Chapter 486

Anastasia suddenly raised her hand, cutting her off mid-sentence. “If I’m not mistaken, the one behind this whole mess targeting me is Lauren, isn’t it? She’s been so hostile, nearly got me kicked out of Global Harmony Medical Institute, and now she can’t even bother to say sorry.”
“And you expect me to believe she’s a good person?”
A wry, sardonic smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
Cora froze.
Her mouth opened, instinctively searching for words to defend Lauren, but nothing came. Anastasia was right, every word. There was no way to argue.
Seeing the struggle on Cora’s face, Anastasia let out a short, derisive laugh, her contempt plain as day.
“I’d never met Lauren before, only ever heard people singing her praises-how she’s got such impeccable character, a genius in medicine. Now that I’ve seen the real thing? What a disappointment.”
“Impeccable character? All I’ve seen is her jealousy toward newcomers, using her authority for personal grudges, pushing out anyone she doesn’t like.”
“A medical genius? I haven’t seen that either-just someone so arrogant she nearly killed Mr. Calderon, and in the end, I was the one who had to save him. If that’s what you call genius, well, I’m absolutely stunned.”
With that, Anastasia strode off, leaving Cora standing there in the hallway.
Cora realized, with a sinking feeling, that she couldn’t argue with a single thing Anastasia had said-because it was all true.
How had she failed to see it before? The facts were staring her in the face, and yet she’d looked past them.
Lost in thought, Cora wandered back down the corridor and nearly walked right into Erin and Lauren, who were coming from the other direction.
“Cora! Where’d you disappear to?” Erin called, worry in her voice. “You didn’t answer your messages—we’ve been looking all over for you!”
The three of them always stuck together, so for Cora to run off on her own was out of character.
“Where were you?” Lauren asked, her tone cool as she looked Cora up and down.
“Just… had something to take care of,” Cora replied vaguely.
She glanced at Lauren’s cold, proud face, lips parting as if to ask: Was Lauren really targeting Anastasia on purpose? Was it true, as Anastasia claimed, that Lauren was jealous of her talent—that she couldn’t stand the adopted daughter outshining the biological one? Was that why Lauren had tried so hard to have Anastasia thrown out of the Institute, despite having no real evidence?
But the words died before they left her mouth. Official source ıs ͟.net
Forget it. After all these years of friendship, she decided to trust Lauren one more time. Maybe Lauren was just a little too zealous about rooting out wrongdoing, that’s all
The three of them exchanged a few more words, then suddenly their phones buzzed simultaneously. A message from Anastasia: mandatory staff meeting. Clearly, she’d wasted no time flexing her new authority as assistant director.
Lauren’s face darkened.
Both Erin and Cora looked at her, hesitant. If Anastasia called everyone, Lauren obviously had to go, too.
Not long ago, Lauren had been the
one everyone obeyed at Global
Harmony. Now the tables had
turned-she was expected to take orders from Anastasia. No wonder she looked ready to explode.
Clutching her phone tightly, Lauren turned to Erin and snapped, “Tell Jay and the
others—no one goes to that meeting. Not a single person.”
Let’s see how Anastasia runs her precious meeting then.
Cora, who’d been lost in her own thoughts, jerked her head up in shock. Erin
looked just as startled. If no one showed up, Anastasia would be utterly humiliated.
“But… Anastasia has the director’s full support now. Lauren, if we do this—”
“Just do as I say.” Lauren’s tone left no room for argument.
Anastasia thought she could just waltz in and take her place? Let’s see how long she can keep that seat.