Free Web NovelChapter 276: Chapter 276 The Trap That Backfired
Rose had no intention of discussing the matter with Ryan.
She calmly looked away.
Grace had already walked over and cast a cold, stern glance at Samantha. “Whether it’s the issue of Rose’s thesis being tampered with or the plagiarism in your paper, both must be taken seriously, Samantha. You’ll need to cooperate with the investigation shortly.”
Samantha felt a chill spread through her limbs.
An uncertain panic began to take hold.
Nothing was going the way she had expected. In fact, she had walked herself to the edge of a cliff, with no way forward and no way back.
She clenched her fists.
Refusing to appear overly flustered, she suppressed her anxiety and nodded.
As Grace was about to leave, she looked at Rose again, her eyes filled with admiration. After studying her for a moment, she patted Rose on the shoulder. “Dr. Nathan is truly fortunate. Rose, if you don’t mind, feel free to come talk with me sometime about your research on neurological disorders.”
Samantha looked at Grace in surprise.
Although she called it a “chat,” wasn’t it really an expression of appreciation and an offer of mentorship?
Rose immediately nodded, feeling both honored and slightly overwhelmed. “Of course. It would be my pleasure.”
Grace had to leave first.
Samantha’s matter required immediate attention. Higher authorities had already become involved, and the situation was being treated with the utmost seriousness.
As soon as Grace left, Rose had no desire to remain any longer. She continued to ignore Ryan standing beside her and walked away without looking back.
She had no intention of discussing personal matters with him there.
Especially anything concerning the fact that she had given birth to a child with Trevor during her marriage.
Ryan’s dark, penetrating eyes followed Rose as she deliberately avoided him. Although his face remained expressionless, there was a clear undercurrent of turmoil beneath the surface.
Samantha took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Ryan. Something unexpected came up. We may not be able to make it to the show...”
This was the issue that made her feel as if she might vomit blood.
Not only had she been exposed for plagiarizing her thesis in front of top officials, but she had also lost the perfect opportunity to publicly confirm her relationship with Ryan on national television.
“It’s fine,” Ryan said slowly, finally looking away from Rose. “Go answer their questions first. Just cooperate with the investigation for now.”
Hearing his response, Samantha immediately felt reassured.
As she walked down the stairs through the crowded hallway, she found an excuse to go to the restroom so she could call the production team, Logan, and Daisy first.
They needed to coordinate with the production team and come up with a reasonable explanation to avoid causing further trouble.
“You can’t make it? What happened?” Logan demanded as soon as he answered, deliberately moving into an empty room.
Leaning against the sink, Samantha looked pale, and her tone grew noticeably sharper. “Rose caught me off guard. I have to undergo an investigation, so the schedule conflicts with the show.”
“Didn’t you have a plan to stop Rose from interfering with you? Weren’t you going to create a conflict between her and that person? Didn’t it work?” Logan’s voice turned serious.
Samantha’s eyes suddenly filled with tears, and her voice rose. “Rose has been playing everyone! She deliberately misled me! She never revealed that she was the person I was targeting, so I mistakenly believed she would have a major conflict with that other person. That’s why I used it to escalate everything—but she was actually...”
She had put everything into this.
Logan was stunned.
His daughter had actually gone up against the famous Aster?
Daisy, standing nearby, overheard and asked in disbelief, “Then what are you going to do now?”
Samantha clenched her fists tighter. “There’s a problem with my thesis. They’re accusing me of plagiarizing Aster, and I’m being investigated. The accusations against Rose collapsed, but not only did NYU refuse to revoke her professorship—they practically blacklisted me in front of all those high-ranking officials...”
She felt completely lost.
Her mind was in chaos.
She could only pour everything out, hoping someone would help her find a way out.
“And now Rose is coming after you too?” Logan asked, both disappointed and angry. “That child has been overly sensitive since she was young. Does she really have to be so ruthless toward her own family?”
Daisy was panicking as well. “Rose deliberately set Sam up! Isn’t this obviously a trap? If she had revealed her identity earlier, Sam never would have targeted the thesis in the first place!”
Logan sighed heavily. “Rose is exactly like Morgan—once she believes she’s right, she never lets go. Morgan was the same way back then. Even when my company was in crisis, and I begged her to let me use a few antiques from the Bennett collection as collateral, she refused. She didn’t care about our marriage at all. Rose inherited that selfishness from her mother.”
Daisy sneered. “So what? Morgan still ended up in a car accident and fell into a coma. You had no trouble getting her to sign over the entire antique shop while she was unconscious. Something that could have been settled with money became much easier after the accident. Maybe that was Morgan’s karma.”
Logan said nothing.
Remembering Samantha’s situation, Daisy hurriedly asked, “What’s Mr. Knight’s attitude? Will he protect you?”
Samantha closed her eyes. “Ryan’s attitude toward me hasn’t changed.”
“Good,” Daisy said with relief. “Then ask him to resolve this. It’s a simple matter for him. If he steps in, NYU will handle it discreetly. And as for the Bennett antique shop—your father went to great lengths to acquire it back then. If it hadn’t been for your medical malpractice incident, he might have delayed transferring it to Mr. Knight. But because of that accident, he had no choice but to use some gray-area channels to finish the paperwork. Now Rose is probably trying to take it back. Why don’t you persuade Mr. Knight to give it to you as a gift?”
Samantha thought Daisy’s suggestion made sense.
As long as Ryan was willing to help, the NYU issue was not impossible to resolve.
And as for the shop—even if she had to destroy it, she would never let Rose reclaim it.
“I understand,” Samantha said.
She finally felt slightly more at ease.
This situation would not be enough to bring her down.
***
Rose left while avoiding Ryan.
She knew very well that the revelation of Aster’s identity had changed everything.
The matter of Ariel was now exposed in front of Ryan, but one fact remained: she had given birth to Ariel while still married, and the child carried the Robinson surname. From Ryan’s perspective, there were many possible interpretations.
That afternoon, Caleb called her.
“About the Aster identity—the news has been suppressed.”
Rose immediately understood. “Ryan did it?”
“Yeah. He kept it from spreading outside the symposium. The public still doesn’t know.” Caleb let out a cold laugh. “Because if your identity stays hidden, they can handle Samantha’s case internally and reduce the severity of the punishment. If the public knew that she tampered with Aster’s thesis, the backlash against Samantha would be enormous.”
Rose wasn’t surprised.
Ryan always understood the core of the problem.
By concealing her identity, he could help minimize the damage to Samantha’s public image and prevent the situation from escalating into a national scandal.
Rose couldn’t help but smile.
It amused her that Ryan—a businessman who never acted without calculating the benefits—was still willing to protect Samantha at every turn.
If he didn’t truly care for her, he would never go this far.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rose said calmly. “The internal investigation will continue. As long as I don’t back down, Samantha will still have to pay the price, even if he suppresses the public backlash.”
She didn’t want to waste any more energy thinking about it.
Because she was busy.
The moment Aster’s identity was revealed, invitations had already begun pouring in from people who attended the symposium.
Including... James.
Rose hung up on him without hesitation.
