“Mr. Goodwin, is there any progress?”
Ian glanced at him but didn’t answer. He wasn’t out of options—he actually had several contingency plans lined up. What caught him off guard, though, was the intensity of the hostility toward him online. That backlash had been so fierce it prompted Eleanor to step in and defend the neural interface project.
He should have seen it coming. Eleanor’s dedication and rigor when it came to research would never allow the project to be shut down so easily.
Ian remembered the last time the Secretary of State had spoken to her in person. The project must have come up then as well. So, Eleanor had another reason for saving the project—
The smile on Ian’s lips faded.
It was also her way of helping the Ellington family.
Feeling oddly empty, Ian took a sip of his tea.
He stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, gazing out at the city lights sprawling below, his thoughts a tangled web.
Gavin took the hint and quietly exited the office.
A moment ago, he’d checked the latest analysis online—there were already plenty of labels being slapped onto Ian.
Vanessa was following the drama too. She hadn’t expected that, overnight, Ian would find himself in such a predicament. The entire Goodwin & Co. board turning on him?
She’d already sent him a message to check in, but Ian hadn’t replied. She couldn’t tell if he was simply too busy, or if he was so weighed down by the crisis that he had no energy left to respond.
Anxious, Vanessa shot a message to Gavin, asking where Ian was.
Gavin replied: still in the office.
Without hesitation, Vanessa changed into a skirt and headed straight for Goodwin & Co.
At ten o’clock that night, she walked into the company’s marble-floored lobby. The receptionist greeted her and led her upstairs. Vanessa pushed open the door to Ian’s office.
The receptionist snapped a quick photo of this scene and sent it off to Marcus.
She was, after all, one of Marcus’s lovers.

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