed her.

They'd been so close. Grace had once considered Carol her first real friend since coming to Lumaria.

She never imagined it would come to this.

She needed to know what had been going through Carol's mind.

By the time Grace finished eating and left the restaurant, two hours had passed.

Before she even made it back to the research institute, news came from the police station.

Carol had been successfully apprehended.

Afraid of tipping anyone off, the police hadn't announced the news publicly. Everything had been done quietly.

Carol herself probably couldn't figure out what had gone wrong—one moment everything seemed fine, the next she was in custody.

When Grace arrived at the station, she met with Carol through a thick pane of glass.

Just a few days ago, Carol had taken sick leave.

She hadn't come to the institute in days, and Grace hadn't seen her in a while.

Now, seeing her, she looked completely different.

Gone was that spirited, laughing girl from before.

Instead, her face seemed covered by a gray film, her expression perpetually dim.

When Carol saw Grace enter, surprise flashed in her eyes before she quickly lowered her head.

Grace picked up the phone on her side, staring directly at Carol through the thick glass.

"Why won't you look at me?"

Grace's clear voice came through the receiver.

"So you do know you wronged me?"

"I'm curious—we were supposed to be so close. Why would you do something like this to me?"

"Can you explain what I ever did to deserve this?"

Carol kept her head down, saying nothing.

Grace placed her hand against the glass, wishing she could reach through and touch Carol.

Right now, Grace felt no strength, no anger—only a faint chill.

The feeling of ashes where a heart used to be.

She'd considered Carol her best friend, told her everything.

Any progress in her research, she'd shared with Carol first.

And in the end, the one who betrayed her was Carol.

Grace could have accepted it from anyone else. Anyone but Carol.

"Lift your head." Grace's expression was stern. "I just want to understand why you did this."

"I'm sorry."

Carol finally spoke, dissolving into tears with just those words.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

She covered her mouth, sobbing. "I wronged you. It's all my fault. I destroyed your research."

"But I hope you can forgive me. For the sake of how close we used to be—you'll forgive me, won't you?"

"No." Grace's answer came swiftly.

Carol froze, even her tears seeming to stop.

"You really... won't forgive me?"

"That's right. I really won't forgive you."

Grace repeated herself. "If you were in my shoes, would you choose to forgive?"

"I don't think you would. Because nobody likes being betrayed, and you betrayed me. That's something I can't accept."

Grace sighed. "Right now, I don't want to talk about any of that. I just want to know why you did it. What did I ever do to you?"

"It's not what you did to me."

Carol cried for a while longer before gradually calming down. She wiped her tears.

"The truth is, Charles offered too much. I couldn't resist the temptation."

"Are you serious?"

The last thread of hope in Grace's heart snapped, her eyes flooding with disappointment.

Before coming here, she'd imagined it over and over.

Carol must have had no choice.

That bright, sunny girl would never do something like this.

Maybe Charles had threatened her.

After all, Charles had money and power—threatening or buying off someone would be easy for him.

Grace had been waiting for Carol to deny it, to tell her the real truth.

She never imagined the reason could be this simple.

"Grace, you can't blame me. He offered so much."

Carol's tears, just stopped, began flowing again.

"I had no choice. I really didn't. Nobody can resist the lure of money. Don't look at me like that—you'd be the same. You can talk all you want now, but when that day comes, you won't be able to refuse either."

"Shut up!" Grace snapped at her through the glass.

"Don't drag others down just because you couldn't do it."

"Carol, you betrayed my trust."

With those words, Grace turned and left.

Now that she had her answer, there was no reason to stay.

Michael was waiting outside. When he saw Grace emerge, concern flickered in his eyes.

Grace's expression was so angry, he couldn't ignore it.

Clearly, their conversation hadn't gone well, and whatever truth she'd learned was something Grace couldn't accept.

Grace climbed into the car without a word and popped a piece of gum into her mouth.

It was Carol's favorite flavor.

When Grace had first arrived, the strangeness and fear of being in a foreign country had completely overwhelmed her.

Carol had welcomed her, stayed by her side, and offered her a piece of gum.

That had been her first gift.

Over time, Grace had developed the habit of chewing gum herself.

And now the girl who'd given her that gum as a welcoming gift was gone forever.

"Michael."

Grace chewed the gum until it lost all flavor, then turned to look at him.

"Do you think a person can really change that much?"