Chapter 4

The tech blogs and Silicon Valley gossip columns were buzzing.

"Seraphina Vance, Aethelred's Iron Queen, seems to have found a new favorite. Julian Croft, the mysterious consultant who reportedly saved the company, is now her constant companion."

"Remember how fiercely protective Vance was of Elias Thorne? Sources say Croft now enjoys that same level of unwavering support, perhaps even more."

The parallels were stark.

Seraphina, who once championed Elias' s genius at every turn, now publicly lauded Julian' s "visionary leadership."

She hosted lavish dinners for potential investors, with Julian at her side, charming everyone.

Elias, wherever he was, probably heard the whispers. Or maybe he had cut himself off so completely, he was blissfully unaware.

Seraphina hoped for the latter, though a part of her, a deeply buried, shameful part, almost wanted him to know, to see how much she was "sacrificing" for this debt.

She was numb to the irony, or chose to be.

Julian, basking in the attention, suggested Aethelred host a grand gala.

"A celebration, Seraphina," he urged. "To announce Project Nightingale to the world. To show everyone Aethelred is back, stronger than ever, under new innovative guidance."

His guidance.

Seraphina, still operating under her feigned stress and the belief in Julian' s impending demise, agreed.

It would be a public declaration of Julian' s importance, a solidification of his position.

The "Nightingale Gala" became the most anticipated tech event of the season.

Invitations were coveted. The press was eager.

Seraphina oversaw the preparations, ensuring every detail was perfect, a mirror of the dedication she once poured into projects with Elias.

Ms. Albright, now relegated to more mundane administrative tasks after the "deep storage incident" left her with a persistent cough and fatigue, was, to her dismay, required to attend the gala.

Julian had insisted. "All key personnel should be there to show a united front."

She stood in a quiet corner, watching Seraphina on stage with Julian, as he eloquently presented the "vision" for Project Nightingale.

Seraphina was beaming at him, the picture of proud support.

Ms. Albright felt a wave of profound sadness for Elias, and for the Seraphina she once knew.

A junior board member, relatively new and unaware of the deeper currents, noticed Ms. Albright' s somber expression.

"She looks a bit down," he whispered to his colleague. "Poor woman, I heard she had a rough time with that lab accident a while back. Such a shame, she was Thorne' s right hand, wasn't she?"

The colleague, older and more cautious, nudged him sharply. "Quiet. Don't let Vance or Croft hear you."

Too late.

Seraphina' s gaze, sharp and cold, flicked towards them. She hadn' t heard the words, but she saw the exchange, saw them looking at Ms. Albright with something like sympathy.

Later, the junior board member found his access to certain strategic documents revoked. His upcoming project proposal was suddenly "under review indefinitely."

The message was clear, chillingly so. No public expression of sympathy for anyone associated with Elias Thorne, or anything that detracted from Julian Croft' s glory, would be tolerated.

Seraphina' s ruthlessness, once deployed to protect Elias, was now turned against anyone who wasn't fully on board with her new reality.

The gala was in full swing. Music, champagne, triumphant speeches.

Suddenly, the main power flickered. Emergency lights blinked on, casting eerie shadows.

Alarms began to blare through the venue – not fire alarms, but security breach alerts.

Aethelred' s internal network was under attack, a sophisticated, aggressive cyber assault far exceeding the previous hostile takeover attempt.

Chaos erupted. Guests panicked.

Security teams scrambled.

Seraphina' s face went pale. "What' s happening?"

A frantic tech lead rushed to her. "Massive breach, Ms. Vance! They' re targeting everything – financials, IP, Project Nightingale' s core code!"

Seraphina' s mind raced. This was a disaster.

Julian looked terrified. "They can't get Nightingale! All my work!"

The tech lead pointed to a monitor showing cascading red alerts. "They' re in deep. Main servers are compromised. We need to initiate emergency lockdown, but they' re bypassing our firewalls like they aren' t even there!"

Then, a new alert flashed. A specific, isolated server, one containing the only complete, off-network backup of Project Chimera' s ethical framework and core AI personality matrix – something Elias had insisted on, and Seraphina had forgotten existed – was also under direct attack.

It was a much smaller target, less strategically valuable to Aethelred' s current business, but to Seraphina, in that moment, it represented Elias.

The attackers were either thorough or knew its hidden value.

"We have to choose!" the tech lead yelled over the din. "We can try to reroute remaining defensive capacity to protect Nightingale' s primary development server, or we can try to shield the Chimera backup. Not enough resources for both against this level of attack!"

A split-second decision.

Nightingale was Julian' s project, Aethelred' s supposed future, the reason for all her sacrifices.

Chimera was a ghost, a memory of Elias.

Julian grabbed her arm. "Seraphina, Nightingale! It' s everything!"

She looked at the flashing lights, the panicked faces.

"Protect Nightingale," she choked out. "All resources to Nightingale."

Her choice was made. Julian over Elias. The present over the past.

As the security team diverted all defenses to Julian' s project, the Chimera server' s defenses visibly collapsed on the monitor.

Red lines turned to black. Connection lost. Data corrupted. Wiped.

Project Chimera, Elias' s dream, their "child," was truly, finally, irrevocably gone.

Seraphina felt a sharp, unexpected pang of loss, so intense it was like a physical blow.

Then, a section of the ceiling above the main stage, weakened by a power surge from the attack that fried a junction box, creaked ominously.

Sparks rained down.

People screamed.

Seraphina was standing near the edge of the stage, Julian beside her.

The weakened structure groaned, then began to fall.

Julian, in a moment of pure self-preservation, shoved Seraphina.

Not towards safety, but inadvertently into the path of a smaller, falling lighting rig.

She stumbled, looking up in horror.

Time seemed to slow.

She saw the rig descending.

Then, a blur of motion.

Ms. Albright, who had been standing numbly nearby, reacted instantly.

She lunged, pushing Seraphina hard, clear of the main impact.

The heavy rig crashed down where Seraphina had been a second before.

Ms. Albright, however, wasn't fast enough to get completely clear herself.

A heavy metal edge struck her shoulder and head.

She crumpled to the ground without a sound.

Seraphina, sprawled and dazed, looked back.

She saw Ms. Albright lying still, a dark stain spreading on the pristine white tablecloth beneath her head.

"EVELYN!" Seraphina screamed, scrambling towards her, the cyber attack, Nightingale, Julian, all momentarily forgotten.

The raw, uncontrolled grief and terror in Seraphina' s voice was shocking.

It was a sound no one had heard from her in months, a sound that echoed her old devotion, her true, hidden feelings, suddenly, inadvertently, laid bare.