Chapter 194 Veyra’s Grandmaster and Aunt

Chapter 194: Chapter 194 Veyra’s Grandmaster and Aunt

​The subterranean laboratory was dead quiet.

​Dorian stood motionless with his encrypted mobile phone pressed firmly against his ear. His handsome face was dark with suppressed anger, and the muscles along his jawline were clenched tight.

​Leon’s steady voice continued to speak through the small earpiece. The chief bodyguard maintained a calm, professional demeanor, yet a sharp edge of underlying concern seeped through his words.

​"There was a major confrontation inside the central restaurant lobby," Leon reported carefully. "Ms. Naya Whitmore intentionally provoked Mrs. Thorne. She threw vile insults at her late mother, made personal threats against her character, and tried to create a scene. Mrs. Thorne did not hesitate to slap her across the face. Right after that, Ms. Whitmore’s lead bodyguard stepped in and struck me across the jaw."

​Dorian’s large hand tightened around the casing of his phone until the plastic groaned under the pressure.

​"Send the full security footage directly to my private terminal right now," Dorian commanded, his voice deep and icy.

​"Yes, sir. I am uploading it to your cloud server immediately."

​"And pull up the background file on Professor Julian as well," Dorian added, his gaze fixing on the blank wall ahead.

​There was a brief, hesitant pause on the other end of the line. "Sir?"

​"You ran a background check on him when he first appeared in her circle," Dorian stated flatly. "I know how thoroughly you work. Send me every single detail you gathered on the old man."

​"Understood, sir. Transmitting the file now."

​The call disconnected with a soft click.

​A few seconds later, Dorian’s phone vibrated with a high-priority file notification. A compressed video recording had arrived. He tapped the touch screen and opened the file.

​He watched the entire altercation play out from the high-angle perspective of the restaurant security camera. He saw the grand lobby, the arrogant snarl on Naya Whitmore’s face, and Veyra standing perfectly tall with her head held high. He watched Veyra speak with cool, composed authority, followed by the swift, ringing slap that knocked Naya back. He saw the security guards freeze in utter fear the moment Leon drew his weapon to cover her.

​A hot, dangerous surge of fury boiled through Dorian’s blood as he watched Naya’s mouth move on the screen.

​Yet, alongside that anger, a quiet feeling of pride stirred deep in his chest.

​Veyra had not backed down for a single second. She had not trembled, wavered, or asked for mercy from a powerful politician’s daughter. She had stood her ground, protected her personal dignity, and defended her loyal guard without hesitation.

​He was immensely proud of her inner strength, but he was equally determined to make Naya Whitmore pay dearly for daring to corner his wife in public.

​A second notification flashed on his screen as the background dossier on Professor Julian finished downloading.

​Dorian opened the text document and scrolled through the pages, reading through the detailed lines at a rapid pace.

​The subject’s full name was Julian Vance. He was a former star student at the prestigious Etland University of Medicine and had studied directly under the famous Professor Sterling decades ago.

​Dorian raised his eyebrows in genuine surprise. Professor Sterling.

​He was very familiar with that name. The stubborn old academic was Xiomara’s long-time mentor, the very same man who had tried to defend her reputation during the recent medical panel before Veyra thoroughly exposed her flaws and humiliated her in front of the entire faculty.

​He continued reading down the academic family tree outlined in the report.

​Based on traditional academic lineage, since Veyra was Professor Julian’s direct student, she technically ought to address Professor Sterling as her great-grandmaster. By that same standard, Xiomara was effectively her grandmaster’s wife.

​Dorian shook his head slowly, a faint, cold smile touching his lips. The web of connections was absurdly tangled, proving once again how surprisingly small and tightly knit the elite medical community truly was.

​His eyes moved down to the next section of the report.

​In his younger years, Professor Julian had been regarded as Professor Sterling’s most brilliant and promising pupil. He had been a rising star in the national scientific research community, boasting numerous published papers, widespread respect, and a future destined for greatness and academic wealth.

​Then, roughly ten years ago, his promising career came to a sudden, catastrophic halt.

​He was formally accused of leaking confidential scientific secrets to outside corporate rivals. The stolen materials allegedly included proprietary chemical formulas, trade secrets, and core research data from a major university project. The scandal was massive, ruinous, and immediately ended his academic standing.

​Following the public uproar, Professor Sterling had officially severed their master-disciple relationship in a loud, public declaration, severing all ties with the young man permanently.

​Unable to maintain any sort of foothold in the scientific community or secure research grants, Professor Julian had completely vanished from the high-society academic scene.

​He had quietly relocated to the edge of the city, taking up a low-paying position as a simple chemistry teacher at Riverside High School. It was a small, unremarkable public school, miles away from the elite institutions and state-of-the-art laboratories he had once commanded.

​That humble classroom was where he had first crossed paths with a young Veyra.

​Dorian stared at the illuminated screen, his mind piecing the timeline together.

​Veyra had never mentioned any of this history to him. Whenever she spoke of Professor Julian, her tone was always filled with deep respect. To her, he was simply her beloved mentor, the kind old man who had recognized her raw gift, taught her advanced formulas, and believed in her when the rest of the world ignored her existence.

​She had clearly been kept completely in the dark regarding the massive scandal that had ruined his life.

​His phone buzzed again in his hand. It was Leon calling back.

​"Sir," Leon said as soon as Dorian answered. "There is one additional detail regarding Professor Julian that you should be aware of."

​"Go ahead," Dorian replied coldly.

​"The old man’s official background is incredibly complicated," Leon explained over the line. "He was heavily accused of leaking that high-level research data ten years ago, but the formal police investigation never actually proved his guilt. He was never formally convicted in a court of law. However, the academic board ruined his reputation anyway, and he ended up losing everything he owned overnight."

​Dorian remained silent, listening intently.

​"I am bringing this up because I am genuinely concerned for Mrs. Thorne’s safety," Leon continued carefully. "If this man possesses questionable morals or holds deep bitterness toward the academic world, he might try to use Mrs. Thorne’s rising success for his own gain. She trusts him blindly, sir. She views him as family."

​Dorian’s jaw tightened into a hard line.

​"I will personally look into his history," Dorian said firmly.

​"Understood, sir."

​Dorian ended the call and tucked the device into his suit pocket.

​Dorian stood alone in the center of the quiet laboratory, his mind turning over the information at high speed.

​Veyra clearly had no idea about the dark cloud hanging over her mentor’s past. She did not know about the devastating leak accusations, nor did she realize that her teacher had been cast out by Professor Sterling years ago.

​She trusted the old man with her heart. She believed in his goodness without a single shred of doubt.

​Dorian knew he had the power to go straight home, lay out the file in front of her, and warn her to cut all ties with the disgraced former professor. He could step in right now and protect her from potential deception or public backlash.

​Yet, as he stared at the glowing monitors, he found himself hesitating.

​He pictured Veyra’s face in his mind.

​She was fiercely loyal to the few people who had treated her with genuine kindness when she had nothing. She was a woman of firm principles who believed in giving people a fair chance and seeing the absolute best in them.

​If he suddenly dumped this cold, bitter dossier onto her table and exposed Professor Julian’s past, she would be completely heartbroken. The image of the honorable mentor who had saved her intellectual spirit would be shattered, leaving her to question everything she had built her foundation on.

​On the flip side, if he chose to keep quiet and let her wander blindly down this path, she might end up walking right into a dangerous trap laid by her mentor’s old enemies.

​For the first time in a long while, Dorian felt torn between two difficult choices.

​After a long moment of calculation, he made up his mind.

​He would not mention a single word of this to Veyra just yet. He refused to break her spirit until he had absolute, undeniable proof of the old man’s true character.

​He pulled his phone back out and dialed his top private investigator, Kaelen.

​"Mr. Thorne," Kaelen answered instantly on the first ring.

​"Kaelen, I have a high-priority task that requires your personal attention," Dorian instructed, his voice dropping into a low, commanding register.

​"Name it, sir."

​"I need you to dig into the background of a man named Julian Vance," Dorian ordered. "Focus specifically on an event that occurred ten years ago. He was accused of leaking confidential university research data. The charges were never proven in court, yet his career was completely destroyed overnight."

​He paused, letting the weight of his words settle.

​"I want the absolute truth behind that incident. I need to know if he truly sold out his department, or if he was set up to take the fall for someone higher up the chain."

​"I understand, sir," Kaelen replied smoothly. "I will re-examine the old university records."

​"Uncover everything," Dorian added coldly. "Find the original accusers, trace the financial records from that month, locate the original witnesses, and dig up any evidence that was buried by the board."

​"I will begin the background investigation right away."

​"Keep this operation strictly off the books," Dorian warned. "No one, including my wife’s personal security team, can know you are looking into this."

​"Understood, Mr. Thorne. I will keep it completely hidden."

​Dorian ended the call and let his hand drop to his side.

​He turned his gaze back toward the sweeping expanse of the underground facility. The white-coated scientists were still working at their stations in total silence, the massive cooling fans were humming behind the walls, and the search for the missing Stellar Core Meteorite remained stalled.

​He was now facing two massive, tangled puzzles at the exact same time.

​The missing space material that held the key to global dominance, and the hidden truth behind the disgraced old professor who held his wife’s complete trust.

​He was fully determined to unearth the truth behind both mysteries, no matter how deep he had to dig.