The Day Silence Spoke novel Chapter 101

It was none other than Clifford.

He stepped out of his car and glanced at Santino. “You seem to have a lot of time on your hands today.”

Santino smiled. “I was just passing by and happened to see Latisha. I thought I’d offer her a ride.”

“Is that so? Well, as it happens, I have something to discuss with you. Let’s go together.”

“Alright, get in,” Santino said with a grin.

Clifford glanced at Latisha before getting into Santino’s car first. Latisha followed him, sliding into the back seat.

Santino didn’t seem to mind playing chauffeur. He calmly got behind the wheel, started the engine, and pulled out into the night.

“You said you had something to discuss, Clifford. What is it?” Santino asked, breaking the silence.

Clifford leaned back against the seat. “It’s about that CRISPR project,” he said coolly. “I saw TOPSUN listed in the proposal you submitted. What are your thoughts on them?”

“Oh, that was a suggestion from one of our team meetings,” Santino explained. “TOPSUN has a solid reputation in electronics, but they’re just a backup option. We don’t have to partner with them.”

He added, “We’ve worked with their subsidiary before. This time it would be their engineering headquarters. Their tech is reliable.”

Clifford remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.

Santino continued, “If you’re not comfortable working with them, I can remove them from the proposal tomorrow.”

“No need,” Clifford said. “Any partnership on this project carries risk. My recommendation is that we invest directly. A lot of biotech firms are researching gene editing right now. Developing it in-house would be time-consuming and expensive, and the technology isn’t mature enough. The risk is too high.”

“That’s a good point. We can discuss the details at tomorrow’s meeting.”

Clifford just grunted in response, closing his eyes and saying no more.

Latisha instinctively glanced upstairs; Clifford had probably gone to his study. She pulled out her phone and opened WhatsApp. Sure enough, there was a message from Nikita.

Nikita: [Why aren’t you answering me? Are you planning to ignore me forever?]

Latisha’s fingers tightened around the phone. A feeling of suffocation washed over her as she stared at the message.

She was afraid to reply. But she was just as terrified of Nikita cutting her off for good. She didn’t know what to do. Nikita had family and friends, but Mrs. Dashiell only had her. And like Mrs. Dashiell, Latisha was homeless in her own way. They were two lonely souls who had found each other, becoming a family—like two lost travelers finding a kindred spirit in the vast desert.

Another message came through.

Nikita: [Fine, stay with that man. I guess there’s no convincing you.]

The media frenzy around the car accident had died down in recent days, and Nikita’s true nature was starting to resurface. She was back to urging Latisha to leave Clifford.