I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 243

Hearing her bring that up, the softest part of Finnegan's heart was ruthlessly pierced.

He rested his chin against Seraphina's forehead, his voice deep and tender. "How could I ever forget, Seraphina? I will never forget that you risked your life to save me that day."

He slowly closed his eyes, the memory of the childhood fire resurfacing in his mind.

Thick smoke billowing, flames creeping in under the door—he had huddled in the corner of the room, choking and unable to open his eyes, until a girl rushed in and dragged him out of the inferno.

He hadn't seen her face clearly then, but he later became convinced that the girl was Seraphina.

That debt of gratitude had weighed on him for far too many years; every time he thought of it, his chest grew heavy.

Finnegan's emotions gradually stabilized. He rhythmically patted Seraphina's back, his tone returning to its usual patient and gentle coaxing.

"Seraphina, you have to understand my position. The old men on the board decided that Nora should lead this trial; it wasn't my call. You know my power has been restricted right now, so I can't call the shots on this. If I could, I definitely would have put you in charge."

Seraphina lifted her head from his embrace and sniffled. Her eyes were still red, but she had stopped crying. "Really?" she asked softly.

Finnegan's low chuckle echoed in her ear, laced with a husky, magnetic rasp. He reached up and wiped the tear tracks from her face.

"Of course. Don't you trust me? You're just overthinking because you've been so tired lately. How about this: we let Nora handle the trial for now, and once she's done most of the heavy lifting, I'll transfer all the research credits and naming rights to you. How does that sound? That way, you won't have to exhaust yourself or waste too much energy, but you'll still get a brilliant addition to your resume."

She sneered inwardly. Nora, you are so incredibly naive.

Once Nora did all the hard work, the credit would be handed over to her. All the grueling data crunching, the endless clinical observations, and the sleepless nights Nora endured would ultimately just become a shining badge on Seraphina's resume. Nora was just making her wedding dress.

It had been like this in the past, and it would be like this in the future.

After leaving the Fletcher Group, Nora headed straight back to The Vance Institute of Medical Science.

She brought the documents back to Professor Vance's office and spread them out on the desk. Xavier put on his reading glasses and flipped through them while Nora leaned in to look alongside him.