"Dr. Claire, what exactly is your relationship with Luminate?"
Randall was practically vibrating with curiosity.
Claire didn't mince words. "I'm their lead technical shareholder."
"So, is the Bone-Connecting Glaze going to be your next commercial release?"
The potential for a hospital partnership was massive. Randall desperately wanted the clinical trials to succeed so they could stock it in their own wards.
"Not necessarily. We have other lines launching first."
Claire mentioned the Luminate Luminous Glaze.
Neither Randall nor the other surgeons gave a damn about high-end skincare.
They only cared about the medical-grade trauma glaze.
"Will the scar gel be restocked anytime soon?"
The gel had recently gone aggressively viral across social media.
The first wave of buyers had flooded the internet with rave reviews, swearing to ruthlessly fight for a jar the second the purchase link went live again.
The comment sections were an absolute war zone of desperate consumers.
As a result, Luminate's live streams sold out within seconds of a restock.
Randall's daughter had entirely missed out on the latest drop.
His whole family had hovered over their phones, but their internet connection-or maybe just their reflexes-hadn't been fast enough.
Randall wasn't trying to ask for special favors; he just wanted to know if his daughter could maintain her treatment regimen once her current jar ran out.
"We'll restock eventually. Because it relies on traditional botanical extracts,
manufacturing is a slow process. We refuse to compromise on ingredient quality," Claire explained.
She detailed how the strict sourcing protocols inherently bottlenecked their production speed.
"That's exactly how it should be. Never drop your quality standards!"
Randall emphatically agreed.
As medical professionals, they knew all too well that compromising on active ingredients would render a topical treatment useless.
Too many predatory brands launched a phenomenal first batch just to build hype.
Then, once the product went viral, they'd slash production costs, resulting in diluted garbage that left customers thinking they'd bought a counterfeit.
After getting acquainted with Tandy's team, everyone exchanged contact info, instantly adding Claire to their private group chat.
bet
The chat was mostly just the older surgeons debating complex medical cases, which gave Claire a fantastic
into top-tier diagnostics.
But whenever the debate heated up, Claire effortlessly held her own.
If someone threw a diagnostic puzzle her way, she fired back a flawless solution.
This brilliant intellect quickly made her the team's favorite sounding board for severe
cases.
Unfortunately, Claire was usually too busy to chat all day.
Then again, the senior surgeons were swamped with patients themselves, so the chat was rarely overwhelming.
Resolving to focus fully on synthesizing the Bone-Connecting Glaze, Claire went back to Ewan.
She asked him if he could hold tight for a little while before they proceeded.
"Are you just stalling because you actually have no idea what you're doing?"
It wasn't that Ewan loved doubting
hit
her, but she had genuinely given him aspark of hope only to abruptly the brakes.
The delay had his anxiety skyrocketing all over again.
"Whether I know what I'm doing or not is something we'll have to test to find out."
"You literally can't get any worse than this. I'm the one risking my entire reputation. What do you have to lose?"
Claire crossed her arms, projecting utter fearlessness.
Ewan was speechless. "...Fair point. But what reputation do you even have?"
She was practically a teenager. Who even knew her name?
Risking her 'entire reputation' sounded like a complete joke.
"You'll find out soon enough." Claire wasn't bragging; in the right circles, her name was already legend.
So cryptic for no reason.
In his mind, she was utterly exasperating.
But she was undeniably gorgeous.
And people were always ridiculously forgiving of beautiful girls.
So, even though he felt like he was being played, Ewan couldn't summon any real anger.
Plus, the fact that she had managed to drag him right into Tandy's office gave her some serious credibility.
out the door, Ewan grabbed his
The absolute second Claire net
phone and called a buddy,
demanding a full background check For her.