Chapter 3

The Sterling Foundation Gala was the biggest tech-philanthropy event of the year. It was hosted by Elias Sterling, a reclusive and eccentric billionaire whose investments could make or break any company in the valley. Getting his attention was the ultimate prize.

In my first life, this gala was a catastrophe. Maya, with her carefully rehearsed piano performance of a Chopin nocturne, had charmed the room. I, in my awkward, custom-made dress that my mother had forced on me, had stood in a corner and tried to be invisible. When Elias Sterling had walked past, I'd tried to talk to him about his recent paper on quantum computing, and Maya had projected a wave of intense jealousy and bitterness from me. My family, mortified, had dragged me home and locked me in my room for a week as punishment for my "desperate, pathetic attempt" to upstage my new sister.

This time would be different.

I stood in front of my mirror. I wasn't wearing the frilly, uncomfortable dress my mother had laid out. I was wearing a simple, impeccably tailored black pantsuit. It was sleek, professional, and powerful. My hair was pulled back in a severe, clean ponytail. I looked like myself. I looked like a CEO, not a debutante.

When I came downstairs, my family was waiting. My mother's eyes widened in fury when she saw what I was wearing.

"What is that? Ava, go back upstairs and change this instant! That is not appropriate for the Sterling Gala."

"It's appropriate for me," I said.

Maya, who was wearing a flowing, pale pink gown that made her look like a Disney princess, put a gentle hand on my mother's arm. "Oh, Catherine, don't be upset. I think Ava looks... very unique. She's making a statement."

Her inner voice was dripping with scorn. She looks like she's going to a funeral. Perfect. Everyone will see how strange and morbid she is. They'll see me as the light, the joy, in this family.

My father just shook his head in disgust. "Fine. Let her embarrass herself. Let everyone see what we have to deal with. Let's go."

The ballroom was a sea of jewels and champagne. I ignored my family and made my way to a quiet corner, grabbing a tablet from a workstation and pulling up the live data feed from the company's servers.

As expected, Maya was led to the grand piano at the center of the room. She played the same Chopin nocturne. It was beautiful, technically perfect. The crowd was captivated, sighing with admiration. My parents and Ethan looked on, their faces shining with pride.

I watched Elias Sterling. He was standing near the stage, a glass of water in his hand, his expression utterly blank. He was polite, but he wasn't moved. He was a man of logic and data, not sentiment. He was bored.

When Maya finished to thunderous applause, she curtsied, her eyes sweeping the room for Sterling. But he was already turning away.

That's when I made my move. I didn't walk toward him. I walked toward the massive, interactive data visualization wall at the far end of the ballroom. It was displaying real-time global market data, a complex, beautiful cascade of numbers and light.

I put down my tablet, and my fingers flew across the holographic interface. I wasn't grandstanding. I was just... working. I saw a flaw in the display's rendering algorithm, an inefficiency that was causing a micro-second lag. On instinct, I dove into the source code, my fingers dancing as I rewrote a dozen lines, optimizing the kernel.

The display flickered for a nanosecond, and then the data flow became smoother, faster, more fluid. The colors brightened. No one in the room would have noticed the change, except maybe one person.

"You increased the rendering efficiency by 17 percent," a quiet voice said from behind me.

I turned. It was Elias Sterling. He was looking at the screen, and then at me, his eyes sharp with an intensity that I had never seen him show anyone.

"17.4 percent, actually," I corrected him. "The original code was using a recursive loop for a process that could be handled with a simple iterative function. It was redundant."

He didn't smile, but a light of keen interest sparked in his eyes. "Who are you?"

"Ava Thompson."

"David Thompson's daughter?" He seemed surprised. "I thought his daughter was the pianist."

"That's his other daughter," I said.

He studied me for a long moment. "I'm looking for a new head for my Quantum AI division. The project requires someone who doesn't just see the music, but understands the math behind the notes. Someone who finds a redundant loop more offensive than a wrong note." He gestured back toward the piano. "That was pretty. This," he said, pointing to the screen, "is revolutionary."

He extended his hand. "My office. Tomorrow. Nine a.m."

I shook his hand. "I'll be there."

As he walked away, I felt a hundred pairs of eyes on me. My family was staring, their faces a mixture of shock and disbelief. Maya was standing frozen by the piano, her princess smile gone, replaced by a mask of cold fury.

She recovered quickly, rushing over to me, her face arranged in a perfect expression of joy.

"Ava! Oh, my gosh, that was amazing! Mr. Sterling! I can't believe it! I'm so proud of you!" she gushed.

Her mental voice was a screech of pure rage. How did she do that? That old man was supposed to be mine! She cheated. She must have hacked the system to get his attention. I'll make her pay for this. I'll tell them she planned it all, that she did it just to humiliate me.

"Congratulations, sis," she said, reaching out to hug me.

I took a step back, out of her reach.

"Don't call me that," I said, my voice low and clear enough for only her and my nearby family to hear. "We are not sisters. And you are not proud of me. You're furious that your little piano recital was upstaged by actual competence."

Maya recoiled, her eyes filling with tears. "Ava, how could you say that?"

"Because it's the truth," I said.

"That's enough!" my father hissed, grabbing my arm. "You will not speak to Maya that way. You will apologize right now!"

"No," I said, pulling my arm from his grasp. I looked directly at Maya, my eyes cold as ice. "Enjoy the party. You wanted the spotlight. Now you have it."

I turned and walked out of the ballroom without a backward glance, leaving them standing in the middle of the floor, sputtering with rage, while the most powerful man in the room had just handed me the keys to the kingdom. I could feel Maya's hatred following me like a physical force. It felt like victory.