Chapter 3 - The Night the Lights Went Out
The Emerald Gala was the biggest event of the year in Seattle,
a night where the wealthy and the powerful gathered to lie to each other over plates of caviar.
Richard arrived with Vanessa on his arm,
both of them dressed in gold and arrogance,
looking like the king and queen of a kingdom that was already starting to burn.
Vanessa was wearing a necklace that cost more than a mid-sized house,
preening for the photographers as if she were the one who had built Sterling Tech.
Richard was loud,
his laugh booming through the hall as he told anyone who would listen about the "revolution" his company was about to launch.
He didn't notice the way the other CEOs looked at him with pity,
knowing that his stock was in freefall and his lead developers had all resigned that morning.
He was a man dancing on the deck of a sinking ship,
convinced that the music would never stop.
I arrived late,
deliberately so,
stepping out of a black town car that bore the Kensington crest.
I was wearing a dress made of midnight silk that seemed to absorb the light around it,
and my hair was pulled back in a style that was sharp and uncompromising.
The room went silent as I walked in,
not because they recognized the "receptionist" ex-wife,
but because I was walking beside Fidelius Kensington.
The whispers moved through the crowd like a wildfire,
each one wondering who the mysterious woman was that had finally captured the attention of the city's most elusive titan.
Richard saw me from across the room,
and for a moment,
his drink wobbled in his hand,
his eyes widening in disbelief.
He walked toward us,
dragging Vanessa behind him,
his face a mask of forced bravado.
"Farah?"
he stammered,
his gaze moving from my face to the hand Fidelius had placed possessively on the small of my back.
"What are you doing here?"
"And why are you dressed like... that?"
I looked at him with the cool indifference one might show to a distant,
unpleasant memory.
"I’m here to enjoy the evening,
Richard,"
I said,
my voice carrying clearly to the surrounding guests.
"And as for the dress,
I believe I can finally afford something better than a Volvo."
Richard let out a nervous laugh,
trying to regain his footing in front of his peers.
"I see you’ve found a new benefactor,"
he sneered,
looking at Fidelius with a mixture of envy and fear.
"Did you tell him you were a glorified assistant,
or does he just like the way you fix his bugs?"
Fidelius stepped forward,
his presence alone making Richard seem small and insignificant.
"Farah isn't my assistant,
Sterling,"
Fidelius said,
his voice cutting through the air like a blade.
"She is the primary shareholder of the firm that currently holds your company’s primary line of credit."
"And she is the mind behind Project Ether."
The name hit the room like a bomb.
Everyone had heard the rumors of a new AI that was set to dominate the market,
but no one knew who the creator was.
Richard’s face went white,
the gold of his tie suddenly looking cheap against his pale skin.
"Project Ether?"
he whispered,
looking at me as if he were seeing me for the first time in his life.
"But you... you signed the waiver."
"You gave up everything."
I leaned in closer,
the scent of his expensive cologne now smelling like desperation.
"I gave up Sterling Sync,
Richard,"
I whispered,
my smile cold and sharp.
"I never gave up my brain."
"And the waiver you signed worked both ways."
"You signed away your right to any assets I built outside of our marriage."
"It turns out,"
"I’ve been building a lot more than you realized."
I turned away from him,
leaving him standing in the center of the room as the lights seemed to dim around him.
May you like
The celebration was over,
and the hunt had officially begun.
