Jonathan went quiet for a beat, as though the ground beneath him had shifted too suddenly for him to find his footing.

Catherine took the chance to rise, instinctively pulling away from the tension gathering in the air, but Maximilian’s arm tightened around her waist, firm and unyielding, guiding her right back onto his lap as if the movement had never happened.

"I don’t have to talk to you," Jonathan snapped at last, irritation sharpening into something uglier. "Every time we were scraping for funds... she had all that money and never helped us."

There it was.

Not outrage. Not betrayal.

Greed.

Maximilian’s gaze cooled, his fingers resting lightly but possessively at Catherine’s waist, grounding her against him. "Why, exactly, would she fund your business?" he asked, his tone almost idle, but the edge beneath it was unmistakable.

"Business? What about her big speech about helping others?" Jonathan scoffed. "Pass the phone to her. Who are you to speak for her? Or is she too scared to answer me?"

Catherine let out a soft breath through her nose, something between amusement and irritation. "You’re on speaker, Jonathan," she said calmly. "I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to."

The silence that followed lasted only a second before it shattered.

"Didn’t want to?" Jonathan’s voice rose, losing whatever restraint it had left. "The research isn’t working anymore. The sequence fails halfway. Your conclusion is wrong. We’ve rerun it multiple times. It doesn’t work! Come back and fix it. I demand it—you were paid to do it!"

Maximilian’s gaze shifted to her.

Catherine met it... and winked. A quiet, confident gesture. Because she knew exactly why it didn’t work.

She had rewritten the core at the critical point, the moment she realized what they intended to do with it. What they intended to do with her.

"Then solve it," she replied lightly, almost bored. "I wasn’t the only one working on it, was I? Where’s Ashley? My mentor?" A faint smile touched her lips. "She guided me enough for you to mention it at the symposium in front of all the esteemed scientists. Surely she knows better than me."

Silence.

Not the kind filled with anger.

The kind filled with realization.

Beside her, Maximilian let out a quiet chuckle, his lips brushing against her cheek in something softer, almost approving. Of course, she had prepared for this. Of course, she had protected herself long before she ever needed saving.

He had thought he would be her shield.

But she...

She was already a fortress.

"Are you laughing at us, Cathy?" Jonathan’s voice came back, tighter now, more unhinged. "Don’t pretend you didn’t ruin Ashley out of jealousy. All because I chose her."

Catherine’s brows lifted slightly, unimpressed. She caught the intent behind it immediately, the deliberate push, the attempt to provoke, to create cracks where there were none between her and Maximilian.

"How generous of you," she said dryly. "Remind me... when exactly was there something between us to ’choose’ from?"

Her tone sharpened just enough.

"You flattered me because I was the only one in your lab producing results," she continued, her voice smooth but cutting. "As for Ashley... whatever happened to her has nothing to do with me."

A faint grinding sound carried through the phone—his teeth, clenched too tightly.

"Fine," Jonathan said at last, his voice lowering into something colder. "You’ve made your choice, Cathy. Billionaire or not, it doesn’t matter. Your name is on that paper. If you don’t correct it immediately, I’ll go to the board. I’ll report that you submitted false results."

A pause. Then a quiet, ugly chuckle followed.

"I might walk away with an apology. But you? Your reputation won’t survive it."

Catherine didn’t react immediately.

She turned her head slightly, her gaze meeting Maximilian’s.

This time, she didn’t hide it. She needed him.

And he understood without a word and he gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.

I’ve got you.

Always.

The tension in her shoulders eased; not completely, but enough.

"You should do that, Dr. Vale," she said at last, her voice calm, almost pleasant. "And do include Ashley in your report. It’ll make things simpler."

A faint smile touched her lips.

"At least then I’ll have my research back. Flawed or not."

The implication settled heavily on the other end.

Because even Jonathan knew.

That research only held value in her hands.

Not in the files they had taken, not in the data they were desperately trying to replicate—but in her. In the way she understood every variable, every flaw, every hidden correction that never made it into the final documentation. Without her, it was incomplete. Fragile. Useless beyond a point.

If they wanted it to work... they would have to return it to her.

Even if they didn’t, she could continue where she left off, without any issue,because it was her work and she knew it as the back of her hand.

Before he could respond, before he could twist it into something else, "Goodbye," she added lightly. "And don’t call me again."

The line went dead. Silence returned.

But this time, it felt different and complete. And beneath it, still lingering, still waiting... was everything they had left unfinished.

"They’ll need you to finish that research?" Maximilian asked.

There was no doubt in his voice, only a quiet attempt to understand the scale of what she carried.

He had glanced at her notes before, pages filled with symbols and sequences that might as well have been another language entirely. He had always known she was brilliant, known it in the same way one knows the sky is vast, but this... this was something else. Something precise. Unreachable. Something his brain couldn’t even comprehend.

And yet, as he looked at her now, it didn’t intimidate him.

It made him proud.

Deeply. Unreasonably.

Even though he had done nothing to earn it. It was all her work, and he felt like it was his achievement, for some reason.

If it was hers, he would stand with her in it. Especially her troubles.

Catherine let out a slow breath, her fingers absentmindedly brushing against his sleeve, though her thoughts were already racing ahead. "There will be people who can try," she said quietly. "Given enough time..."

Her gaze shifted, sharpening slightly.

"They’ll go to Dorian."

It wasn’t a question. It was a realization settling into place.

Ashley being in the hospital wouldn’t matter, not to someone like him. It wouldn’t matter that Dorian had put her there. If anything, it would make things easier and cleaner, since her father was on the board of BioQuant. By the way Dorian took over, it was clear that Dorian had dirt on each one of them.

Dorian was already irritated, already watching... and Helios Biotek, in its current state, would be an easy acquisition.

Jonathan, desperate and bruised, would take the offer.

And once BioQuant got involved...

Catherine’s fingers curled slightly.

What she had altered... could be unraveled.

Not immediately. But eventually.

She was not deluded enough to think she was the smartest person in the world.

"I need a lab," she said, more to herself than to him. Then, firmer, clearer, she added, "A proper one."

Because this wasn’t just about protecting what was hers anymore.

It was a race.

Whoever secured it first, owned it.

"Understood."

There was no hesitation in Maximilian’s response.

He leaned in and kissed her, brief, but steady, grounding in a way that settled something restless in her chest. And then he stood, the shift in him immediate and purposeful.

He liked this version of her that was focused, driven and untouchable.

If this was what she needed, then he would build the world around her to match it.

"Aren’t you the legendary investor?" Catherine asked, watching him, a faint challenge in her tone. "Why not make BioQuant fall?"

It sounded simple when she said it.

Maximilian smiled faintly, stepping closer again just long enough to press a kiss to her forehead. "If it were that simple," he murmured.

He didn’t elaborate, but he didn’t need to.

Markets didn’t bend to emotion. Influence had limits and it was volatile than the market itself. And one misstep, one move that looked personal rather than strategic, could ripple in ways even he wouldn’t welcome.

Catherine studied him for a moment, then huffed softly under her breath, as though half-annoyed, half-aware she was stepping outside her domain.

Brilliant in one world. Unbothered by another.

It was... endearing.

"You will not lose your research," Maximilian said, his voice quieter now, but firmer than anything he had said before. "I promise."

And unlike most promises... his sounded like a decision already made.

He turned, already reaching for his phone. His first call was to his mother.

Because if BioQuant moved, it wouldn’t start at the top, it would start at the roots. Helios Biotek was the foundation, and foundations could be weakened... or erased.

Reputation mattered. Credibility mattered. And if the people behind that research were discredited... no serious entity would touch it, even if BioQuant poured money into it.

Jonathan had crossed a line the moment he let his anger spill. Now, Maximilian would make sure he paid for it. Not impulsively. Not recklessly. But thoroughly.

And Ashley...

His gaze darkened slightly.

She would need to be handled, too.