Next Man, Better Plan novel Chapter 83

“Stephanie, you know my situation, how hard it was for me to leave that town. Sapphire Group is my only option. If you tell everyone about Quennel and me, I won’t be able to stay here.”

As she spoke, Victoria slapped herself twice more. “You know what I’ve been through to get here. I can’t lose this job. Please, I’m begging you.”

“I framed you this time because you’re too brilliant. I was scared, that’s why I did it. It was wrong of me, and I apologize.”

With that, a series of slaps landed on Victoria’s face as she hit herself again and again.

She struck so hard that red welts soon appeared on her cheeks.

Watching this, Stephanie felt a surge of irritation.

She grabbed Victoria’s hand to stop her. “So, you’re blaming others for the dead-end you walked yourself into?”

Victoria said, “I had no choice. I switched jobs because Sapphire Group offered so much more. At Orion Industries, I was just a lowly intern with no hope of advancement.”

Stephanie was shocked. “So you stole someone else’s work and brought it to Sapphire Group? Victoria, how could you be so despicable? Do you have any idea what that means to a researcher?”

Research was a person’s lifeblood, very possibly the culmination of years of hard work.

As an intern, Victoria couldn’t have accessed the project alone. She must have had a mentor at Orion Industries guiding her. And she had repaid them by stealing their work and bringing it to Sapphire Group?

Such behavior was utterly deplorable. What Stephanie found even harder to comprehend was that Sapphire Group had apparently condoned it. Weren't they just encouraging unethical practices in the industry?

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