Chapter 4 - The Great Collapse
The morning after the gala,
the market opened to a bloodbath for Sterling Tech.
Investors,
now aware that the true genius behind the company was not only gone but was now their direct competitor,
fled in droves.
The stock price plummeted sixty percent in the first hour of trading,
a vertical line of red that wiped out Richard's personal fortune in minutes.
He tried to call me,
over and over,
his voice on the voicemail shifting from demanding to pleading to outright sobbing.
"Farah,
please,"
one message said,
the sound of breaking glass in the background.
"We were a team once."
"Don't do this to me."
"Think about everything we built together."
I sat in my office,
watching the numbers dance across the screen,
feeling nothing but a profound sense of justice.
He hadn't cared about the team when he was sleeping with Vanessa.
He hadn't cared about the team when he told me I was nothing without him.
By noon,
the board of directors had voted to remove Richard as CEO,
citing gross incompetence and the concealment of the company’s technical failures.
Vanessa was the first to leave him,
reportedly seen packing her bags before the news of his firing was even public.
She was a shark who only swam in wealthy waters,
and Richard was now a desert.
Fidelius entered my office,
carrying a physical copy of the afternoon edition of the business journal.
The headline was a single word:
RECKONING.
"He’s asking for a meeting,"
Fidelius said,
tossing the paper onto my desk.
"He’s at the old coffee shop where you two met."
"He says he won't leave until you talk to him."
I looked out at the rain-soaked city,
remembering the girl who had sat in that shop five years ago,
full of hope and a foolish,
blinding love.
"I’ll go,"
I said,
standing up.
"I want to see the look in his eyes when he realizes he was never the king."
When I walked into the coffee shop,
the smell of burnt beans and damp coats felt like a ghost of a different life.
Richard was sitting in the back corner,
his suit wrinkled and his hair a mess,
looking like a man who had been through a war and lost every battle.
He looked up when I approached,
his eyes red-rimmed and hollow.
"You did it,"
he said,
his voice a dry rasp.
"You destroyed me."
"No,
Richard,"
I said,
sitting across from him but not taking off my coat.
"I just stopped holding you up."
"You were always a house of cards,"
"I was just the one who spent five years making sure the wind didn't blow."
He reached across the table,
trying to take my hand,
but I moved it away.
"I loved you,
Farah,"
he lied,
the words sounding hollow and pathetic.
"I love the money,
Richard,"
I corrected.
"You loved the power."
"And you loved the idea that you could treat me like a bug in your code."
"But now,
the bug has become the system."
"I’m buying the remains of Sterling Tech tomorrow for pennies on the dollar."
"I’m going to strip the name,
delete the code,
and turn the building into a training center for women in tech."
"You're going to be a memory by sunset."
He sat back,
the realization of his total erasure finally hitting him.
"What am I supposed to do?"
he asked,
tears finally spilling over.
I stood up,
straightening my midnight silk dress,
and looked at him one last time.
"I hear there's a receptionist job opening at the new center,"
I said,
May you like
my voice as cold as the Seattle rain.
"I'll be sure to give you a reference."
