Chapter 2

Liam' s face darkened.

"What did you say?"

"It's a simple question," Ava said, her tone light. "You just declared Chloe your one and only lead innovator. You promised her your full backing. So why offer me a 'nominal' position? It seems... inefficient. And a little insulting to Chloe, don't you think?"

Chloe' s adoring expression faltered for a second. She shot a quick, sharp look at Ava before pasting her smile back on.

"Oh, Ava, you're misunderstanding," Chloe said, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. "Mr. Thorne is just being generous. He knows you have nowhere else to go. He' s trying to save you from embarrassing yourself further."

She pressed herself closer to Liam.

"I don't mind at all. I know my place. If it helps Mr. Thorne achieve his goals, I'd be happy to have you on the team. I can mentor you."

Liam' s ego swelled at her words. He looked down at Chloe with pride, then back at Ava with renewed arrogance.

"You see? This is loyalty. This is grace," he said, stroking Chloe' s hair. "Something you know nothing about. I'm giving you one last chance, Ava. Take the offer, or you'll be finished in this industry before you even start your little tour."

He took a step toward her, his posture threatening. "Don't test me."

Suddenly, a loud clap of thunder echoed, rattling the glass walls of the convention center. The lights flickered for a moment. Outside, the sky had turned a dark, angry gray.

Liam paused, momentarily distracted.

In that brief second, Ava' s phone buzzed in her pocket. She glanced down. A message from Marcus Vance, CEO of Nexus Dynamics.

Plane is fueled. My team is ready to present our pitch on the flight. Ready when you are. - MV

A quiet confirmation. Her new future was already beginning.

Liam noticed her glance at the phone. "Who is that? One of your new 'partners'?" he sneered. "They'll drop you the second they realize you're just a flash in the pan. They can't offer you what I can."

"She' s always had so many... private connections," Chloe added, her voice just loud enough for those nearby to hear. "It' s how she got ahead in the first place, wasn't it?"

The insinuation was clear. That Ava had used more than her intellect to get where she was. In her past life, a comment like that would have devastated her. Now, it was just noise.

Ava ignored them both. She looked directly at Chloe, her expression unreadable.

"You know," Ava said, her voice dropping to a confidential tone. "This whole situation reminds me of that project we worked on in Zurich. Do you remember?"

Chloe' s smile tightened. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Oh, I think you do," Ava said softly, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "The server room. The one with the faulty backup logs. The ones that just happened to disappear right before the internal audit."

Ava held her gaze. She didn't say anything else. She didn't need to.

The color drained from Chloe' s face.

She remembered. Of course, she remembered. It was her first major betrayal of Ava, a small act of sabotage she thought had gone unnoticed, a secret she thought was buried forever.

Until now.

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