Introduction

I poured five years of my life into Nexus, the social media giant, building its very soul from lines of code in my quiet apartment.

The world knew my live-in boyfriend, Mark Davis, as the CEO of ConnectCorp, the charismatic face of our success, but they didn't know I was the genius behind the curtain.

On the eve of our IPO, a critical server failure threatened to derail everything, which I, Ava Chen, single-handedly fixed, only for the doorbell to ring.

It was Chloe Miller, my college rival and Mark' s new Head of Product, who sauntered in uninvited, her smile as sharp as her designer suit, to tell me my contract was "terminated, effective immediately."

Fired? It was impossible, I was Nexus, the very heart of the company.

My call to Mark rang once, then Chloe answered on another phone, locking eyes with me as she faked distress for her "call with Mark," accusing me of aggression.

"You' re his mistress," the horrifying realization hit me with the force of a physical blow, confirmed by her cruel smirk and the photo of Mark and me she turned face down.

Outside, a crowd of ConnectCorp employees gathered, pointing and whispering, eager witnesses to my public humiliation, confirming my worst fears.

Then Mark' s car screeched up, and he stormed out, ignoring me to pull Chloe into a theatrical embrace before yelling, "What the hell did you do, Ava?"

Before I could explain, his hand flew through the air, connecting with my cheek, the crack echoing through the silent street.

The man I loved, the man I built an empire for, had just publicly slapped me for his mistress.

"You' re just the code monkey who got replaced," he sneered, joining Chloe' s cruel laugh as the crowd cheered my downfall.

It was in that moment, stripped of everything, that a cold, hard resolve solidified within me.

When Mark, attempting a final insult, offered me our old, dilapidated apartment as severance, I grasped the USB holding Nexus' s un-uploaded core.

"There' s your data," I declared, throwing the drive to their feet, forcing them to scramble like dogs.

Then I walked out, leaving the life I built behind, burning it all down for a chance at true liberation.