CHAPTER 153: CHAPTER 153: GOING ON A BUSINESS TRIP WITH LORD FITZGERALD?

That night, Sabrina went to bed with the best mood she had during the New Year celebration days.

As soon as she woke up the next morning, she received a bank transfer.

Looking at the long string of zeros in the amount, she felt a bit surprised.

The Hawthorne Group compensated ten billion, but she had seven billion in her account.

She sent a question mark to Josee Sheffield, "? Why was this money transferred to me? Shouldn’t it be invested into the company?"

Brooke Sinclairs had stolen the company’s formula, and both of them suffered losses.

When she wanted this money, she never thought of taking it personally.

Josee Sheffield replied quickly, saying, "I’ve already deducted the company’s loss and set aside funds for investment, including my compensation, so the remainder is naturally yours!"

Sabrina frowned and asked, "President Sheffield, who taught you math? Is this how you do the calculations?"

Josee Sheffield, in a flippant tone, sent a voice message, "This sum is indeed enough to make up for it, so don’t bring it up again! Just consider these seven billion as the divorce compensation from that dog, Jordan Hawthorne...

Back then, he didn’t give a penny, and it was hard enough to squeeze a little bit out of him, so don’t leave it unused.

You can think of it as Zara’s education and development fund!"

Sabrina pursed her lips, not accepting his claim, and simply called him, "Your topic switch was too much for me to follow... Josee Sheffield, company matters are company matters, and divorce matters are divorce matters, compensation isn’t requested like this!"

Josee Sheffield, seeing her stubborn side coming through, clicked his tongue and said, "Why are you fussing over this?"

"You’ve helped me enough. I can’t convince myself to take advantage of you any further."

Sabrina’s tone was serious and adamant.

Josee Sheffield, quite helpless, had to switch to a more sincere tone, "This really isn’t about taking advantage! Our company’s most valuable asset has never been the finished pharmaceuticals nor the equipment... but your research data.

What Brooke Sinclairs stole was the result of countless days and nights of your hard work. I don’t know how you see it, but in my eyes, technology is priceless, capability is priceless!

You, your knowledge, and intellect can’t be measured in money!"

Perhaps rarely hearing him speak like this, Sabrina was stunned for a moment.

She didn’t realize that in Josee Sheffield’s eyes, she was so...

She couldn’t find the right word.

But an odd feeling rose in her heart.

Josee Sheffield... how suddenly so sentimental?

This really didn’t seem like him!!!

Josee Sheffield obviously knew he had been a bit candid this time.

But he didn’t regret it.

Having missed the opportunity back then, now finally regaining his freedom, he didn’t want to miss out again.

Sabrina, in his heart, was irreplaceable!

However... were those words just now too hasty?

Josee Sheffield felt unsure, was silent for a while, then reverted to his usual tone, "And, a mere few billion, am I short of this money? Besides, the new drug is about to launch, Aethel’s project was secured too, do you know what that means?"

Sabrina followed along, "What?"

Josee Sheffield said, "It means you’re about to help me earn God knows how many more billions, okay? I’m already setting up overseas channels!"

Sabrina, upon hearing that, felt helpless.

She knew that no matter what, he wasn’t going to take the money back today.

So she could only say, "Alright then, since it’s like this, I won’t be unnecessarily polite with you. Starting tomorrow, I’ll return to the research institute to begin preparing for the Aethel project! Once the team is back, we’ll start developing new projects!"

Josee Sheffield had no objections.

After chatting for a while, Sabrina hung up and went to have breakfast.

During that time, Tessa Hughes sent a link with an unmistakable tone of schadenfreude, "Sabrina, come check this out."

Sabrina clicked in out of curiosity and found that it was another piece of news.

Furthermore, it was related to the Hawthorne Group.

This morning, the Hawthorne Group officially responded to the recent uproarious incident.

First, regarding the theft of research data, Brooke Sinclairs, the head of the research department, bears unavoidable responsibility and is now dismissed, with no chance of rehiring in the future.

Second, the Hawthorne Group’s pharmaceutical research department has been completely abolished, and the harmful drugs from before have been destroyed under the supervision of relevant departments and will not be marketed.

Third, the strategic cooperation between the Hawthorne and Sinclair Groups is now concluded.

Fourth, the Hawthorne Group was unaware of all irregularities by the Sinclair Group.

Fifth, the Hawthorne Group has not engaged in any commercial crimes and is cooperating with the relevant departments’ investigations.

...

After reading the entire statement, Sabrina wasn’t deeply affected.

The statement, being both official and evasive.

As for being compliant...

Sabrina sneered, thinking they must be fooling idiots.

Even the netizens didn’t quite believe it.

"Since there were no violations, can you tell us how you rescued Brooke Sinclairs?"

"If Brooke Sinclairs was fine, why was she fired?"

"Fired, doesn’t that mean she was the mastermind behind it all? Isn’t this contradictory?"

"Haven’t you all figured it out yet? President Hawthorne just wants to protect his precious ’white moonlight’..."

"Oh my, to love a mistress so much? Just how heavenly does she look?"

"Truth be told, she really is quite remarkable. Being a socialite, she easily outshines some actresses."

With the discussion, someone shared a photo of Brooke Sinclairs.

"My mom is great at judging character, she said this woman at a glance is a restless flirt, always seducing men."

"She looks pretty innocent to me."

"Where are all these clueless guys coming from? This only fools you blind men; us girls can see at a glance she’s a deeply hidden top-tier ’white lotus’."

"Sisters spoke the truth, you can tell from her eyes alone - trained, full of seductive charm, absolutely not simple!"

"Ha, Brooke Sinclairs has probably slept with dozens of men already... and Jordan Hawthorne actually likes this kind of ’public transit’???"

"..."

At this point, Tessa Hughes happened to also screenshot it and asked Sabrina Hayes, "What do you think about this ’public transit’ comment?"

Sabrina Hayes didn’t think much, "Netizens just spew nonsense, right?"

Tessa Hughes called directly, speaking quickly, "Why do I feel there’s some truth to it? I’ve checked this user’s profile; they’re in the capital of Country M, a socialite from there, always posting about mansions, luxury cars, watches, children, and designer clothes!

I remember Brooke Sinclairs returned from Country M, right?

Based on that woman’s habits, I bet the people she interacted with abroad weren’t simple either. This user might actually know some insider gossip."

Sabrina Hayes felt a bit skeptical hearing this.

"Is it possible? Brooke Sinclairs was married then!"

"She came back to ruin your marriage; what else couldn’t she do?"

Tessa Hughes spoke bluntly, "Also, she returned after getting divorced. Have you thought about why she divorced?

Maybe she cheated on her husband and got discovered, so she was kicked out."

Talking about this, Tessa Hughes suddenly became gloating, "Imagine if this turned out to be true, how entertaining would it be?

The ’flawless white moonlight’ in Jordan Hawthorne’s heart turns out to be a promiscuous one; how devastated would he be, do you think?"

Sabrina Hayes was silent.

How devastated, she didn’t know.

But knowing Jordan Hawthorne’s character, he might go ballistic?

"This is getting too interesting, hold on, Sabrina, I’ll try to reach out to that lady abroad, maybe we can dig up something."

Tessa Hughes’ playful spirit was completely stirred.

She might not care much about others’ gossip.

But since Jordan Hawthorne bullied her best friend so cruelly, she had been waiting for him to get his comeuppance.

During the Spring Festival, as The Sinclair Group faced misfortune and implicated The Hawthorne Family, she went to bed smiling every night.

With something even juicier now, of course she wanted to dig deeper.

If it all turned out true, she definitely wanted to relish that guy’s miserable face!

Sabrina Hayes listened to her friend’s hell-bent tone, she was amused, "Are you just bored? Honestly, whatever happens to them has nothing to do with me anymore, even if Brooke Sinclairs is really that vile, that’s Jordan Hawthorne’s choice, isn’t it?"

"That’s true, but I just love seeing Jordan Hawthorne get smacked in the face! Who told him to be so blind and hurt you!

Our Sabrina is so outstanding, so beautiful, so many men used to chase after you, but Jordan Hawthorne dares to abandon you!"

Tessa Hughes couldn’t let it go, and after saying this, she couldn’t wait to hang up and reach out to the lady abroad.

Sabrina Hayes shook her head, helplessly, letting her go ahead.

She didn’t pay further attention to the online opinions.

In the coming days, she returned to the research institute to work.

During this time, she initially planned to meet with Jasper Fitzgerald for a meal to discuss Zara’s next phase of treatment.

However, Jasper Fitzgerald said on the phone, "There’s a last-minute task, out on a business trip. This time, I really won’t be back until after the Lantern Festival, let’s arrange then."

Sabrina Hayes felt a bit disappointed, but could only agree, "Alright, you go ahead with your work."

Later that day, not long after hanging up, Elder Yates called, "Dr. Nash, someone from the top is asking me to invite you to help, do you have time these days? Could you go on a trip to assist at the Southern Military Region, treating a group of special ops soldiers?"

Hearing Elder Yates’ very serious tone, Sabrina Hayes guessed the situation’s severity.

Perhaps an unsolvable issue or condition had arisen that even military physicians were at a loss.

Sabrina Hayes had plenty on her plate, but as it concerned lives, she didn’t hesitate for too long, promptly responded, "When do I need to leave, I’ll prepare?"

Elder Yates was delighted, immediately said, "As soon as possible, if you can, go pack now, I’ll have someone come pick you up and take you to the airport, a special plane will be arranged!"

This urgent?

Sabrina Hayes didn’t refuse, "Okay, I’ll get ready now!"