Chapter 1

Eight years ago, we were the "It" college entrepreneur couple on the cover of our university's tech magazine.

Yesterday, the editor-in-chief of *Business Weekly* emailed me, asking for a follow-up interview.

I typed my reply: "Go interview his new wife. We are getting divorced."

Two weeks ago, our company finally went public on NASDAQ.

Jared Sterling didn’t even send me an invitation to the ringing ceremony.

Instead, he transferred the 50% founders' shares that belonged to me straight to his secretary, Scarlett Vance.

I took the agreement to confront him.

In front of the entire board of directors, he slapped me across the face.

"Scarlett stays up all night drinking at client dinners for me. What do you do except spend my money?"

He seemed to have forgotten that I wrote every single line of the core AI patents that built this company.

"Security, please escort Ms. Hayes out."

Scarlett walked in, her high heels clicking on the floor. She carried an oat milk latte in her hand with a handwritten label on the cup.

That was my cup. My custom order. The handwriting on the label was a poor imitation of mine. The loop on the 'y' in Hayes dragged downward—my habit is to flick it upward.

She sat to Jared’s right.

I had sat in that chair for seven years. There was still a faint scratch on the back from my ring.

"Jared," she cooed, leaning in. "It looks like Chloe hasn't left yet."

Jared shook his hand. The hand he had just used to hit me.

"Didn't you hear her?" he barked.

The twelve board members kept their heads down, suddenly intensely interested in their water bottles.

I gripped the equity transfer agreement, the corners damp with my sweat.

"Jared, the entire core architecture of this company's AI was written by—"

"Enough."

His face looked like he was listening to a broken record he’d heard a hundred times.

"It's just a few lines of code. We have a team of hundreds of engineers. You think we can't run without you?"

Scarlett handed him a glass of water. He took it and took a sip.

I noticed the emerald pendant necklace around her neck.

I bought that at a private auction in Geneva last year for fifty thousand dollars using my own savings. It disappeared from my jewelry box one morning. When I asked Jared, he said the housekeeper must have lost it.

Now, it was around her neck.

I turned toward the door.

"Wait," Scarlett called out. "Let's take care of a small matter while you're here."

She dialed a number and put it on speaker.

"Leo, come up to the 18th-floor conference room."

Leo Brooks was our third employee. The backbone of the tech department, he had worked under me for five years. He wrote at least thirty percent of the AI modules.

Two minutes later, he walked in. He saw me and froze.

"Chloe? What happened to your face—"

"Leo," Scarlett interrupted, crossing her legs and tapping her fingernails on the desk. "As of today, your position is eliminated."

"What?"

"Post-IPO restructuring. You're too tied to the legacy team. You don't fit our new direction."

She looked at me and smirked when she said "legacy team."

Leo turned to Jared. "Jared, I’ve been here for five years! The core algorithms—"

"Scarlett did the evaluation." Jared didn't even look up from the document he was signing. "Your skills don't match our growth. You're a waste of resources. Sign the papers, take your one-month severance, and leave."

Leo’s hands shook. He looked at me, his eyes red with anger.

I stopped him before he could speak and gently shook my head.

"Let’s go, Leo."

Outside the building, he caught up with me in the parking lot.

"Chloe, how can he do this? Those patents have your name on them! The code has your digital signature!"

"I know."

My phone buzzed.

It was a notification from the company-wide Snapchat group. Scarlett had posted a picture. She was sitting at my desk, with the pothos plant I had nurtured for three years in the background.

Her caption: *So grateful for this new chapter.*

Leo saw it too, the veins on his forehead bulging.

"Chloe, who does this girl think she—"

"Leo," I cut him off, my voice raw.

"Go home. Don't do anything yet."

"Wait for my word."