To Love a Shadow, To Be the Sun novel Chapter 288

A stunned uproar swept through the room.

“This isn’t mine, it’s… it’s—”

The only person who’d had any physical contact with her was Ryan. He must have slipped the flash drive into her pocket during that brush.

Lina never imagined Elara would turn the tables so ruthlessly.

The female officer’s voice was crisp and official: “Our forensics team will conduct a thorough investigation into the flash drive’s data source. The facts will speak for themselves. Blackstar Technologies has just filed a formal complaint, accusing you of corporate espionage. Please cooperate and come with us for questioning.”

“Brian…” Lina’s voice trembled as she looked to her brother for help.

But Brian only replied coolly, “Let’s let the police sort this out.”

Lina was left speechless as the officers led her away.

Elara allowed herself the barest hint of a smile. With Lina out of the picture, even pawns could end up battered and bruised.

Zane glanced at Brian, his tone light but cutting. “Mr. Vincent, is this how your people operate? So casual about ‘borrowing’ other companies’ tech. Should we assume SiliconCrest Group’s so-called ‘core technology’ is just a patchwork of stolen code?”

Laughter broke out across the room.

Brian instinctively looked toward Elara, only to see her conferring quietly with Ryan about next steps, completely unbothered by his embarrassment. A sharp, bitter pang twisted inside him.

The launch event ended abruptly in chaos.

Ben sighed. “Well, that didn’t go as planned.”

“The demo got cut short, but the publicity was off the charts. And if SiliconCrest was after our tech…” Jason chuckled, low and satisfied. “All in all, we came out ahead.”

He glanced around. “Where’s Elara?”

Ben thought for a moment. “Upstairs in the lounge. Probably thanking your uncle.”

In the makeshift lounge, Zane’s cut was deeper than expected. It would need cleaning and stitches.

Elara looked at the raw, gaping wound and couldn’t help her reproachful mutter. “Maybe don’t use so much force next time?”

Zane lifted his eyes, a sly half-smile tugging at his lips. “If I didn’t, would you have cared this much?”

She snapped out of it, glanced at the text, her expression flickering. She set down the gauze. “I have to go.”

Zane looked up, arching a brow. “What, you’re leaving before my hand’s even fixed?”

“It’s urgent.”

She pressed her lips together, grabbed her purse, and walked out.

Silence settled over the lounge.

Quincy Shelton tried to smooth things over. “Maybe it really is something important at work…”

Zane didn’t respond.

They finished patching up his hand in short order.

He headed downstairs. As he reached the parking lot, he spotted Elara getting into Jason’s car.

Zane’s gaze darkened. So Jason was her “emergency.”