He Wanted My Research, She Wanted My Seat, I Wanted Out Chapter 07

He Wanted My Research, She Wanted My Seat, I Wanted Out Chapter 07

Tessa shook her head frantically, then a flicker crossed her eyes.

“I get it now! You and Henrik set this up together!”

“Sir, this isn’t the project I made. Henrik switched it on me. They planned this to destroy me!”

“I just realized the research documents they submitted aren’t even the ones I worked on!”

I almost laughed at her desperate spin.

“Then where are your original documents? Where are they?”

“You can’t produce them, can you?”

Tessa said, “Of course I can’t. My files were deleted. You told Henrik to delete them!”

“Oh? Then tell us what was your research topic? What was your approach?”

“How long did it take? What sources did you reference? What’s the underlying theory? What’s the future application?”

One question after another. Tessa stammered and stuttered. Nothing came out.

The committee members exchanged serious looks.

“Tessa, are you still not going to tell the truth?”

Another flicker crossed her eyes. Then the waterworks started.

—

“I don’t know! I’m being framed! They’re a couple… they plotted this together!”

She kept glancing at Henrik, waiting for him to take the fall for her.

Henrik grabbed her hand and yanked it away from her face.

“Enough. Cut the crap!”

“Tessa, are you even human? You came crying to me about how you always felt inferior to Camila, how you were so insecure. And now, when there’s glory to take, you’re all in, but the second things go wrong, you throw me under the bus?”

“You think I’d have stolen her research for shits and giggles? I did it for you!”

Tessa stared at him, stunned.

“You… Henrik, you’re blaming me?”

“Sir, see? This is exactly what I said. They colluded to ruin me! I’m completely innocent…”

“Innocent my ass.”

Henrik pulled out his phone, fingers shaking violently, and pulled up his chat log with Tessa.

“Look. Here, Tessa pretending to be helpless, begging me to help her. I saved everything.”

“Every word in these messages is real. I’ll submit them for forensic verification. I don’t care.”

—

Tessa lunged for his phone, eyes wild.

“Henrik, how could you do this to me!”

Henrik shoved her back. “How could I do this to you? I gave you everything, and what did you give me?”

“How many times have you thrown me under the bus just in the last five minutes? You play the victim in front of me, and the second it blows up, you vanish?”

“I was damn blind to ever feel sorry for you!”

The comments exploded.

[Wait, so she was the thief all along?]

[Unbelievable. She stole the research and the guy. Zero shame.]

[I went to school with them. Tessa posted so many couple photos with Henrik.]

[Saw them making out behind the building while Camila was in the bathroom. So gross.]

[Okay I’m officially done with Harvard. Their student stole from Stanford.]

[I was in Camila’s class back in high school. She was valedictorian. She could’ve gone to Harvard easily. Never got why she picked Stanford. I said that before and got called a bot…]

The committee called the police on the spot. Officers took Henrik and Tessa into custody.

—

As Henrik walked past me, tears rolled down his face.

“I’m sorry, Camila. I lost my head, I…”

I stepped aside, my face cold.

His apology was nothing but crocodile tears.

Without that anonymous call, I’d have gone to Harvard with them. I’d never have put watermarks in my files.

And everything that voice warned about would have come true. I would have lost my work. Been branded a thief. Faced prison time.