Chapter 2

"Alright, what's your game now? Another lawsuit like last time?" Sarah's cold glare cut across the office. His easy agreement had clearly unnerved her.

Liam' s mind replayed the glowing text from the news ticker. If she only cared about Alex, what was the point of forcing her to stay? He had already seen the disastrous end to that path.

"No," he said, his voice genuine. "I genuinely want to help you."

She eyed him suspiciously for a long moment, searching his face for a trick. Then, her expression shifted, a triumphant light filling her eyes.

"That's more like it!" she exclaimed, her voice suddenly bright. "I promised Alex I'd get him to the top. If you hadn't been so focused on your own projects, Alex would be there already."

She walked over to his desk, her demeanor shifting from partner to commander.

"You can start by compiling a list of your most valuable contacts and investors," she ordered. "The ones you're always too stingy to share. Alex will need them for his launch."

Her tone left no room for argument. Liam felt a bitter pang in his chest. His contacts. The relationships he had spent a decade building, nurturing, the very foundation of their company's financial success.

"Fine," he said, his voice hollow. "Give him everything."

Sarah settled into the chair opposite him, a smug, eager look on her face as he began the process of transferring her assets. "You're always so dramatic. I built a successful company from nothing, which proves my talent. Alex has been working hard too; he won't drag me down. I could launch ten companies if I wanted."

Liam just smiled, his fingers moving across the holographic keyboard. He didn't comment. When she was just starting out, she did have some talent, some raw drive. But that was a long time ago. Now, without his strategic guidance, without his network, without his code, she was just another entrepreneur with an overinflated ego.

She touched the custom-made smartwatch on her wrist, a device he had designed for them both, a symbol of their partnership, linked in ways no other devices were.

"And get rid of this partnership watch too," she said, her voice sharp. "Alex always gets annoyed when he sees it. Launching this AI needs absolute focus; this watch might distract him."

As she spoke, more news tickers scrolled across Liam's glasses, ghostly premonitions of a future he was now actively avoiding.

Sarah showers Alex with affection, even ditching her partner' s gift because Alex disliked it!

Liam must be seething with jealousy! Sarah belongs to Alex, and she'll erase every trace of you!

His eyes burned. His fingers clenched into a fist under the desk. That watch. It represented years of struggle together, the time they nearly went bankrupt, the night they celebrated their first major contract by sharing a cheap pizza on the office floor. She used to show it off to everyone, a proud symbol of what they had built. Now it was just a distraction for Alex.

With trembling hands, he accessed the watch's core systems and disabled its unique features, severing the link between them. He forced his voice to remain calm.

"It's all gone," he said.

Sarah, satisfied, then pointed to a limited-edition drone sitting on a display shelf. It had been her birthday gift to him last year. "Alex can have this. It's just collecting dust anyway; you never use it."

She knew he treasured it. He was always so afraid of crashing it, of damaging the one thing she had given him that wasn't tied to the business. Liam let out a short, self-deprecating laugh and nodded.

"Sure. Give it to him."

She moved through the office like a scavenger, meticulously gathering every valuable item, every piece of high-end tech, every award they had won together. Each item was designated for Alex.

"Oh, and clear out your main office for Alex these next few days," she said as she was about to leave, her arms full. "He's a hands-on guy; the other offices are too small. Yours is perfect."

Liam looked around the space that had been his sanctuary, his command center. He just nodded again, his face a mask of indifference.

"Okay. I agree."

He watched her rush off, eager to deliver the spoils to Alex. A cold smile touched his lips. He could give up the office. But whether she and Alex would ever actually get to use it was another story entirely.