How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Chapter 432

They were actually discussing the academic viewpoints from a paper she'd written years ago.

Alexander leaned in, his breath warm against Elodie's ear. "Your paper from five years ago-people are still pulling it out as a prime example. For a lot of folks, it's still ahead of its time-there's so much to learn from it."

That was the thing about Elodie—her brilliance couldn't be denied.

Otherwise, his old man wouldn't have sworn off taking any more students after Elodie had turned down the offer to study under him and got married instead. Ever since, the professor refused to mentor anyone else, out of sheer frustration.

And here it was, at a major academic conference, her paper being showcased as a model for others to study.

Elodie's eyes lingered on the words glowing on the large screen. Around her, the low hum of scholars debating the finer points filled the auditorium.

Up front, Jarrod glanced up at the citation, recognizing it as one of those rare works that gets dissected on its own, not just referenced.

Nearby, Steene was chatting with a few others. "Wasn't this published several years ago? It's incredibly forward-looking. I'd love to meet the author someday."

"I read this back when it first came out," someone else chimed in. "I tried to find out who wrote it, but nothing ever came up-never heard a peep about the author since. It's kind of a shame."

Steene nodded, genuinely intrigued. "With work of this caliber, you'd expect the author to be a big name in the field. Strange that they just disappeared after publishing it."

It was as if the author had vanished into thin air.

what's the consensus? Impressed?" Steene smiled. "Mr. Silverstein, it's

agreement, listening to the animated discussion unfolding

expression serious.

as a five-year-old

so innovative and bold-people were marveling at

was

challenging—she couldn't quite get her head around all of it. She'd need to revisit the

hour of discussion, Sylvie felt like she

was wrapping up, the author's name appeared

screen.

El Thorne-

the name. Jarrod's eyes lingered on it, calm and

the other hand,

was not a

ever heard of El

name sound so much like

glance at Elodie, her brow knit

Elodie, meanwhile, hadn't