Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

Stoddard raised an eyebrow, "Got any tricks up your sleeve?"

"Well, if we could somehow recover the deleted experiment data and check the deletion logs to pinpoint the exact moment it was wiped, we could figure out who was in the lab at that time." Stoddard frowned, "Easier said than done. The recycle bin's been emptied. Recovering the data must be a nightmare, right?"

Roseanne chimed in, "I can give it a shot."

She hadn't mentioned it before simply because retrieving data was time-consuming, and checking the surveillance footage was the quickest and easiest solution.

But now, it was clear that surveillance wouldn't cut it.

As Roseanne settled in front of the computer, fingers poised over the keyboard, Owen suddenly halted her.

Everyone looked at him, puzzled, including Roseanne.

Owen cleared his throat, "First off, there's no concrete evidence pointing towards Roseanne. Everything we're going on right now is just Liz's speculation."

"It's like if your wallet gets stolen on the street, and you grab the first person who looks sketchy to you, piling on so-called 'evidence' because they look the part. Does that mean they should prove they're not the thief?" "They'd probably just call you crazy."

"Roseanne," Owen continued, his gaze firm, "you have the skills to uncover the truth, but don't fall into the trap of proving your innocence."

In that moment, Roseanne had to admit, she was impressed by Owen's rationality and logic.

"Right," Jen slapped her forehead, "why should Roseanne have to prove anything? Isn't it 'innocent until proven guilty'?"

All eyes turned to Liz.

Her smug smile froze, suddenly unsure of how the tables had turned.

"I... I was just suspicious," she stammered, "I never said it was definitely Roseanne."

Owen concluded, "In that case, we should involve the authorities."

Jen nodded, "Agreed."

Stoddard raised both hands in support, "Sounds fair to me."

"Okay." Owen pulled out his phone.This text is © NôvelDrama/.Org.

Liz's eyes darted, mouth opening then closing, worried about saying the wrong thing.

Just as Owen was about to dial, Liz bit her lip nervously, her palms sweating.

That's when Sammy, who had been silent, spoke up-

"Uh... I just remembered, I used Roseanne's computer before I left work yesterday. I deleted a few unnecessary documents and emptied the recycle bin. I might've accidentally deleted Roseanne's data folder..."

Scratching his head, he continued, "I'm really sorry for causing such a stir. My bad, really sorry..."

Sammy apologized profusely, bowing.

Then, he turned to Liz, "Sorry, Roseanne, for the extra work you'll have to do."

Liz replied stiffly, "It's fine."

Jen eyed them both suspiciously, "As long as it's cleared up. Sammy, just be more careful next time."

"Will do."

Endrew her gaze, "If

"If

there's nothing else, I've got thing!

to do She didn't offer to recover Liz's data after all.

Why return hate with kindness when no good deed goes unpunished?

With that, she turned to leave, briefly catching Owen's concerned She smiled softly, a silent passing between them.

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