Chapter 71

Evelyn Sinclair froze in shock as she bent down to scoop up the tiger cub.

"Well hello there, little one. Fancy meeting you again?"

The cub nuzzled against her shoulder, its voice dripping with childish indignation. "I'm not little! I'm a mighty jungle king! Rawr!"

Amused, Evelyn glanced at Dominic Kingsley. "It actually recognizes me?"

"Photographic memory," Dominic chuckled before lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Though technically it's just a very advanced AI. Shh—don't let it hear you say that."

"I heard that! Now I'm mad at you! Hmph!" The cub turned its head away dramatically, whiskers twitching in outrage.

Dominic rubbed his nose sheepishly as a curly-haired researcher approached. "So you're the famous beauty this little traitor won't stop gushing about?"

The bespectacled man looked every inch the stereotypical mad scientist, though he couldn't have been older than twenty-five.

"This turncoat came back yesterday bragging about meeting some gorgeous woman," he explained. "Considering its usual standards are ridiculously high, we had to see for ourselves. We were literally just discussing you when you walked in."

Evelyn's lips curved in surprise as she stroked the cub's head. It preened under her attention, declaring smugly, "See? Told you she was pretty! Admit I was right!"

"So your name is Little Traitor?"

The cub huffed and pointedly ignored the question. Dominic explained with obvious amusement, "No idea who programmed its personality matrix. It's ridiculously fickle—changes allegiances faster than a politician during election season. Hence the nickname."

"I designed that personality! What's wrong with it?"

The indignant voice came from a round-faced young woman with enormous eyes who stormed out of the adjacent lab. She glared at Dominic before reaching for the cub. "Come here, you."

The cub clung to Evelyn's arm like a lifeline. "No! Pretty Lady smells nice! She's soft!"

The girl's eye twitched. "You absolute traitor!"

The entire room erupted in laughter. Evelyn grinned at the flustered scientist. "You created this little drama queen?"

The girl blinked up at Evelyn, momentarily distracted. "Wow...you really are stunning." Recovering, she nodded proudly. "Yep, that's my code running through its processors."

Dominic cleared his throat. "Ms. Sinclair, may I present Dr. Emily Whitaker—our resident genius and project lead. Emily, this is Ms. Sinclair, our new investor. I'll let you give her the tour while I check on the others."

Evelyn's eyebrows shot up. This girl looked barely out of college, yet she was heading the entire project? Emily beamed. "No problem! Leave her to me!" As Dominic and the curly-haired researcher walked away, Emily turned to Evelyn with undisguised curiosity. "You can call me Emily. I'm twenty-three. Ms. Sinclair...are you, like, crazy rich?"

She linked arms with Evelyn and started dragging her toward the lab. Evelyn barely had time to process the abrupt question before Emily continued cheerfully, "Dominic said only billionaires can afford to invest in this project. I love making rich friends!"

The cub made a disgusted noise. "Gold digger."

"One more word and I'm reformatting your entire personality matrix!" Emily snapped.

The cub immediately buried its face in Evelyn's blouse, trembling. Evelyn couldn't help but laugh. "My company has...adequate resources."

Now she understood where the cub's dramatic personality came from—its creator was clearly cut from the same cloth.

Emily's lab was a technological wonderland. Glass walls shimmered with holographic data streams while robotic components and precision instruments covered every surface. Then Evelyn's gaze landed on a large LCD display—and the breath left her lungs.

Donovan Sterling?!

Her second brother's face smiled back at her from the screen.