Post-Divorce Unwanted Kid: Receipts for Every Spend Chapter 06

Post-Divorce Unwanted Kid: Receipts for Every Spend Chapter 06 The Finals

Harrison looked at me, and something like approval flickered in his eyes. “Nicely done.”

The car pulled into traffic, and I watched the scenery blur past my window. For the first time in forever. 1 felt light.

But this was just the beginning. I was going to take back everything that belonged to me.

The competition came right on schedule, and Harrison and I-“Team Avengers”-blazed through every round straight into the finals. Our project was an AI-based financial risk management system, and the core algorithm came from countless all-nighters I’d pulled.

Then the night before finals, everything went to hell.

My computer got hacked. All my data vanished, and even the backups were completely wiped.

I stared at the black screen, and my whole body went cold.

“What happened?” Harrison burst into the studio looking pale.

“Someone planted a virus. Extremely targeted.” My fingers shook as I checked the logs. “It came from inside the network…”

Inside? Only Harrison and I had access to the studio network.

No, wait. There was one more person.

Last

Last week, Mom had suddenly shown up saying she wanted to drop off winter clothes for me. She’d sat in the studio for a bit and borrowed my computer to look up bus routes. I’d felt a moment of weakness and didn’t think twice about it.

Turns out, that was the killing blow.

I called Mom with shaking hands. “Did you do something to my computer?”

Her voice came through smug and satisfied. “Gwen, sweetie, what computer? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Oh, by the way, Lily’s in that same competition, and I heard her project sounds a lot like yours.”

My mind went blank.

My stepsister Lily, that airhead who only knew how to buy purses and makeup, understood coding? Since when?

So this was their plan all along. Steal my work and use it to pave the way for her precious stepdaughter.

“Why would you do this? I’m your actual daughter!” I was screaming now, completely losing it.

“Actual daughter?” Mom’s laugh was bitter. “What kind of daughter watches her mother struggle and doesn’t give her a dime? Lily promised that if she wins, all the prize money goes to me. And you? All you do is submit expense reports!”

“So you’re admitting it.” I let out a cold laugh.

Mom hung up.

I collapsed on the floor, and despair crashed over me like a wave. The final presentation was tomorrow.

Without the code and demo, what was I supposed to compete with?

“That’s it? You’re giving up?”

Harrison’s voice came from above me. I looked up at him through my tears.

“It’s all gone… I’m such an idiot for trusting her…”

Harrison crouched down and wiped away my tears, and the gesture was surprisingly gentle.

“Gwen, did you forget who I am?”

He opened his laptop, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. “You wrote the core algorithm, but I built the architecture. They stole source files, but they can’t steal what’s in your head.”

He turned the screen toward me, and there was an encrypted cloud folder. “I have this habit. All critical data syncs in real-time to my private server. And also…” A smile tugged at his lips. “I planted an easter egg in the code. If anyone runs it without the specific decryption key, something very interesting happens.”

I stared at that folder, and hope flared up in my chest again. “What kind of easter egg?”

“You’ll find out tomorrow.”

Harrison stood and held out his hand to me. “Get up. Tomorrow, we have a show to watch.”

*****

The finals venue blazed with lights and cameras. Tech company executives filled the judge’s panel. Lily walked onstage first, radiating confidence. Mom and Lily’s dad sat front row in the audience, holding up light-up signs and looking proud as hell.

Lily opened her PowerPoint and began her presentation. “Hello judges, my project is the ‘Smart Financial Risk Management System”…”

As she spoke, the screen displayed an interface I recognized immediately. Even the UI color scheme was identical to what I’d designed. The audience kept nodding, and the judges wore expressions of approval.

sat backstage, watching it all with ice in my veins. Harrison leaned back in his chair, spinning a pen between his fingers and looking thoroughly amused.