Chapter 3

A gasp went through the crowd. The challenge was outrageous, a public humiliation designed to shatter Ava' s reputation completely. Liam watched with a cruel smirk, clearly enjoying the spectacle. He believed in Chloe, in her love and her AI. He saw this as his vindication.

Ava looked at Chloe' s smug face, then at Liam' s arrogant one. A fire she thought had been extinguished with her last life rekindled in her chest. It wasn't just about her reputation anymore. It was about Noah Hayes, the man whose system was damaged in the same "accident." It was about the truth that Liam and Chloe were so desperate to bury.

She met Chloe' s gaze, her own eyes cool and unreadable.

"That's a very... public bet, Miss Davies," Ava said, her voice steady. "But the terms are a bit one-sided. You're betting on fixing Liam Thorne. What am I betting on?"

Chloe laughed. "You're betting on not being publicly disgraced. Isn't that enough?"

"No," Ava said simply. "It's not."

She let the silence hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "I'll accept your bet. But on my own terms."

Her eyes swept the room and landed on a figure standing quietly in the back, watching the scene unfold with an intense, analytical gaze. Noah Hayes.

"I won't be treating Liam Thorne," Ava announced, her voice ringing with newfound confidence. "As I said, his system is a lost cause. Instead, I will be treating Noah Hayes."

The crowd erupted in murmurs. Everyone knew Noah Hayes. They also knew his injuries, while less severe than Liam's, were notoriously complex. The damage to his neural interface was subtle but pervasive, a puzzle that no one had been able to solve.

"Hayes?" someone whispered. "His system is a mess of corrupted sub-routines. Fixing that is harder than a full reboot!"

"She's insane," another commented. "Thorne's is a hardware issue. Hayes's is a deep-code nightmare."

Chloe' s smile faltered for a fraction of a second. She knew the rumors about Noah' s condition. But her pride wouldn't let her back down now.

"Fine," Chloe spat, her confidence returning. "Bet on the losing horse if you want. It makes no difference. When Liam stands up from this chair, you will still be on your knees."

"The terms," Ava pressed on, ignoring her. "In one month, we meet here again. If Liam is walking, and Noah is not, I will do as you say. But if I succeed in healing Noah Hayes, and you fail with Liam..."

Ava paused, letting the anticipation build.

"...Then you, Chloe Davies, will publicly confess that your Prometheus AI is a dangerous fraud. And you, Liam Thorne," she said, turning her cold gaze on him, "will transfer five percent of Thorne Industries' stock to Hayes Innovations."

The stakes were now astronomical. It wasn't just about pride anymore; it was about fortunes.

Liam stared at her, his face a thundercloud. "You presumptuous little-"

"I accept," he bit out before Chloe could object. He was so blinded by his faith in Chloe and his hatred for Noah that he couldn't see the trap. "Prepare to be ruined, Ava. And you can say goodbye to any hope of competing with me, Noah." He sneered in Noah's direction.

Ava gave a small, lethal smile. "Let's hope your system can handle the stress of you losing, Liam. It looked a little unstable just now."

She turned from them and walked directly toward Noah Hayes. His expression was one of guarded surprise.

Inside, Ava was assessing Chloe's so-called 'Prometheus' AI. She knew its core architecture from her past life's research. It was aggressive, unstable, and designed to overwrite, not heal. It was like using a sledgehammer for brain surgery. Chloe was a decent coder, but she lacked finesse and, more importantly, a fundamental respect for the systems she was trying to manipulate. She was about to inject pure chaos into Liam' s already fragile neural net.

The news of the bet spread like wildfire through the city's elite circles. "The Billion-Dollar Bet," the tabloids called it. Liam, ever the showman, publicly announced he was placing a massive personal wager on Chloe' s success, further cementing his image as a man betting it all on love and innovation. It was a narrative he was happy to push.

A few days later, Ava was at Hayes Innovations, a sleek, modern facility that felt a world away from the oppressive opulence of the Thorne mansion. Noah's lab was functional, filled with cutting-edge tech but without the ostentatious branding.

Noah was waiting for her, not in a wheelchair, but seated in a chair, his posture rigid. He could walk, but with a noticeable limp and obvious difficulty.

"I don't know what your game is with Thorne," Noah said, his voice direct, "but I appreciate the opportunity. My team has hit a wall."

"Your game, my game... we both want to win, don't we?" Ava replied, already pulling up his diagnostics on a floating holographic screen. The code was a tangled mess, just as the rumors said. But beneath the corruption, she saw an elegant, powerful system. Her algorithm could heal this. It would be like untangling a knotted golden thread.

"My family is in your debt, Miss Reed," Noah's older sister, Clara Hayes, said as she brought them coffee. She had her brother's sharp intellect but a warmer demeanor. "Whatever you need, just ask. We will repay you handsomely."

Ava looked up from the screen, her focus absolute.

"I don't need repayment, Ms. Hayes," she said, her eyes fixed on the corrupted code. "I just need to win a bet."

Her fingers began to fly across the holographic keyboard, the unique, healing code of her algorithm beginning to flow. The fight had begun.