Gemotions

The email sat in the inbox, a digital landmine waiting to detonate. Mark stared at it, his eyes darting back and forth across the screen. The subject line: "Project Overlap – Regarding 'Project Nightingale'." He'd spent the last year working on this. It was his masterpiece.

He knew who the sender was: Evelyn Carter, a notoriously ruthless competitor. He felt like he had the flu, all over body ache and general exhaustion.

He slowly, reluctantly, clicked the mouse. The message was terse, hinting at their shared focus on the same rare disease research. A shared focus? It sounded like a threat.

His chest tightened. The words blurred before his eyes. It couldn't be happening. He’d sacrificed everything for this research, every evening, every weekend.

He needed a drink. Immediately.