From His Wife to His Uncle's Wife novel Chapter 82

Their lab was on the fifth floor.

As soon as Eleanor stepped out of the elevator, she heard an alarm blaring from Lab 5. Her heart skipped a beat. She broke into a run, only to find the lab door left half open. Inside, the smoke detector on the ceiling was spraying water all over the place.

That detector was supposed to keep people from smoking in the labs. If it sensed any smoke, from a cigarette or a fire, it would set off the sprinklers right away.

Eleanor spotted the shut-off button and managed to stop the alarm at last. By then, the person on duty and several folks from nearby labs had rushed over, their faces tight with annoyance.

“Eleanor, what did you do? Why is the alarm going off?” one of them snapped.

Before she could even answer, the duty officer crouched down and pulled something from under a desk. “What’s this? Who’s been smoking in here? What’s going on with you new hires? How could you mess up like this?”

He sounded furious. “I have to report this. Breaking lab rules goes straight on your record!”

He stormed off, and the rest shook their heads as they wandered away.

Eleanor dialed Robert right away. “Robert, where are you?”

“Uh, I already left. What’s up, Eleanor?”

“Can you come back to the lab? There’s a problem.”

***

The next day, both Eleanor and Robert got called into Billy’s office.

Eleanor stared in disbelief. “That’s impossible.”

Robert scoffed. “Eleanor, I thought you actually wanted me on your project. Turns out you just needed someone else to take the blame. Billy, you have to clear my name. I’m not getting dragged into this. And just because Eleanor has connections doesn’t mean she gets to pin this on whoever she wants.”

With Robert’s accusations and the evidence stacked against her, all Eleanor could do was whisper, “I didn’t do it.”

There was a knock at the door.

Billy frowned. “Come in.”

A tall, lean figure strolled inside, casual as ever. “Billy, I heard there was a fire in your lab?”