The Divorce Papers Gave Him The Shell And Gave Me The Future Chapter 04

The Divorce Papers Gave Him The Shell And Gave Me The Future Chapter 04

The venue manager called me, stammering apologies before finally coming clean.

“Ms. Chase, I’m really sorry. Apex signed an annual partnership with us. The condition was that we can’t work with you. There’s nothing I can do.”

“I understand.” I kept my voice even, though my jaw was tight.

As soon as I hung up, Leo ran in.

“Boss, we’re under attack.”

“Someone tried to breach our database.” His fingers flew across the keyboard. “A professional job. They didn’t break through the main server yet, but their target was clear, the demo data.”

My heart sank.

“Activate emergency protocol. Isolate all core data physically. And trace the IP.”

“Got it.” Leo’s voice went cold. “The IP address traces back to Apex Dynamics’ R&D department.”

Derek shot up from his chair. “Are you kidding me? They have no shame.”

I held up a hand. “Stay calm.”

I called our lawyer.

“Sean, I need you to file a preservation of evidence request against Apex Dynamics immediately. Someone just tried to breach our servers. We have the IP address locked.”

I set the phone down and leaned back in my chair. My mind drifted back to six years ago.

We’d just closed our first round of funding. Ethan was so happy he took the whole team out to dinner.

Someone asked what we’d do if we ever faced dirty competition.

Ethan raised his glass and said, “We compete with technology. We don’t play those games.”

Later that night, a little drunk, he said to me, “Skylar, no matter what happens, I’ll always be the person you can trust most.”

Always.

Six years.

Turns out his “always” only lasted six years.

“Boss.” Leo’s voice pulled me back. “What about the venue?”

I rubbed my temples.

My phone rang again. A landline this time.

“Hello, am I speaking with Skylar Chase?”

“This is she.”

“Hi there, this is Ryan Foster from the State Regional Mobility Test Track. We saw in the media that your company has a product launch in two days. Do you need a live demo venue?”

I froze.

“I’m sorry, who did you say you are?”

“The state just finished a new smart vehicle testing facility in the south part of the county. It passed inspection two days ago and isn’t open to the public yet.”

“If your company needs a venue, we’d like to offer support. Our director is very interested in autonomous driving technology. We’d love to work with a strong team.”

I felt a lump in my throat.

“Thank you, Mr. Foster.”

“Don’t mention it, Ms. Chase. We’re betting on your talent. Send someone over to coordinate. No charge.”

I hung up.

Leo and Derek were both staring at me.

“We have a venue.” I said.

They both let out a breath and exchanged grins.

I turned to the window.

Maybe there was still fairness in the world.

Maybe real excellence still got noticed.

At two in the afternoon, Ethan’s press conference kicked off at Apex Dynamics headquarters.

Derek went to “observe” and sent me a live text feed.

[Boss, Apex’s slide deck is more than half our old technical roadmap!!! Including the L4 architecture diagrams you never made public!!!]

I watched the messages appear, my fingers slowly curling into fists.

[Now a reporter is asking about new startups.]

[He says he supports healthy competition. But that some people just hype up lab experiments to get attention. And that it’s irresponsible to the industry.]

[He mentioned you. Didn’t say your name. But everyone knows who he’s talking about.]

I watched the words keep flashing across the screen.

The AC was blasting, but I felt a fire burning down my back.

“Boss, you okay?”

Leo looked at me with concern.

“I’m fine.” I said. “Pull together all our technical documentation from the Apex years. Everything with timestamps. Every version history, email, meeting note.”

“What are you going to do?”

“We’re adding a segment to the launch.”

“What segment?”

I turned to face him.

“I’m going to show everyone who’s really the liar in this competition.”