“And they are requesting the university strip you of your degree.”

I reached out and gripped the edge of my father’s desk to keep my balance.

The wood was cold under my fingertips.

“That is a lie,” I said.

“The data is mine.”

“The original logs are in my locked drawer in the lab.”

“They aren’t there anymore, Evelyn,” Dr. Sterling said quietly.

“Hunter had security clear out your office an hour ago.”

“He claimed it was to preserve the integrity of the evidence for the university hearing.”

“You let him do that?” I demanded, my voice cracking.

“You are the committee chair!”

“My hands are tied by university protocol,” Dr. Sterling said.

“Once a formal allegation of fraud is filed, the laboratory must be locked down.”

“The board has already suspended your campus access.”

My father stood up, his chair scraping loudly against the hardwood floor.

“Hunter went behind my back,” my father muttered, more to himself than to us.

“We had an agreement.”

“He was supposed to wait until the patent was registered under the Hayes corporate umbrella.”