Chapter 2

Liam' s call felt like a lifeline thrown into the suffocating atmosphere of the car. The word "wife" echoed in the small space, a declaration of a new reality that Richard knew nothing about.

A few minutes later, Richard and Julian returned, Julian holding a gaudy glass trophy. He slid into the passenger seat with a triumphant air, placing the award on the dashboard.

Richard got behind the wheel, his eyes glancing at me in the rearview mirror. "A business call?"

"Yes," I said, offering no more.

"Important?" he pressed.

"Very."

He didn't like the short answer. He was used to me detailing my every move, seeking his approval. This new brevity was a foreign language to him. He let it go for now, a small frown line appearing between his brows.

The car moved through the city streets, heading towards his estate. My mind drifted back.

Three years. For three years, I had endured this. I remembered the dinner with the Japanese investors, a deal worth hundreds of millions. Julian had shown up, uninvited, and spent the entire evening lecturing the CEO of a robotics firm on the "soullessness of modern technology." Richard had just chuckled, patting his son's back. "He has the soul of an artist." We lost the deal.

I remembered the time I was coding for 36 hours straight to fix a critical bug before a major software update. Julian had waltzed into the office at 3 a.m. with a group of his friends, drunk and loud, wanting to show them the "cool tech stuff" his dad owned. They' d spilled a bottle of champagne on a server rack. Richard' s response? He wrote me a check for the damaged equipment and told me to "be more understanding."

His son was a protected species, and I was just the help.

The most galling part was the performance of their bond. In meetings, Julian would lean over and whisper in his father' s ear, a shared secret I was not privy to. At company events, he would put his arm around Richard' s shoulder, a casual display of ownership. He was marking his territory, and his territory included his father and, by extension, everything his father was involved in-including my company.

I had invested so much. The first two years were a grueling climb. I worked for Richard, proved my value, and finally earned his backing to start NexusAI. He was my mentor, my partner. I respected him, even revered him. I told myself the strange attachment to his son was just a quirk, a blind spot. I was reluctant to sever the ties because admitting the relationship was toxic meant admitting that a huge part of my professional life had been built on a rotten foundation.

So I stayed. And he knew I would. That's why he felt comfortable leaving me at the stock exchange. He was certain I would crawl back, accept his terms, and put Julian on my board. He was certain that the little gift box on the seat next to me would smooth everything over, as it always had.

The car pulled through the grand gates of the Sterling estate. The long, winding driveway was lined with expensive cars. The party for his 80th birthday was already in full swing.

As we stopped in front of the mansion, Richard turned to me again.

"Now, about Julian's position," he started, as if our conversation at the exchange had never happened. "We'll announce it tonight. A perfect birthday surprise for me. It will show a united front."

"A united front," I repeated, the words tasting like ash.

Julian, still preening over his award, added, "It's for the best, Olivia. It keeps things in the family."

My gaze fell on the unopened gift box. I picked it up. For a moment, Richard looked pleased, thinking I was finally accepting his peace offering.

I rolled down the window and dropped the box onto the manicured gravel of his driveway.

The sound was small, but in the quiet of the car, it was a gunshot.

Richard stared at me, his face a mixture of shock and fury. "What do you think you're doing?"

I turned to him, my voice calm and clear. "I believe you said if I refused, we would part ways."

"I did," he snapped, his jaw tight.

"Fine," I said again.

He was still catching up, his mind refusing to process the shift in power. "Fine? What do you mean, fine? Are you agreeing?"

"I mean, we part ways," I clarified, my voice like ice. "NexusAI is my company. Liam is my new partner. You and your son have no place in it."

The color drained from his face. He finally understood. The "fine" from before hadn't been submission. It had been my acceptance of his ultimatum. My declaration of independence.

"You ungrateful-" he started, his voice trembling with rage.

"Save it, Richard," I cut him off. "You got what you wanted. We part ways. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have my own celebration to get to."

I didn't wait for a response. I opened the car door, stepped out, and started walking back down the long driveway, not once looking back. The weight of three years of compromise and humiliation began to lift with every step. I pulled out my phone and called a cab, the sound of Richard shouting my name fading behind me.

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