Patented Revenge: Giving Her Brother Everything

"Yvonne's busy? I'll be the judge of that," I thought.

I brushed past Yvonne's secretary and pushed open her office door.

Yvonne was sprawled on the couch in nothing but a bikini as Tristan massaged her back with essential oils.

Yvonne let out a satisfied moan, praising Tristan's technique.

She had once promised me that nothing would ever come between our relationship.

She never let any men other than me into her office. Even her work contacts were all women.

Seeing her openly allow Tristan into her space felt like a knife twisting straight into my chest.

What shocked me even more was Tristan's name on the published paper on his laptop.

I had pulled all-nighters to produce that paper for Yvonne so she could land a major partnership.

A PhD bought through backdoors and favors could never produce results like that.

I strode in.

Tristan quickly stood. He looked panicked, but his tone was provocative as he questioned, "Mr. Carter, why do you have access to Zeller Group's executive floor?"

"If a kept man like you can get in, why can't I? After all, I'm Mrs. Carter's legal husband," I spat. "Is the security department here doing its job? Why did they let just anyone wander freely onto the executive floor?"

Tristan turned pitifully toward Yvonne. Yvonne patted his arm gently, then stood up and threw on her clothes.

"Say what you need to say. Don't pick on a younger guy."

She probably thought that I had come here to apologize.

Tristan stood beside her, looking smug.

I closed my eyes briefly, then pointed at the laptop on the desk. My tone left no room for argument. "Delete that published paper."

Tristan's eyes widened. He grabbed the laptop in a panic and clutched it to his chest, pleading with Yvonne for help.

I held back my anger and asked Yvonne, "Don't you owe me an explanation? Why is something I worked day and night on now published under someone else's name? All the lab records and raw data are still there."

Yvonne slipped on her coat and spoke as if it didn't matter at all.

"He's a scholarship student that I personally support. Naturally, I have to take responsibility for him. Since you insisted on being so petty about what happened in the lab, people have been talking about him at school. I had no choice but to use this method to clear his name."

She tilted her head slightly. "Don't you let your students put their names on your research papers, too?"

"That's because I supervise my students' experiments. Those are their results, too. It's a given that they get credited," I scoffed. "What has Tristan ever done to deserve acknowledgement on this paper? Pleasing you in bed?"

I looked directly at Yvonne, enunciating each word with icy contempt and sarcasm.

Yvonne shot up from the couch. "That's enough! It's just one research paper! I'll fund another lab for you. You can redo the experiments and publish another paper. What's the big deal?"

I smiled. I felt like I was talking to a clown.

"Even if you gave the paper to him, he couldn't live up to it. People who steal from others only dig their own graves, Yvonne!"

I took a step forward and demanded, "As my wife, building connections in academic circles is a piece of cake for you. People even respect you.

"But if you're just Ms. Zeller, you wouldn't even qualify to touch the door to that world, let alone walk through it."

Yvonne was completely enraged. She screamed, "Get out! Do you think the whole world revolves around you? Tristan just never had the right opportunities. If he did, he could've landed that partnership just the same!"