“I-I’m not wasting any more time with you! You’ve got a week to move out. Once the lab passes inspection, it might not even be yours anymore!” She hurriedly turned to leave. Her retreat revealed a hint of panic.

Hank was left stunned. “Wait…” Was she leaving just like that? What about the plan to put them in their place? Was that it? “I’m not going to stoop to your level today, but you just wait!” Hank huffed before quickly following Yasmine out the door.

Though they managed to chase away the two nuisances, the three of them didn’t feel any better.

Madison frowned. “From the way Yasmine was talking, even if the lab passes inspection, they might still have more tricks up their sleeves to take it over. If that’s the case, we might as well not even bother with the inspection! They’d rather no one use it than let us have it!”

Sebastian sighed. “The priority now is to find a solution to the ‘no lab’ problem. Maybe we can borrow one from another research team? Or even rent one. We can pay.”

Madison shook her head. “It sounds feasible, but it’s too difficult to arrange. Who’s going to let us use their lab? There’s no incentive for others to lend out their lab space.”

“If you don’t mind, you can use mine,” said a deep, magnetic voice from the doorway.

The three of them turned simultaneously, and Madison gasped in surprise. “Dr. Jefferson?”