The Divorce Papers Gave Him The Shell And Gave Me The Future Chapter 11

The Divorce Papers Gave Him The Shell And Gave Me The Future Chapter 11

The next afternoon, I met Julian at The Steep & Speakeasy Tea Lounge.

“Ms. Chase. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Mr. Walsh. Likewise.”

He got straight to the point. “I watched your launch. I’ve spent a week studying your architecture.”

Julian’s expression was serious.

“And?”

“And, I want to invest.”

“NestWorks doesn’t do autonomous driving.”

“We start now.” He set down his teacup. “Specifically, we’ll do it together. Your technology plus NestWorks’ computing power and data. We can own this market within a year.”

I was quiet for a few seconds.

“Mr. Walsh, I’m radioactive right now. A twenty-million-dollar lawsuit. Hated by the entire internet. You invest in me, you’re not afraid of getting burned?”

He laughed.

“Skylar, you think I’ve never been hated? I’ve started three companies. I’ve been hated ten times more than you are right now.”

He leaned forward. “Besides, hot potatoes are the most delicious.”

ones. If you weren’t on fire, why would I get a chance?”

I looked into his eyes.

He was serious.

“What are the terms?”

“NestWorks invests $14 million for 15%. Plus, our cloud computing platform is yours for free. Data shared. You make all technical decisions. I don’t interfere.”

Generous terms.

“I need to think about it.”

“Of course.” He pulled a business card from his pocket and set it on the table. “But Skylar, let me give you some advice.”

“What?”

“Ethan Harrison isn’t your real opponent. Your real opponent is yourself. You keep trying to prove that you don’t need him. That you didn’t succeed because of him. That you’re better than him.”

“But you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. You just need to build the best product.”

“That’s the real revenge.”

He stood up, gave a small nod, and walked away.

I sat there looking at my half-finished cup of tea.

A long time passed.

His words had hit something, a place I’d been avoiding.

For six months, I’d worked like a maniac. Launched like a maniac.
Fought Ethan like a maniac.

I told myself it was about the dream.

But dreams don’t require clenched teeth.

They require joy.

Was I joyful?

I didn’t know.

Back at the office, the sun had set.

Leo hadn’t left. He was asleep on his keyboard.

I walked over quietly and saw a document open on his screen. The title was: [Evidence Compilation from Apex Years.]

The document was already three hundred pages long.

Every page was code I’d written. Designs I’d made. Meetings I’d led.

Line by line, he’d organized it. Timestamps. Source notes.

My eyes stung.

I draped my jacket over Leo and went back to my desk.

Opened X. Still hate comments.

But I didn’t care anymore.

I opened the encrypted folder.

The email was there.

From three years ago. Between Ethan and Samuel.

Samuel asked: [If Skylar leaves, will the technology be affected?]

Ethan replied: [Don’t worry. I’ve made complete copies of the core architecture. Even if she leaves, we can continue development. I left a backdoor in the code. I can take control anytime.]

That email. Proof that from start to finish, Ethan was the one trying to steal technology.

My mouse hovered over the file.

Sean said this was the key piece of evidence. But timing mattered.

It had to come out when everyone was watching. When everyone thought he was winning.

Now was the moment.

[Sean. I’m going to release it.]

[Good. I’ll help you coordinate. Tomorrow at ten AM. All platforms at once.]

The next morning at seven, I woke up to trending topics still attacking me.

At ten AM sharp, the email appeared online.

With one line of text.

[Who’s been trying to steal from whom, Mr. Harrison? Please answer.]