CHAPTER 20: CHAPTER 20: RETURN TO THE HAWTHORNE ESTATE

On the other side, Tanya Sinclair had already been sent to her doorstep by Jonah Rivers.

"Thank you for the trouble, Special Assistant Rivers."

"It’s no trouble at all, ma’am." Jonah Rivers said sincerely, "Ma’am, I hope your eyesight recovers soon."

Tanya smiled: "Thank you."

As Jonah turned to leave, he recalled the previous situation at the company and felt a bit uneasy, so he turned back to comfort Tanya: "Ma’am, most of the people in the R&D department were hired in recent years. They don’t know you, but once they see your capabilities, they will definitely feel secure working under you!"

Jonah said this out of gratitude for how Tanya had supported him in the past, but more importantly, because he knew Tanya’s abilities.

To outsiders, Vincent Hawthorne had significantly increased Zenith Group’s market value since becoming general manager, but Jonah was well aware that all of this was based on the foundation Tanya had laid for Vincent.

It was seven years ago that her research on a key drug allowed Zenith Group to firmly establish itself in the pharmaceutical industry, and the successful partnership with Westgard Pharmaceuticals catapulted Zenith Group to the top of the industry.

Yet what Tanya did went far beyond that...

Seven years ago, he had heard of Tanya Sinclair’s great name, a genius at Northwood University like none other in a century...

Jonah once thought it was undue praise, but after truly getting to know this woman, he realized it was actually an understatement.

Tanya could tell that Jonah was not just being polite, but was genuinely sincere.

She sincerely said, "Thank you, Special Assistant Rivers."

Jonah bowed slightly, then remembered that Tanya couldn’t see, and scratched the back of his head a bit embarrassedly: "Ma’am, I’ll head back to the company now."

"Alright."

Tanya turned around and saw that the large door behind her had somehow opened, and Aunt Lewis was sneakily peeking out from behind, snapping photos of Jonah’s back with her phone.

It seemed she had been eavesdropping behind the door the entire time.

Tanya pretended not to see, waving her blind cane as if probing the way, and accidentally struck her on the calf.

"Ouch!" Aunt Lewis screamed in pain.

Tanya feigned surprise: "Aunt Lewis? Why didn’t you make a sound behind me? Does it hurt?"

The hit was solid, and Aunt Lewis grimaced in pain, but she couldn’t admit she was deliberately hiding there to eavesdrop and take photos.

"I’m fine, ma’am, it doesn’t hurt." Aunt Lewis could only hold back, "I was just sweeping, and saw you through the window, so I came to open the door for you."

Tanya ’kindly’ reminded her: "Well, be more careful next time. Now that I can’t see, if you keep sneaking around silently beside me, you might get hit again with no warning."

Aunt Lewis could only muster a smile: "You’re right, ma’am, I was careless. I’ll be more careful next time."

Tanya used her blind cane to feel her way inside, and sat on the sofa, instructing Aunt Lewis to slice some fruit.

As Aunt Lewis entered the kitchen, the landline beside the sofa rang.

Tanya picked up the receiver: "Who is it?"

On the other end, came Serena Holloway’s excited voice.

"Ms. Tanya, it’s me!" Serena was seemingly hiding somewhere, calling her quietly, "I tried calling your old work number, but it’s been disconnected, so I thought I’d try your home number, and I got lucky!"

Hearing Serena’s lively voice, Tanya couldn’t help but smile.

"My old work number has been inactive for five years, it’s only natural it’s disconnected. You seemed in a hurry to find me, what happened?"

"Ms. Tanya, the three drugs Cindy Lynn and her team worked on over the past five years, I kept a copy of all the documents from initiation to market launch in your email. Take a look, I have a feeling these drugs seem really familiar!"

Tanya resignedly replied: "Serena, did you forget something?"

Serena was slow to catch on, "Oh right, Ms. Tanya, you can’t see at the moment...Ms. Tanya, find someone you trust to read them to you, or if you have time, we can meet up, and I’ll tell you!"

Someone called for her, and Serena responded.

"Ms. Tanya, I’ll talk to you later, I’ve got to go for now." With that, she hurriedly hung up.

Tanya had already taken out her phone, opened the email, and quickly skimmed through the materials Serena had organized. Her expression grew colder with every page.

The three drugs Cindy Lynn claimed to have developed were actually stolen from her, merely renamed!

All three drugs were designed to target cardiovascular diseases. She had everything planned out five years ago and was ready to develop them fully once production started, but unexpectedly, she had become comatose due to childbirth complications...

But how did Cindy Lynn get these documents?

These unpublished research projects were stored in her work computer, encrypted and secured.

The only ones who knew her work computer password were herself and... Vincent Hawthorne.

The phone slipped from her palm and fell onto the sofa.

Tanya closed her eyes, feeling as if her heart was filled with bitterness.

Vincent knew better than anyone how dedicated she was to her work, every project was her blood and sweat.

Yet to elevate his sweetheart, he cruelly bled her dry, letting Cindy Lynn step on her to climb higher...

Recalling an hour ago in the R&D department how Vincent protected Cindy Lynn, looking at her with disappointment, demanding she apologize to Cindy Lynn.

Tanya only felt utterly disgusted.

"Vincent Hawthorne..." She clenched her fist, "You truly are a complete bastard!"

By the time Aunt Lewis brought out the fruit, Tanya had already hidden her phone, preparing to go upstairs with her cane.

"Ma’am, aren’t you going to have some fruit?"

Tanya looked at the plate of cut fruit, the dragon fruit already appeared translucent, and the others were overripe, almost rotten.

"I suddenly lost my appetite, you have it." Tanya said, then started to head upstairs.

Frightened of her blind cane, Aunt Lewis quickly stepped back to keep away.

Passing by the kitchen, Tanya saw a large plate of fresh fruit clearly reserved for Aunt Lewis herself.

She had made up her mind—Aunt Lewis absolutely couldn’t stay in this household!

It wasn’t just about the fruit.

Taking advantage of her blindness, Aunt Lewis dared to give her stale fruit, keeping the fresh ones for herself, and likewise, she wouldn’t hesitate to mistreat Caden and Joy when Vincent wasn’t around!

Back in her room, Tanya applied acupuncture to her leg again. She stood up and moved around a bit, her leg was now fully recovered.

At this moment, Aunt Lewis knocked and came in.

"Ma’am, Mr. Hawthorne just called, he said to dress up and get ready to head to The Hawthorne Gardens for dinner with the elders tonight. There’s also an important guest coming."

The Hawthorne Gardens was The Hawthorne Estate.

Vincent’s parents, the old madam, and his unmarried sister Yvonne Hawthorne, all lived there.

Previously, Tanya feared returning to the estate with Vincent, because except for the old madam, the rest of The Hawthorne Family didn’t like her. Their dislike wasn’t in form of abuse or insults, instead, it was polite to the point of being cold.

Every glance they gave her was disdainful, scanning her from head to toe, it felt like they were peeling away a layer of skin, trampling on her dignity as well.

Every visit was like walking on thin ice, afraid of saying a wrong word and displeasing The Hawthorne Family.

But now, Tanya didn’t care about that anymore.

As for the important guest, she cared even less, too lazy to even ask.

Her only concern was her two children.

"Are Caden and Joy going too?"

Aunt Lewis: "Yes, ma’am, sir said he’ll pick up the kids after work and head directly to The Hawthorne, and he arranged for a driver to pick you up."

"Got it."

As long as Caden and Joy were going, so would she, any chance to spend more time with her babies, she would gladly accompany.

Tanya instructed Aunt Lewis to prepare her bathwater.

"Ma’am, which outfit will you wear? Do you need a makeup artist?"

"No need. Just take out the light green cheongsam with embroidered butterflies on the shoulder from my closet and lay it on the bed."

Aunt Lewis followed Tanya’s instructions, found the cheongsam, and placed it, muttering, "This seems too plain."

Tanya pretended not to hear.

She heard the same words from Vincent when she first got it, hence she liked it so much, but never wore it after buying it.

Now, she didn’t care what he liked.