The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

"You just wanted to look at the data yourself. As a project member, you have that right. If they don’t have more solid evidence that you were stealing the data with the intent to leak it to others, they’ll have to release you after twenty-four hours."

Julian Grant stood up and instructed her, "You never actually got the data. Whether you intended to leak it is a subjective matter, and subjective matters depend on the person involved."

It was like the difference between subjective and objective questions. Objective questions had standard answers; subjective ones did not.

Sarah Lynch understood.

As long as she stuck to her story—that she just wanted to see the data and had no intention of leaking it—they couldn’t do anything to her.

"Julian, what are you going to do next?"

"Meet with Sean Sinclair. Investigate President Cole and Leila Jennings." Julian Grant turned to leave.

Sarah Lynch called out to stop him. "Julian, about Sean and me... It has nothing to do with Sean. I did it of my own free will. Please don’t blame him."

Julian Grant took a deep breath. "Sarah, don’t always be so foolish. Sean Sinclair isn’t the only man in the world."

Sarah Lynch’s eyes welled with tears. "Julian..."

She trailed off, wanting to say more but holding back.

Julian Grant nodded at her and left the police station.

He went to see Sean Sinclair immediately, while also sending his assistant to investigate the connection between Nathaniel Cole and Leila Jennings.

When it came to the leak, Leila Jennings was also a suspect. She could have leaked it to Nathaniel Cole. After all, The Cole Group was the one that won the bid in the end.

...

Leila Jennings looked at Julian Grant’s name and searched for it online. His dedicated encyclopedia page popped up.

Looking at Julian Grant’s photo, Leila Jennings felt a strange, indefinable sensation.

Cherry Cole peeked over. "The eldest son of the Grant family?"

"You know him?" Leila Jennings asked, glancing at Cherry Cole, who was lazily basking in the sun.

"Only heard of him, never met him." Cherry Cole pointed at the photo on the screen. "Julian Grant looks a lot like his father. My mother and his father were kids from the same residential compound, so I guess you could say they grew up together."

"But later, my maternal grandparents moved away. Julian Grant’s father got married and also moved out of the compound. My mom told me that when Julian was one, his father was assigned to a post in a southern province. I’m not sure where exactly."

"Then, something major happened to the Grant family. My mom didn’t go into detail, but whatever it was, it caused Julian Grant’s mother’s mental state to decline. To take care of his wife, his father gave up his political career for business—all for love."

"Julian Grant also has a sister who’s two years younger. She was born in a heavy snowstorm, so they gave her the name Stella Grant. You can find her if you search online, too. She’s a pretty famous photographer."

Leila Jennings, however, had no interest in looking up Stella Grant.

Cherry Cole was puzzled. "Are you planning to hire the Grant family’s eldest son as your lawyer?"

Leila Jennings shook her head. "He’s Sarah Lynch’s lawyer now."

Cherry Cole’s eyes widened. "Sarah Lynch managed to hire him?"

Leila Jennings didn’t know either.

But she had a nagging feeling that Sarah Lynch would be out of trouble soon.

Sean Sinclair’s kindness to Sarah Lynch had become a blade aimed at his own future. Meanwhile, her own tight guard against Sarah seemed to be the very key to Sarah’s escape.

Leila Jennings put down her phone and picked up an unfinished letter. The pencil handwriting was crooked and shaky.

Cherry Cole saw it and said, "Was this written by a little kid who’s just learning to write?"

"No, the writer is about ten years old," Leila Jennings explained. "It’s easy to feed a child these days. Most of the children in orphanages now have congenital defects."

In the past, orphanages were mostly filled with girls. Now, they’re mostly filled with children who have birth defects.

Twenty-eight years ago, she had been found by the orphanage director simply because she was a girl.

Noticing that Leila had recalled something sad, Cherry Cole quickly changed the subject.

"Leila, you’re so brilliant. When you have time, could you help me take a look at the main control chip for my bionic robot?"

"Didn’t President Cole say you were going to join Lantech’s R&D center? We’ve already signed a contract with The Cole Group."

"That’s for a military-grade bionic robot with reconnaissance functions. I also want to make a small pet companion robot, one that’s even smarter than what’s on the market." Cherry Cole wasn’t making it to keep her family company; she was doing it purely because she loved the work and wanted to create it.

It was true that she and her brother were very busy and rarely went home to see their parents. But her dad would never let Ms. Neville feel lonely or bored. Ever since dumping The Cole Group on his son, the mind that once masterminded business strategies was now entirely dedicated to finding new ways to make his wife happy.

Sometimes, she felt like she and her brother were completely superfluous.

Her parents were living proof of the saying: The parents are the one true love; the kids are just an accident.

Leila Jennings agreed to Cherry Cole’s request. "I’ll take a look when I have time. Robots require a combination of different chips, and I’m not an expert in all of them."

"Thanks, Leila!" Cherry Cole gave her another tight bear hug. "I declare that my brother is nowhere near good enough for you!"

Leila Jennings: "?"

"It’s nothing, nothing, hehe," Cherry Cole said with a goofy grin.

With Cherry Cole for company, Leila Jennings spent the whole afternoon talking and laughing.

Sean Sinclair finished dealing with the Forrester shareholders only to have to deal with the senior executives at Stellaxis Technologies. His entire day was spent in a whirlwind of back-and-forth arguments.

The Stellaxis executives were manageable; they didn’t dare challenge him too openly to his face.

But he still felt as if all his energy had been completely drained.

By the time Sean Sinclair finally had a moment to sit down in his chair and rest, doing nothing, it was already 5:30 in the afternoon.

Charles Jordan brought him a glass of water.

"President Sinclair, Ms. Lynch has been released, but she’s still under investigation."

"What about the lawyer I found for her?" Sean Sinclair pinched the bridge of his nose. He took a sip of hot water, which revived him slightly.

Charles Jordan replied, "Ms. Lynch found her own lawyer. It’s Julian Grant. Counselor Grant is downstairs right now and wants to see you."

Sean Sinclair had heard of Julian Grant. His law firm primarily served financial institutions and multinational corporations. How would Sarah have thought to hire him? Their needs didn’t match his specialization.

"Counselor Grant wants to see me?"

"Whether Ms. Lynch is guilty of leaking secrets hinges on you, President Sinclair."

Sean Sinclair had been worried from the very beginning that Sarah Lynch would get into trouble over the leak, so he nodded. "Let him come up."

Charles Jordan called the front desk.

The receptionist took a key card and said to Julian Grant, "This way, please, Mr. Grant."

She swiped the card to activate the elevator.

Julian Grant gave the receptionist a slight nod, pulled out his phone in the elevator, and just as he was stepping out, a message from his assistant popped up.

[Counselor Grant, Sean Sinclair and Leila Jennings finalized their divorce last week.]

Julian Grant’s steps faltered for a moment.

’So Sean Sinclair actually had the guts to divorce his wife for Sarah.’

Based on the timing, Sean Sinclair hadn’t known Leila Jennings’s true identity when they divorced.

"Counselor Grant, this way please." Charles Jordan appeared and led Julian Grant into the president’s office.

The two men Sarah Lynch had strung along finally met.

"Julian Grant."

"Sean Sinclair."

They stated their names and shared a simple handshake.

Julian Grant got straight to the point. "President Sinclair, I’m here for one reason only. I want to confirm whether Sarah ever mentioned the project data to you."

Sean Sinclair looked at Julian Grant, sizing him up, wondering if he could be trusted.

Julian Grant could tell.

"You can trust me completely, President Sinclair. Sarah once helped me out in a big way, and she trusts me a great deal."

Hearing this, Sean Sinclair frowned slightly and answered truthfully, "She mentioned it, but I didn’t let her continue."

"Did she, President Sinclair?" Julian Grant’s gaze was piercing.

It dawned on Sean Sinclair. "No."

Julian Grant said, "Then please remember what you just said, President Sinclair. Sarah has never mentioned a single word about the project to you."

’Sarah really found herself a heavy hitter,’ Sean Sinclair thought. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The two of them sat and continued their discussion. During this time, Sean Sinclair raised his wrist to check his watch several times.

Julian Grant paused the conversation and asked, "Are you in a hurry, President Sinclair?"

"Yes. I’m in a hurry to find someone."

"Sarah?"

"No." Sean Sinclair pressed his lips together. "My wife, Leila Jennings."

A look of surprise crossed Julian Grant’s face. "But haven’t you two already divorced?"