Chapter 466

Genevieve pursed her lips and let out a derisive laugh.

"Biting off more than they can chew with all these massive projects—let's see if NovaTech doesn't choke on them."

But even as the words left her mouth, they rang hollow, dripping with envy rather than conviction.

If NovaTech dared take on such an ambitious workload, they clearly had the resources to back it up.

Beside her, Reginald Kensington's expression mirrored his daughter's bitterness.

The Kensington family's tech enterprise and InnovaTech had been hitting roadblock after roadblock, while NovaTech's progress seemed unstoppable.

"How does Nathaniel Graves keep finding such exceptional talent?" Reginald grumbled under his breath.

Ever since NovaTech rose to prominence, both their competitors had tried poaching their engineers.

But with NovaTech's skyrocketing reputation, every major corporation—domestic and international—had joined the bidding war.

The Kensingtons and InnovaTech found themselves outmatched in this fierce competition.

Despite offering generous compensation packages, luring away top-tier innovators proved nearly impossible.

The fact that NovaTech continued releasing groundbreaking innovations despite constant poaching attempts only proved their deep bench of brilliant minds.

This realization burned like acid in their throats.

Victoria Kensington kept her head down, pushing food around her plate in silence.

Both families had pinned their hopes on her technical expertise, but the deeper she delved into the industry, the more she understood the staggering difficulty of true innovation.

When she offered no solutions, no one pressed her—they assumed she too was frustrated by InnovaTech's stagnation.

The next morning, Isabella Sinclair entered the conference room for her scheduled meeting.

Moments after she took her seat, Nathaniel Graves arrived.

Before the meeting commenced, he leaned toward her and murmured, "My mother mentioned an interesting auction coming up. They're selling a rare, flawless diamond—one of a kind."

Isabella froze.

"Are you certain?"

"Absolutely."

Nathaniel remembered because years ago, when they'd first met—barely acquaintances then—a similar diamond had gone to auction with a starting bid exceeding two hundred million.

Isabella had been sixteen.

That was when he'd learned about her family situation.

She'd confessed wanting to buy her mother the diamond because Evelyn Sinclair adored them—especially the rarest, most exquisite specimens.

Perhaps, just perhaps, such a treasure might help rouse her mother from her catatonic state.

But diamonds of that caliber were nearly impossible to acquire.

Back then, the Sinclair family finances couldn't stretch to such astronomical sums.

Besides, the notion that a gemstone could heal Evelyn had always been Isabella's desperate hope, not a medical certainty.

Who would gamble their entire fortune on such a fragile chance?

Her younger cousins had still been children, and the family business barely stayed afloat.

So Isabella had watched helplessly as that opportunity slipped away.

Over a decade had passed.

Now another legendary diamond had surfaced—this time from a private collection, carrying centuries of provenance.

If they missed this chance, another might not appear in their lifetime.

Isabella's pulse quickened.

"I want to go."

Even if the diamond didn't perform miracles, if it brought her mother a moment of joy—even just to hold and admire—that would be enough.

She wouldn't regret it.