He Wanted My Research, She Wanted My Seat, I Wanted Out Chapter 05

He Wanted My Research, She Wanted My Seat, I Wanted Out Chapter 05

Tessa’s eyes darted to the screen, nothing but dense text. No watermark anywhere.

She recovered fast, flashing that I–know–you–too–well smile.

“Camila, don’t try to bluff me. I never added any watermark to this project. Can you stop wasting

the committee’s time already?”

The committee members frowned.

“We reviewed the documents carefully. There’s no watermark, and nothing that identifies the

author.”

I said, “So Tessa has no proof either that she didn’t steal it from me?”

Tessa put on her wounded face. “Camila, how can you turn this around on me?”

I cut her off and pulled out a USB drive.

“But I have proof that someone stole my research from my computer.”

The committee took the drive and connected it to the big screen.

The moment the video popped up, Henrik’s face went white.

There it was, security footage from my home office. The camera caught Henrik sitting at my

computer, tapping frantically, looking tense.

Henrik jumped in, “That’s not! I was just playing around on her computer. I didn’t steal anything…”

He stopped because the committee zoomed in on the monitor.

You could see every move he made. He went straight to the D drive, found my research files, and

copied the whole folder onto a USB drive.

I looked at Henrik and Tessa.

“There’s my evidence. You stole my work.‘”

“Tessa, you said I copied your research from your place. Do you have any proof?”

Tessa shook her head fast. “I… I don’t have cameras at my place, I…”

She spun toward the committee, desperate to distance herself.

“Henrik stealing Camila’s files had nothing to do with me. I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know! My

project is my own. Whatever Henrik did, I’m not involved!”

Henrik snapped back to life, pointing at me with a shaking finger

“Camila, you faked this video to set me up!”

I laughed out loud.

“Henrik, if you’re going to play the blame game, at least use your brain.”

“Whether this video is fake or not, forensic analysis can tell in two seconds. Why bother with such

a pathetic lie?”

Henrik shut his mouth, head down, scrambling for words that wouldn’t come.

Tessa shot up from her chair, her voice cracking.