Hilaria was the first to speak as soon as everyone had settled.

“What happened to the director? I heard from the hospital that he died from insufficient blood supply. Could it be that our artificial heart isn't ready for human use?"

Camila quickly countered, "No, that's not the case."

"Then, how come the director's dead?" Hilaria asked without hesitation.

"He was poisoned," Camila answered, her voice emanating from the silence it ensued.

Their silence told her that they didn't believe it because poison being the cause of Kameron's death, in the first place, seemed impossible.

"Poisoned by what?" Hilaria followed up, obviously in disbelief from what she'd heard.

Everyone had their ears perked, anticipating for Camila's response.

It was obvious that they felt she was saying it just to get away with it given that Camila was persistent in being the one to operate on Kameron.

And now that Kameron died, she must be responsible for his death.

"Nothing is set in stone, yet," Camila started to explain. "That's why I'm counting on everyone to keep this information a secret. These vague pieces of evidence might alert the killer if they ever go public. No one else knows about Mr. Garland's cause of death but us."

Camila paused before continuing. "I know that you are doubting my intentions. After all, this can be a plausible excuse for me to not take responsibility. You can think whatever you want, but I'm just going to remind you all that when there was a technical problem in our research before, Dr. Lance joined us despite Sun Pharmaceutical Group's threats. It was only then that we began the experiment. Moreover, the artificial heart market had a large potential. The state invested in us, but the Sun Pharmaceutical Group, being a private enterprise, couldn't receive the same support. They needed money, but because Dr. Lance was with us, they couldn't get a huge sum, so they did everything to hinder us from succeeding in our research. They were racing against us to get ahead in the industry. That's why even if they lost Dr. Lance, they didn't stop their research. But if we succeeded before them, they wouldn't be able to monopolize the market. And the only way they could achieve their goal was to kill Kameron and make it look like the artificial heart implanted into him from our institute is unqualified."

Everyone fell silent, letting Camila's words sink in.

"Don't you believe what Ms. Haynes told us?!" Hyman broke the ice.

"Back then, Ms. Haynes insisted on the surgery because she wanted to save Mr. Garland. We were with her for a long time already, yet you still don't have faith in her-"

“Cut the crap, Hyman!" someone interjected. "Who said we don't have faith in Ms. Haynes? Are you playing saint now, while thinking that you're the only one who's reasonable and kind-hearted here?

“That's right," someone echoed. "Someone wants to sabotage our years of hard work in this research. We must unite and overcome this scheme as one!"

Hilaria soon seconded. "That's right! Let's fight this one together!"

"When did you become so righteous?" Hyman turned to look at her.

"I've always been one!" Hilaria rolled her eyes at him, which made Hyman crack a smile.