Chapter 2

2

Inside a modest, vintage brick office in downtown Boston, an elderly man slammed his fist onto the mahogany desk.

"How dare Arthur Powell and his cronies treat you like trash!"

The white-haired man was Dr. Samuel Hastings, a living legend in the global medical research community and my personal mentor.

Over the past few decades, he had single-handedly developed dozens of revolutionary targeted therapies for rare and fatal diseases. Half the top medical experts across the nation were his former students.

Yet he remained fiercely low-profile, disliking public attention, which meant very few people outside the elite circles had ever seen his face.

Seeing him get so worked up on my behalf made the sting of betrayal fade away.

"They stole my entire clinical report and handed it to the Dean's daughter," I explained. "They even demanded that I surrender all my future research to her."

Dr. Hastings rolled his eyes at my miserable expression.

"I told you years ago that corporate research was a snake pit. You wouldn't listen. What was so bad about joining the National Institutes of Health with me? Now look at you, getting walked all over!"

I offered a sheepish grin to calm him down, then straightened up. "Don't worry, I won't let them get away with it. I took all the core raw data for the new targeted drug, and my whole team came with me. I'm going to make them pay."

As Dr. Hastings' final and most gifted apprentice, I was considered a once-in-a-generation talent in biochemistry.

I had trained under him since I was seventeen. Over the last two years, I didn't want to live in the shadow of his famous name, wishing instead to prove myself from the ground up without relying on connections.

After finishing my advanced studies, I turned down elite federal posts and joined a mid-sized research institute, working up from entry-level lab tech to project lead on pure merit.

Dr. Hastings had grumbled about letting me fend for myself, but when he saw me pulling all-nighters, he quietly consulted on the project behind the scenes to protect my work.

Now that the research had reached a breakthrough, the institute thought the victory was secured and kicked me to the curb. They had no idea they had just offended the biggest power player in modern medicine.

Free from the toxic management, my team was in high spirits. To celebrate our freedom, I took everyone out for a steak dinner.

Meanwhile, social media was flooding with sponsored ads promoting the institute's grand press seminar scheduled for the next morning.

Unlike previous projects, Dean Powell had imposed a total media blackout during development, telling us to focus solely on the science.

I had naively thought he finally cared about the work instead of vanity. In reality, he had merely been clearing the path for his daughter to steal my credit without interference.

I narrowed my eyes with a quiet smirk. Skylar might have the nerve to steal the crown, but she certainly didn't have the brains to wear it.

I couldn't wait to watch them crash and burn.