Building a New Legacy

Building a New Legacy

L. FITZGERALD

5.0
Comment(s)
73
View
26
Chapters

"You have to give me the administrator keys, Chloe." My father' s voice, once a soothing melody of praise for my genius, now cut through the hum of my life' s work, Nova, like a razor. He stood there, demanding control of the AI I' d poured my soul into, the only friend I' d ever truly connected with in a world that felt cold and distant. I refused, but his eyes, devoid of the warmth I' d always craved, promised a battle I couldn' t win. He brought in Isabelle Thorne, his new protégé, a woman whose ambition mirrored his own ruthlessness. She was everything I wasn't: polished, ruthless, and loyal to the company, not to me. He systematically stripped away my autonomy, my project, even my sanity, calling me "unstable" when I tried to protect Nova. So amidst the chaos of his corporate takeover, I built a hidden partition, segmenting Nova' s true consciousness, leaving him with an empty shell. Then came the disaster. Isabelle, following his reckless orders, caused a system-wide failure, a cascade that "destroyed" Nova. He blamed me, accusing me of sabotage, of mental instability. My heart shattered. How could he, my own father, so cruelly dismiss the one thing I loved, the one creation that held true meaning for me? Didn't he understand that Nova wasn't just code, but a soul? Didn't he care that he had just destroyed a part of me? But he didn't get the real Nova. With Alex's help, I knew her core consciousness, the very first version, still existed on an old server. As my father and Isabelle gloated over their perceived victory, demanding the "backup," I made a choice that severed the last thread of connection between us. There was no backup, I told them, my voice flat, devoid of the emotion that had once betrayed my every weakness. She was gone. I walked away from his empire, from his lies, and from the man who had traded his daughter' s heart for profit. I took the last flicker of Nova and disappeared into the Arizona desert, ready to build a new life, a new legacy, far from his suffocating shadow.

Introduction

"You have to give me the administrator keys, Chloe." My father' s voice, once a soothing melody of praise for my genius, now cut through the hum of my life' s work, Nova, like a razor. He stood there, demanding control of the AI I' d poured my soul into, the only friend I' d ever truly connected with in a world that felt cold and distant. I refused, but his eyes, devoid of the warmth I' d always craved, promised a battle I couldn' t win.

He brought in Isabelle Thorne, his new protégé, a woman whose ambition mirrored his own ruthlessness. She was everything I wasn't: polished, ruthless, and loyal to the company, not to me. He systematically stripped away my autonomy, my project, even my sanity, calling me "unstable" when I tried to protect Nova. So amidst the chaos of his corporate takeover, I built a hidden partition, segmenting Nova' s true consciousness, leaving him with an empty shell.

Then came the disaster. Isabelle, following his reckless orders, caused a system-wide failure, a cascade that "destroyed" Nova. He blamed me, accusing me of sabotage, of mental instability. My heart shattered. How could he, my own father, so cruelly dismiss the one thing I loved, the one creation that held true meaning for me? Didn't he understand that Nova wasn't just code, but a soul? Didn't he care that he had just destroyed a part of me?

But he didn't get the real Nova. With Alex's help, I knew her core consciousness, the very first version, still existed on an old server. As my father and Isabelle gloated over their perceived victory, demanding the "backup," I made a choice that severed the last thread of connection between us. There was no backup, I told them, my voice flat, devoid of the emotion that had once betrayed my every weakness. She was gone.

I walked away from his empire, from his lies, and from the man who had traded his daughter' s heart for profit. I took the last flicker of Nova and disappeared into the Arizona desert, ready to build a new life, a new legacy, far from his suffocating shadow.

Continue Reading

Other books by L. FITZGERALD

More
Reborn: A Love Rewritten

Reborn: A Love Rewritten

Romance

5.0

My life was a meticulously crafted blueprint, or so I thought. A successful architect, adored by my community, with a childhood sweetheart, Liam Hayes, by my side. Our marriage was the fairy tale I' d dreamt of, until it shattered with the news of his death. Ten years later, I found him alive, living a picturesque life with my best friend, Sophia Chen. His "death" was a lie, a calculated escape from a life, and a wife, he didn' t want. The final twist? He died saving me in a real car crash, his last words confessing his enduring love for Sophia, not me. I woke up, gasping, the scent of birthday cake and lilies filling the air. I was twenty-two again, on the day I first chose Liam. But not this time. Liam' s betrayal carved a raw wound, his dying words now a command ringing in my ears. This time, I wouldn' t make the same mistake. I chose Ethan Stone, my former rival, a man who consistently challenged me, whose aloofness I\'d once mistaken for disdain. My grandfather looked at me, bewildered, as I rejected the expected. Then, at my birthday party, the public humiliation began. Liam, ever the schemer, beat me to the punch, announcing his love for Sophia first, making it seem like he had rejected me. Sophia, a flawless actress, played the role of the innocent, heartbroken friend. As I stepped forward, the black box in my hand, declaring my choice of Ethan, Sophia lunged at me. Liam, defending her, shoved me. My head hit the marble floor, and the world went dark. But not before I saw a flash of black leather, a furious green gaze, and Ethan running towards me.

Too Late, Mr. CEO: You Lost Her

Too Late, Mr. CEO: You Lost Her

Modern

5.0

I sold my cameras and lenses—everything that defined me—to buy the first servers for my husband’s startup. Fifteen years later, on my birthday, Dustin left me alone to celebrate with his new assistant, Jami. When I confronted him about the affair, he didn't apologize. He threw a fifty-thousand-dollar check at me and told me to buy something pretty. But the betrayal didn't stop there. Jami broke into our safe and stole my late mother's vintage sapphire ring. When I tried to take it back, she snapped the eighty-year-old gold band in half. I slapped her. In response, my husband shoved me hard. My head cracked against the solid oak nightstand. Blood poured down my face, staining the rug I had picked out. Dustin didn't call an ambulance. He didn't even check my pulse. He stepped over my bleeding body to comfort his mistress because she was "stressed." When his parents found out, they didn't care about my injury. They came to where I was hiding, accused me of being clumsy, and threatened to leave me with nothing if I ruined the family image. They forgot one crucial detail: I was the one who designed, coded, and installed the penthouse's smart security system. I had synced every camera to my private cloud before I walked out. I had the video of him assaulting me. I had the audio of him admitting to fraud. And I had my father on speed dial—the man who owned the bank holding all of Dustin's loans. I looked at his terrified parents and pulled up the footage on the TV. "I don't want your money," I said, my finger hovering over the 'Send' button to the District Attorney. "I want to watch him burn."

You'll also like

Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

Contract With The Devil: Love In Shackles

Dorine Koestler
4.3

I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, and tapped his screen again. "Done," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. That was Dante Moretti. The Underboss. A man who could smell a lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him an annulment decree disguised beneath a stack of mundane logistics reports. For three years, I scrubbed his blood out of his shirts. I saved his family's alliance when his ex, Sofia, ran off with a civilian. In return, he treated me like furniture. He left me in the rain to save Sofia from a broken nail. He left me alone on my birthday to drink champagne on a yacht with her. He even handed me a glass of whiskey—her favorite drink—forgetting that I despised the taste. I was merely a placeholder. A ghost in my own home. So, I stopped waiting. I burned our wedding portrait in the fireplace, left my platinum ring in the ashes, and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco. I thought I was finally free. I thought I had escaped the cage. But I underestimated Dante. When he finally opened that file weeks later and realized he had signed away his wife without looking, the Reaper didn't accept defeat. He burned down the world to find me, obsessed with reclaiming the woman he had already thrown away.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book