Chapter 76

Vanessa cleared her throat and rephrased herself, "What I mean is, the formula is flawless, so the issue isn’t on my end."

She turned sharply to the factory manager, her tone icy. "We follow the formula precisely. If there had been an error, we would’ve caught it long before production. The problem must be in your process. Have you inspected every step? Have you questioned your workers? Don’t just shift blame the moment something goes wrong."

"Ms. Blake, watch your accusations," the manager shot back. "We’re not shifting blame—we’re reporting an issue to Mr. Reeves as soon as we detected it. All we want is to identify the cause. After preliminary checks, we suspect the essential oil is compromised. If you disagree, then help us investigate. You’re the expert, aren’t you? The sooner we resolve this, the sooner production resumes."

Vanessa bristled. "Help you investigate? Do I look like I have time for this? Your incompetence isn’t my responsibility! The lab’s work is impeccable—figure out your own mess!"

Her harsh words visibly angered the manager. He turned to Dominic. "Mr. Reeves, what’s your take? We have deadlines looming. If this isn’t resolved soon, we’ll miss our delivery windows."

"Oh, so now you’re blaming us because you can’t meet deadlines?" Vanessa scoffed. "Your carelessness is the real issue here. You just want a scapegoat—"

"Enough!" Dominic’s sudden roar silenced her. "Arguing solves nothing." He thrust a bottle of essential oil into Vanessa’s hands. "Take this back to the lab. Run every test. I want to know if there’s even a trace of inconsistency."

Vanessa opened her mouth to protest, but Dominic had already turned back to the manager. "You did right by flagging this immediately. But don’t fixate solely on the oil. Check your inventory for any leftover batches. If you find any, send samples to the lab for comparison."

The manager nodded stiffly. "Understood. But we need to move fast. Delays will cascade."

Dominic clapped him on the shoulder. "I’ll handle it. Good work." Then he steered a stunned Vanessa out of the factory.

In the car, Vanessa glared at the bottle in her lap. "This is pointless. The fault lies with them, not us."

Dominic kept his eyes on the road. "You’re certain the lab’s process is airtight?"

"Absolutely. This formula isn’t new—we’ve perfected it over years. Unless..." Her voice faltered, then sharpened. "Unless someone tampered with the formula itself!"

Dominic slammed the brakes. The seatbelt jerked Vanessa back as she uncapped the bottle and inhaled. Her face paled. "Dominic... we’ve been played."

His knuckles whitened on the steering wheel. "Evelyn left that formula behind. You think she altered it?"

Vanessa’s nails dug into her palms. "She’s been too quiet lately. No excuses, no outbursts. This was her trap all along."

Dominic hit the accelerator. "Lab. Now."