Chapter 78

Sebastian stood in the doorway, his face cold and unreadable. “You got into The Vault’s core data? Do you even realize that’s confidential?”
Reese’s eyes dropped. “Sofia left her post. I asked her to come back, but she refused. We’re out of time-I had no choice but to do it myself.”
Sofia shot Sebastian a look, then turned to Reese. “I didn’t have a choice. This meeting was important for Ratcliff Global too. And anyway, when have you ever called me?”
Reese met her gaze. “I don’t have your number, so no, I didn’t. But I did call Mr. Ratcliff, and you answered. I told you to come back, and you just told me to wait. “Sofia, you should’ve known how urgent the Blade project is from the start.
“Because you missed half a day, the data’s outdated now. The R&D team is going to have to pull another all-nighter just to catch up.
“And Matthew already sent out a message this morning telling you to be in the lab. I’d like to hear why you ignored that.”
Sofia thought of the message that went out in the group chat earlier and looked away. “I never got any message.
“Ms. Meyer, it was my fault for not getting back in time to handle the data compatibility. But that doesn’t mean you get to mess with The Vault and pin the whole thing on me.”
“You’re making that up!” A small voice chimed in from outside the lab. “I’m the one who sent out the message for Dad. He said it was super important, and I even sent you an extra reminder.”
The commotion had everyone looking over. Even Annie, who’d been in the lounge, poked her head in.
Sofia glared at Annie, her tone threatening. “What do you know? You’re just a kid.”
Annie stood her ground. “I know more than you think.”
“I know she called you and asked you to come back to work, and you told her to wait.”
Sebastian frowned at Sofia. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ
The truth was, Sofia didn’t even have to be at the meeting today.
She’d been complaining about being left out of the R&D team, saying the team lead wasn’t giving her any work, and that she might as well tag along at BlackOak. That was the only reason Sebastian brought her in the first place.
With Sebastian staring her down, Sofia shifted awkwardly, trying to think of something to say.
Before she could answer, Brady hurried in He made a beeline for Sebastian, about to say something, but paused when he spotted Reese in the lab. He leaned in and whispered Into Sebastian’s ear.
Sebastian’s face changed instantly.
He turned to Reese, his eyes flicking to her stomach, his expression troubled.
“Reese, can you step outside for a second? I need to talk to you.”
Judging from Brady’s face, Reese knew this was about Robbie kicking her yesterday.
She finished typing up the last set of data, stood up, and followed Sebastian into the elevator lobby.
Sebastian’s eyes scanned her, full of worry. “Did Robbie really kick you yesterday? How’s the baby? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Reese answered coolly.
All Reese felt was bitter irony.
It had been over twelve hours since Robbie kicked her in the stomach Sebastian was just now finding out from Brady. Who knows what he’d been doing all this time?
Her mind flashed back to how he and Sofia had shown up at the lab door together.
Reese suddenly wondered what Sebastian’s face would look like if he ever found out she’d already ended the pregnancy with Sofia’s child.
“But
He started to say something, but his phone rang. He pulled it out, ready to hang up, but when he saw who it was, his eyes lit up.
Whatever was said on the other end made a rare smile break through on his face. “Okay. I’ll be right there.”
He hung up, his expression urgent. He glanced at Reese. “As long as you’re
alright. I have to go-something’s come up.”
Without waiting for a reply, he
headed back into the office, calling out to Sofia as he passed, “Since
as already taken over our
Reese work, she will finish up the rest.”