Stolen Code, Broken Heart, Fierce Comeback

his composure, forcing a smil

ring into his pocket as if it were a loose coin. "You' re right. A

needed my family' s name. The Hayes name still carried weight in the old-money circles of San Francisco, a world that the new-money tech bros like him

a small, trusting smile. "T

y gesture was just that-a gesture. He saw it as a sign of my conti

orially, "since we' re talking about fresh star

comes, I

t is

sual. "She' s been so supportive of us, of

d, my voice a perfec

g... as a sign of goodwill, a wedding gift in advance, you could

property for 'Prometheus' before he' d created EvolveAI and transferred everything over. My shares were

essing his advantage. "And it would show everyone t

me to hand over the last shred of my le

, had been silent up to this point. Now

Ethan," my father, Robert Hayes,

ad always been intim

d to Ethan. "They' re just shares in a defunct

y. "Exactly! It' s

aning back in my cha

at me in shock. Ethan' s shock

ng up a finger. "I wan

faltered

voice light and breezy. "The 1964 356C. The o

. "My car? Why do

buy it from you, of course. For fair market value. We can just deduct the price from the dowry

the Hayes family, it was just a thing. A replaceable thing. He didn' t know that years ago, in a moment of paranoia before he turned on me, I had hidden a small, encrypted hard drive inside a custom-bui

e car was just a car. My request seemed emotional, whimsical-the kind of thin

ding across his face. He thought he was winning, that

sold me the weapon I was

-