The Divorce Papers Gave Him The Shell And Gave Me The Future Chapter 09

The Divorce Papers Gave Him The Shell And Gave Me The Future Chapter 09

Sean and I met at his firm.

He was in his early fifties, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and spoke slowly and deliberately.

“I’ve reviewed the case. The evidence is strongly in your favor. After all, you wrote that code yourself. The timestamps don’t lie.”

“The immediate problem is the asset freeze. The court has already frozen your accounts per Apex’s request. Your patent applications will also be delayed.”

“My bigger concern right now is the public narrative.”

“Oh?”

“Ethan held his technical briefing. At it, he claimed you used your position during the marriage to steal technology that cost the company tens of millions to develop.”

“He also said you deleted large amounts of core data before you left, which is why Apex’s L4 program stalled.”

“That’s despicable.”

Sean adjusted his glasses. “Not clever, but effective. The public doesn’t understand architecture or code. They only understand ‘ex-wife stole from ex-husband.’ It’s dramatic. It’s juicy.”

“What do I need to do, Mr. Harrington?”

“First, don’t respond publicly. Let him talk. The more he talks, the more holes he creates.”

“Second, organize all your development logs from the Apex years.
Make them as detailed as possible.”

I nodded.

“Finally.” Sean looked at me. “Ms. Chase, you need to be prepared.
This lawsuit could take a long time. A year. Two years. Maybe longer.”

“And through all of it, he’ll keep coming at you. Personal attacks.
Media manipulation. Poaching your people. Cutting off your funding.
He’s not trying to win in court. He’s trying to bleed you dry.”

Outside the firm, the sky had gone dark.

I stood on the curb waiting for my car.

My phone buzzed.

Ethan: [Skylar, settle. Give me the technology. I’ll drop the suit. This
architecture was ours together. Let’s go back to collaboration. It’s
good for both of us.]

I didn’t reply.

Another message came through.

[I don’t want to destroy you. But if you force my hand, I’ll take it all the
way.]

I stared at the screen, and almost laughed.

He didn’t want to destroy me.

He just took the company in the divorce.

He just held a press conference the day before my launch to discredit

my ability.

He just sued me for trade secret theft the day after I showed my product.

He just didn’t want me to survive.

I typed three words.

[Bring it on.]

Back at the office, it was nearly nine.

I sat alone.

My phone screen glowed.

The trending topics were still there. The hate comments were still there.

But I wasn’t as scared anymore.

Because Sean was right.

He makes a move. I counter.

He wants to bleed me dry. I’ll show him how much blood I still have left.