"That was fast." Leila Jennings was still marveling at the speed of the higher-ups.

Professor Cheney pushed up his glasses. "The specific details haven’t been released, but a lot of important people have been coming and going from the institute these past two days. Some even came all the way from City B."

Some things didn’t need to be spelled out. Leila Jennings already understood the implications.

Chloe added, "The computer Sarah Lynch tampered with wasn’t Dr. Jennings’s personal one. Professor Cheney and I have both used it to record and look up data and reports, so..."

Professor Cheney picked up where she left off. "Sarah Lynch won’t face any further punishment. Mr. Jacobs will, but it won’t be severe."

As a veteran of the academic world, Mr. Jacobs wouldn’t be easily brought down unless it was for academic fraud or other criminal offenses.

Mr. Jacobs was a towering figure whose roots ran deep and wide.

"But!" Chloe continued, "With a reputation tainted by accusations of leaking confidential information and being the other woman, no respectable institute will hire Sarah Lynch. Her future prospects have definitely taken a hit."

Leila Jennings looked at their two anxious faces. ’They think I’ll be disheartened because the punishments for Sarah Lynch and Mr. Jacobs aren’t severe enough.’

She might not be good with social graces, but that didn’t mean she was naive.

Working alongside Mr. Thorne, she’d seen her share of things, both aboveboard and in the gray areas.

"It’s more or less what I expected," Leila Jennings said, nodding slightly.

Indeed, there wasn’t much they could do to Sarah Lynch on this front. But there was another.

Leila Jennings pulled out the business card Nathaniel Cole had once given her and dialed the number. It was the same lawyer who had drafted her divorce agreement.

"Mr. Bell, hello. This is Leila Jennings."

"Hello, Dr. Jennings." Evidently, Logan Bell had also seen the news reports about her.

"Even though Sean Sinclair and I are divorced, I can still reclaim the money he spent on other women during our marriage, correct?"

"That’s correct. If an ex-spouse discovers post-divorce that their former husband unilaterally gifted marital assets to a third party while the marriage was still legally intact, the original spouse can sue to recover those assets."

"You’ll need to preserve and gather evidence. Specifically, you must prove that the assets gifted to the third party were joint marital property acquired during the marriage."

"The recovery can be handled either through a settlement or by filing a lawsuit. I was wondering if I might have the opportunity to represent you on this matter, Dr. Jennings."

"Then I’ll leave it in your hands, Mr. Bell."

...

「The Sinclair Residence」

Aside from Cecilia Sinclair, whose life went on as usual, Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair would frequently lapse into anxious silence.

Mr. Sinclair regretted letting Leila Jennings talk him into finalizing the divorce. Now, he had no idea how to break the news to his son.

Mrs. Sinclair, however, was fixated on how Leila Jennings had spent so much of her son’s money for four years. Now that Leila was successful and wealthy, not a single penny of it belonged to her son or to the Sinclair family. She was filled with bitter resentment.

Her daughter kept saying how great Sarah Lynch was, and she knew it too—Sarah came from a good family, was beautiful, and was a worthy match for her son. Yet, something about it all just didn’t sit right with her.

"Dad, Mom, I’m heading out for a bit." Cecilia Sinclair, having changed her clothes, grabbed her bag and made for the door.

Mr. Sinclair looked over at her. "Aren’t you supposed to be working on your applications to study abroad next year? Did you just give up halfway through?"

"What’s the rush? My brother and Sarah will help me," Cecilia Sinclair replied, completely unconcerned.

Mrs. Sinclair stood up. "Where are you running off to this time?"

The only answer she received was the sound of the door shutting.

Downstairs, a Bentley GT was waiting for Cecilia Sinclair.

The car window rolled down.

Sarah Lynch was in the driver’s seat.

"Cecilia, over here."

Ever since she’d realized Sean Sinclair’s feelings for Leila Jennings were growing more obvious, she had decided to put more effort into winning over the Sinclair family.

And of them all, Cecilia Sinclair was the easiest to win over.

"Sarah," Cecilia Sinclair said, sliding into the passenger seat. "We’re just grabbing some things from my brother’s place and then we’re off to the equestrian club, right?"

"Right," Sarah Lynch replied, driving toward Sean Sinclair’s apartment. "And I really have to thank you. Otherwise, I would’ve had to bother your brother, and he’s been so busy lately. I feel terrible that I wasn’t able to help him this time... I almost don’t have the heart to face him."

"Sarah! How could any of this be your fault? And honestly, Leila Jennings... to think she’s become so capable, yet she still won’t side with us. She just let someone else walk away with the project."

Forrester had kept the two reasons for their losing bid tightly under wraps, especially the one concerning Sean Sinclair’s personal life.

Even Mr. Sinclair believed they had lost the bid simply because Sean Sinclair and Sarah Lynch had gotten too close, writing it off as a competitive tactic by the Cole Group.

Forrester had already recalled and destroyed those documents, leaving the truth to survive only as word-of-mouth among the major corporations.

Since those in the know didn’t interact with the Sinclairs, the family was naturally left in the dark.

In the eyes of the Sinclair family, Sarah Lynch remained a beautiful, kind-hearted woman who was deeply in love with Sean Sinclair. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"There won’t be any problem if we go straight to your brother’s apartment, will there?" Sarah Lynch asked, glancing at Cecilia Sinclair from the corner of her eye.

Cecilia said, "Nope, I know the code."

Everyone in the Sinclair family knew the entry code to Sean Sinclair’s apartment.

But in the four years Leila Jennings was married into the family, she never knew the code to the Sinclairs’ front gate. If her parents-in-law ever summoned her over by herself, she always had to ring the doorbell and wait.

Every time she came to Sean Sinclair’s residential complex, Cecilia Sinclair would curse, "That cheapskate, Leila Jennings. My brother is a major CEO, and he’s stuck living in a mid-tier complex. She controls all the money. There’s really something wrong with my brother."

Sarah Lynch’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.

"Sarah, don’t you think there’s something wrong with my brother, letting a cheapskate like Leila Jennings manage all his money?"

Sarah Lynch didn’t answer, focusing on parking the car.

Sean Sinclair had two parking spaces. One was currently empty, while the other was occupied by a car shrouded in a dust cover.

"Whose car is this?" Cecilia Sinclair walked over and lifted a corner of the cover. "What is this?"

Sarah Lynch’s sharp eyes immediately identified it: a Panamera, in Volcano Grey.

Her fingers curled.

She was the one who held Sean Sinclair’s primary credit card. The day before, when she’d used it, she noticed that more than half the available funds were gone, which was why she’d wanted to come and investigate today.

Sean Sinclair had never liked sports sedans, so why would he buy a Panamera? It was a car model favored mostly by women.

"Cecilia, let’s head up. We still need to get to the equestrian club," Sarah Lynch said, walking toward the elevators. Cecilia immediately followed her.

When they reached the door, Cecilia Sinclair punched in the code and went inside.

The living room looked more or less the same.

Sarah Lynch feigned a search in the living room, finding nothing, before pushing open the door to Sean’s master bedroom.

Behind the glass wardrobe doors were a great many women’s clothes, now taking up a full half of the space opposite Sean Sinclair’s own casual wear and suits.

It hadn’t been like this the last time she was here. Back then, the entire wardrobe was filled with Sean’s clothes, while Leila Jennings’s things were relegated to a single corner.

She slid open the wardrobe door to inspect them.

All new. Size XS.

’Only Leila Jennings is that slender.’

"Oh my god!" Cecilia Sinclair’s shocked cry came from the next room.

Sarah Lynch walked into the guest room to find it had been converted into a walk-in closet. All kinds of clothes were sorted and hung on freestanding racks, and handbags and shoes were displayed in glass cabinets.

Although there wasn’t a huge quantity of anything, the change was still staggering.

This had once been the guest room where she and Cecilia Sinclair used to stay. The original folding bed had been replaced with a sofa.

Sarah Lynch stared at these changes, gritting her teeth so hard she felt they might shatter.

’Where the money goes, the heart follows.’

’Sean Sinclair was actually willing to spend money on Leila Jennings now!’

Cecilia said, "Has Leila Jennings lost her mind? She used to be so cheap she wouldn’t spend a dime, and now she’s spending money left and right. I guess she doesn’t feel bad about wasting my brother’s money, huh?"

She wasn’t interested in the clothes, but two of the handbags in the glass cabinet had completely captured her attention.

Sarah Lynch caught Cecilia’s covetous gaze and coaxed, "That handbag would look amazing on you."