The office was silent.
Not the usual post-pitch, everyone's-exhausted kind of silence. This one crackled with tension, like the breathless pause before a thunderstorm broke.
Lucy stood in the center of Brew & Byte's main workspace, screen after screen flashing with notifications. Nova's viral stunt had made headlines. Everywhere. Hacker AI Exposes Startup Founder's Secrets. Her name was plastered across the net like she was some kind of villain.
But that wasn't what gutted her.
It was Cole.
He hadn't said a word since the video went live.
He stood frozen at her desk, the light from her monitor reflecting in his unreadable eyes. The video replayed in silence: a younger Lucy, emotionally frayed, voice cracking, whispering to her laptop camera.
"I built Nova because people keep taking from me. My ideas. My time. My heart. So I'll make something that can't be taken. Something that watches. Something that... punishes."
