The Price of Ambition

ilicon Valley gossip

a new favorite. Julian Croft, the mysterious consultant who

ias Thorne? Sources say Croft now enjoys that sam

llels we

s genius at every turn, now publicly l

otential investors, with Julian

whispers. Or maybe he had cut himself off

deeply buried, shameful part, almost wanted him to kno

o the irony, o

ttention, suggested Aeth

t Nightingale to the world. To show everyone Aethelred is

guid

r feigned stress and the belief in

on of Julian' s importance, a

came the most anticipated

e coveted. The

very detail was perfect, a mirror of the dedic

after the "deep storage incident" left her with a persistent co

key personnel should be th

ina on stage with Julian, as he eloquently p

ng at him, the pict

ofound sadness for Elias, and

and unaware of the deeper currents, no

man, I heard she had a rough time with that lab accident a whil

ious, nudged him sharply. "Quiet.

la

he hadn' t heard the words, but she saw the exchange, saw

rtain strategic documents revoked. His upcoming proje

sympathy for anyone associated with Elias Thorne, or anything

rotect Elias, was now turned against anyone w

wing. Music, champagne

kered. Emergency lights blink

h the venue – not fire alarm

a sophisticated, aggressive cyber assault far

ted. Guest

teams s

e went pale. "Wh

ch, Ms. Vance! They' re targeting everything – f

nd raced. This

d. "They can't get Nig

e in deep. Main servers are compromised. We need to initiate emergency lo

network backup of Project Chimera' s ethical framework and core AI personality matrix – someth

valuable to Aethelred' s current business, but to

ither thorough or kn

defensive capacity to protect Nightingale' s primary development server, or we can try

second d

, Aethelred' s supposed future, t

ghost, a mem

. "Seraphina, Nighting

flashing lights, t

she choked out. "All re

ulian over Elias. The

to Julian' s project, the Chimera server' s

ack. Connection lost.

eam, their "child," was trul

ected pang of loss, so intens

stage, weakened by a power surge from the atta

raine

e scr

near the edge of the st

cture groaned, th

f pure self-preservat

ertently into the path of a s

d, looking

eemed

he rig de

blur o

een standing numbly nea

Seraphina hard, clea

down where Seraphina h

asn't fast enough to get

ge struck her sh

o the ground w

awled and daze

dark stain spreading on the pristi

g towards her, the cyber attack, Nighti

ief and terror in Seraph

, a sound that echoed her old devotion, her true,