Chapter 2 The Tech Summit Entrance

Present Day

The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center buzzes with the kind of energy that only comes when the world's most brilliant minds gather in one place.

I stand backstage, my hands steady as I adjust the microphone clipped to my blazer. Three years ago, the thought of speaking to five thousand people would have terrified me. Today, it feels like coming home.

"Dr. Vale?" The event coordinator appears at my elbow, tablet in hand and headset crackling with chatter. "We're ready for your entrance in two minutes."

"Thank you, Sarah."

She beams at me, the way people do when they're in the presence of someone they admire. It still catches me off guard sometimes, that look. The way people see me now.

The way they never saw me before.

Through the gap in the curtains, I can see the massive screen displaying my introduction slide:

Dr. Aria Vale, CEO & Founder, Vale Tech Solutions "The Future of Digital Defense"

My official biography scrolls beneath the title. PhD from MIT at twenty-two. Founded Vale Tech at twenty-seven. Revolutionary patents in cybersecurity. Youngest woman to ever receive the Defense Innovation Award.

What it doesn't say: I spent two years married to a man who thought I couldn't balance a checkbook.

"Thirty seconds, Dr. Vale."

I close my eyes and center myself. This isn't about Leon. This isn't about proving anything to anyone.

This is about the work. The mission. The future I'm building.

Liar.

Fine. Maybe it's a little about proving something.

The lights dim in the auditorium, and I hear the familiar hush that falls over a crowd right before something big happens.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer's voice booms across the speakers, "please welcome the CEO of Vale Tech Solutions, Dr. Aria Vale."

The curtain rises.

The spotlight hits me as I walk across the stage, my heels clicking against the polished floor in a rhythm that matches my heartbeat. Five thousand faces look up at me from the darkness beyond the lights.

Somewhere in that crowd, I know Leon is watching.

I reach the podium and pause, letting the silence stretch just long enough to build anticipation.

"Three years ago," I begin, my voice carrying easily across the massive space, "a young woman walked into a coffee shop and overheard two men discussing how to steal corporate secrets using nothing but a smartphone and fifteen minutes of unsupervised access."

A ripple of interested murmurs passes through the audience.

"She listened as they laughed about how easy it was. How companies spend millions on firewalls and encryption but leave their most valuable assets vulnerable to a twenty-dollar piece of hardware from any electronics store."

I click the remote, and the screen behind me displays a seemingly innocent phone charger.

"That woman realized something that night. We're not just fighting hackers anymore. We're fighting the evolution of warfare itself. And we're losing."

The auditorium has gone completely silent.

"That woman was me. And tonight, I'm here to show you how we start winning."

The presentation unfolds like a symphony I've conducted a hundred times in my head.

I walk them through the current state of cybersecurity, outdated, reactive, always one step behind the attackers. Then I show them what we've built at Vale Tech: predictive algorithms that identify threats before they manifest, quantum encryption that makes current hacking methods obsolete, defensive systems that learn and adapt in real-time.

"Traditional cybersecurity is like building higher walls," I say, clicking to a slide showing medieval fortifications. "What we've created is more like having a conversation with your enemy before they even know they want to attack you."

Laughter ripples through the crowd, but it's the kind that comes with genuine appreciation for the metaphor.

"Our beta testing with the Department of Defense showed a ninety-seven percent reduction in successful intrusion attempts. Not just detection prevention. Complete prevention."

The numbers on the screen make people sit up straighter. These are results that will change everything.

"But here's what really matters," I continue, my voice dropping to draw them in. "This isn't about technology. It's about trust. When your grandmother enters her credit card information online, when your daughter sends a photo to her friend, when your medical records transfer between doctors, they're trusting that someone, somewhere, is protecting them."

I pause, letting that sink in.

"We built Vale Tech because that trust shouldn't be misplaced."

The applause starts slowly, then builds to something that feels like thunder rolling through the convention center.

I should feel triumphant. This is everything I've worked for.

Instead, all I can think about is the look on Leon's face right now.

"Dr. Vale, that was incredible!"

The reporter from TechCrunch pushes through the crowd gathered around me backstage, her phone extended like an offering.

"Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Vale Tech? What made you pivot from academia into private sector innovation?"

I smile, the practiced expression I've perfected over three years of interviews and presentations.

"I realized that the problems keeping me awake at night weren't going to be solved in a classroom. They needed real-world solutions with real-world impact."

"And the name 'Vale Tech'? Any significance there?"

Vale was my grandmother's maiden name. It was also the name I took when I needed to disappear completely, to become someone new.

"It means 'farewell' in Latin," I say instead. "I thought it was appropriate for a company dedicated to saying goodbye to outdated security models."

She laughs and scribbles notes. "Speaking of farewells, there are rumors that Hart Industries was interested in acquiring your patents. Any truth to that?"

My smile doesn't waver, but something cold settles in my chest.

"Hart Industries makes excellent products, but we're not in the market for acquisition. We prefer to lead rather than follow."

It's a diplomatic way of saying what I really think: Leon can't buy what he threw away.

"Dr. Vale?" Another voice cuts through the crowd.

I turn to see Marcus Webb approaching, his warm smile genuine in a sea of networking faces. He's exactly as I remember from our dinner last month, distinguished silver at his temples, kind eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses, the easy confidence of someone who's secure in his own achievements.

"Marcus." I accept his handshake, noting how he doesn't hold on too long or stand too close. Another thing that's different from my past life. "I didn't know you were attending."

"Wouldn't miss it. That presentation was revolutionary." He glances around at the crowd still clamoring for my attention. "Any chance I could steal you away for coffee? I have a proposition that might interest you."

Proposition. The word would have made me flinch three years ago, loaded as it was with double meanings and hidden agendas.

From Marcus, it just sounds like business.

"I'd like that," I say, and mean it.

Twenty minutes later, we sit in a quiet corner of the convention center's café, two cups of coffee growing cold between us as Marcus outlines his research on quantum computing applications for medical diagnostics.

"The theoretical framework is sound," he's saying, his enthusiasm infectious, "but the security implications are staggering. Medical data is already a target, but quantum-enhanced diagnostics? That's going to be like painting a bullseye on every hospital in the country."

I lean forward, genuinely intrigued. "What if we could build the security directly into the quantum framework? Not as an add-on, but as a fundamental component?"

His eyes light up. "Exactly what I was thinking. The question is whether it's technically feasible."

"It is." The certainty in my voice surprises even me. "I've been working on something similar for defense applications. The medical applications would actually be simpler to implement."

"Would you consider a collaboration? Your security expertise with my quantum research?"

I study his face, looking for hidden agendas or ulterior motives. I found none.

This is what professional respect looks like. Two experts discussing how their work might complement each other, with no power games or assumptions about who's really in charge.

It's intoxicating.

"I'd be interested in exploring that," I say.

"Excellent." Marcus reaches for his business card, then pauses. "Aria, can I call you Aria? I hope you don't mind me saying this, but it's refreshing to meet someone who leads with competence rather than ego."

If you only knew what ego looked like.

"Thank you," I say instead. "That means more than you know."

My phone buzzes against the table. A text from an unknown number.

We need to talk. - Leon

I stare at the message for a moment, then delete it without responding.

Marcus notices my expression. "Everything alright?"

"Just someone from my past who hasn't learned to stay there."

He nods, understanding without needing details. "The price of success, I'm afraid. Suddenly everyone wants to be important in your story."

Suddenly everyone wants to be important in your story.

The phrase hits me like a revelation.

For two years of marriage, I made myself small so Leon could be important in our story. I dimmed my light so his could shine brighter. I pretended to be less so he could feel like more.

I will never do that again.

"Marcus," I say, making a decision that feels like stepping off a cliff, "would you like to have dinner sometime? Not business, just dinner."

His smile is answer enough.

Later that night, I sit in my hotel room overlooking Times Square, watching the city pulse with life forty stories below.

My phone has seventeen missed calls from Leon and twelve text messages.

I didn't read them.

Instead, I think about Marcus's words: suddenly everyone wants to be important in your story.

Leon had his chance to be important in my story. He chose to make me insignificant in his.

The irony is almost perfect.

I built Vale Tech not for revenge, but for a purpose. Not to hurt Leon, but to heal the part of myself that had been slowly dying in our marriage.

But thinking of his face in the crowd tonight, the shock, the recognition, the dawning understanding of what he'd lost, I won't lie and say it didn't feel like vindication.

Three years ago, I was a woman with no options, no power, no voice.

Tonight, I stood on a stage and spoke to five thousand of the world's most brilliant minds about the future I'm building.

And tomorrow, I have a dinner date with a man who sees my mind as something to be celebrated, not diminished.

Leon can keep calling.

I'm done answering.