Chapter 107 Congratulations, You’re Going to Jail

Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Congratulations, You’re Going to Jail

Back in Kingsford.

Stella Sutton accompanied Julian Sterling on a trip to Longview. Finn Lockwood came along as well.

In the lounge.

"Why don’t you come over to my family’s house for a casual dinner tonight? I’m planning to ask Julian to accompany me home." Speaking of this, a hint of shyness inevitably colored Stella’s face.

Finn Lockwood knew how to read the room. He set down his teacup and chuckled. "You two are going home to meet the parents. Why would I crash the party? I’d just be a third wheel."

Stella couldn’t help but let out a laugh. "It’s nothing like that, just a simple meal. My mother took a tumble downstairs yesterday, so we’re just going to see her."

"Is it serious?"

"She has a slight hairline fracture in her leg. We need to find a good hospital to get her admitted for observation."

Finn pondered for a moment. "Calyx has a highly renowned orthopedics department. Why not take her there?"

At this, Stella chuckled, a glint of amusement flashing in her eyes. "Calyx is probably still busy figuring out how to handle Seth’s situation. After all, Mr. Preston is the heir to Calyx, and Helios is conducting its clinical trials there. Their fates are tied together."

She believed she had already done Calyx a huge favor and given them an easy way out. Regarding this incident, she hadn’t called the police, she hadn’t filed a lawsuit, nor had she openly damaged Calyx’s reputation. Even though it was a medical malpractice incident, Calyx would owe her a debt of gratitude. When the time came, Helios would fire Sophie Winslow and invite Stella back to be credited on the project. That would be her compensation.

That would also even the score for when Seth smashed up the office of Philip Preston, the director of Calyx, and offended everyone.

"Sophie even went on a business trip to Seabourne with Mr. Preston this time. If you ask me, it’s her last hurrah. Mr. Preston has to consider the big picture, the financing, and the drug’s market launch."

Finn also felt that the matter was pretty much settled. Since it involved Calyx, pushing out a marginalized pawn like Sophie to take the fall was the optimal solution.

He shook his head, sighing a little. When would this cycle of revenge end? Sophie had racked her brains to drive Stella out back then, but wasn’t it all for nothing now? Stella would inevitably be grandly invited back to the project team by Helios.

Stella raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her tea, in a fairly good mood. Helios’s cardiovascular new drug research held such immense value. She was determined to get her name on it; securing that credit was her stepping stone to climbing the ladder.

Her phone began to ring.

"I need to take this," Stella said, standing up. It was a landline number. She frowned in confusion.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Ms. Stella Sutton? This is the Kingsford People’s Court. A copy of a lawsuit will be delivered to you today. Please be ready to receive it."

Listening to the person on the phone detail the reasons, she froze. Calyx and Helios... were jointly suing her. They had even submitted evidence—clips from the documentary footage.

Stella’s pupils trembled.

Documentary?

Her heart skipped a beat. She had completely forgotten about Ivy Hawthorne filming that documentary.

CLICK.

The door opened from the outside, and Julian strode in on his long legs.

She turned her head, her face pale, and muttered in a low voice, "Julian, I’m being sued jointly by Helios and Calyx..."

Julian looked over. Even Finn stood up in shock. "What?"

Sophie Winslow genuinely hadn’t expected that the footage would catch a graduate student from Kingsford University. Ten minutes before she went in to check on Seth, one of the female grad students from Kingsford University had also visited the room.

She remembered this girl. She was Stella’s closest confidante, someone who constantly spoke up and went to bat for her, utterly idolizing Stella.

When summoned by the police, the girl had been terrified. Faced with the sudden destruction of her future, she explained in sheer panic, "I didn’t know anything! Seth is Stella’s younger brother. She was busy that day and asked me to look after him for a bit. She told me to bring him some dinner..."

When Sophie heard this, it took her a long time to process it. The situation seemed far more complicated than she had imagined.

Peter Preston had immediately laughed out of sheer anger. "It seems everyone is just a tool in her hands."

The implications of this were profound.

Sophie frowned. "You mean this whole thing was orchestrated by Stella..."

"Otherwise, how could the dosage have been so perfectly calculated? It didn’t endanger the kid’s life, yet it made the situation look severe. It happened right before our drug launch, right during Helios’s financing round, and dragged Calyx into the mess. She simply couldn’t accept being kicked out of the Kingsford University team by you and missing out on this project. That’s why she used this method to claw her way back and secure the credit and glory."

On top of that, she had pretended to do Calyx and Helios a favor by not calling the police, not suing, and not making a public scene. She had deliberately made Calyx owe her a debt of gratitude. It was killing multiple birds with one stone. A perfect, zero-risk scheme!

"Regardless of whether the grad student is innocent or not, one thing is certain: it was her personal connections that led to the loss of the experimental drugs from the lab, allowing someone to exploit the loophole. If it truly was Stella’s doing..." Sophie’s lips curled into a sneer. "Then both of them have just completely ruined their careers."

For the sake of her future, her resume, and padding her credentials, Stella had actually used her own flesh-and-blood brother as a sacrificial lamb.

"She probably never expected that Ivy would be filming a documentary," Peter guessed.

Ivy had mentioned before that the documentary wouldn’t interfere with or delay the researchers. Every time, she set up hidden cameras and remote filming equipment well before anyone arrived for work, striving to capture the most authentic footage of their operations. Because the cameras were so unobtrusive, everyone had completely lowered their guard.

Sophie glanced at the flawless data report from the clinical trials and shrugged. "Now, let’s just hope she can handle the consequences."

She was brazen enough to use a top-tier hospital like Calyx as a stepping stone. Peter chuckled. This was the very definition of shooting oneself in the foot.

That afternoon, Peter’s phone rang incessantly. Without exception, every call was from Stella. Peter didn’t answer a single one.

By evening, Sophie had submitted the first phase of Calyx’s trials for review. As she headed downstairs, someone blocked her path.

She looked at Stella, who had been waiting downstairs for who knew how long. Too lazy to utter a single word, Sophie bypassed her and continued walking.

Stella bit her lip and grabbed Sophie’s arm. "Can we talk?"

Sophie shook her off in annoyance. "Are you here to beg, or to give orders?"

How could she not see through Stella’s arrogant refusal to bow her head?

Stella took a deep breath. "I can’t reach Mr. Preston, and he refuses to see me. Director Philip Preston of Calyx isn’t in Kingsford either. Sophie, you’re in Mr. Preston’s good graces. Help me set up a meeting."

Even though she was extremely reluctant to seek Sophie out, she truly had no other options left. Helios was suing her. If the outside world found out that, just to get her name on a project, she had poisoned her own younger brother... she would be completely ruined.

Sophie finally let out a slow, mocking laugh. "Are you ordering me? Stella, you framed me, and now you want me to let bygones be bygones and wipe your mess for you? Have you completely lost your mind?"

Stella’s eyes darkened. She knew Sophie was always unforgiving when she had the upper hand, and her tongue was incredibly venomous.

"You need to be clear about one thing. You’re a child of the Sutton Family too. At the end of the day, we are sisters. If this gets blown out of proportion and becomes unmanageable, it won’t do you any good either."

Sophie was just a marginalized grunt at the bottom rung of Helios. The fact that Stella had come to her was already giving Sophie face.

Listening to the woman’s sense of entitlement and sheer shamelessness, a smirk pulled at the corner of Sophie’s lips. "My last name is Sutton? If this blows up, the most that will happen is people finding out how you and your mother wormed your way into my home. What do I have to be afraid of?"

Stella’s expression shifted drastically. Instinctively, she raised her hand to slap Sophie across the face, but Sophie blocked it and shoved her away hard.

"Congratulations. Once everything is verified and the lawsuit is won, you’ll be going to prison, Miss Sutton."