He Favored Her So I Took My Pcatent To His Rival Chapter 10

He Favored Her So I Took My Pcatent To His Rival Chapter 10

Three years later.

The industry’s most prestigious gala was held at the National Convention Center-the year’s

highest honor, reserved for the field’s top talents.

I stood backstage in a custom black gown.

The old scar on my palm remained, faint and pale now.

Adriel adjusted the brooch at my collar. “Nervous?”

“No.”

I met my reflection. I thought of that night three years ago, bloodied and broken, carried out

past flashing lights and shattered glass.

Same spotlight. Same crowd.

But this time, I wasn’t a prisoner. I was the star.

I’d written my own speech-not for me, but for my mother.

She had poured her life’s work into that emerald pendant-the one that had been shattered

beneath someone’s feet.

The humiliating footage of her being thrown out of her own home had been played on a giant

screen like a joke for everyone to laugh at.

But her craft survived.

Because her daughter was still alive.

I walked on stage to thunderous applause.

Adriel sat in the front row. He wasn’t clapping loudly, but the curve at the corner of his mouth

was genuine.

I took the trophy, turned to face the hundreds of industry leaders and dozens of media

outlets below, and delivered the shortest acceptance speech of the entire ceremony.

“Thank you to everyone who tried to bury me. You only made me grow deeper roots.”

The reporters in the audience erupted, hands shooting up everywhere.

“Ms. Thorne, could you talk about the patent case that shook the entire country three years

ago?”

“How did you overcome everything?”

I stood at the microphone, thought for a moment, and smiled. “Just some trash that tried to

trip me up. I swept it away a long time ago.”

Laughter broke out, flashes popping.

After the ceremony ended, Adriel’s car was waiting outside the venue.

I climbed in, set the trophy in the back.

“Where to tonight?”

“Home.”

He started the engine, and the car merged into the night traffic.

The city lights streamed past the windows-a flowing river of gold and silver that never

stops.