Her Betrayal, My Revenge, Our Ruin

k with failure. Cold, stale air, the ki

es. Across from me, Sarah, my wife and the CEO of our company, st

was dabbing at his eyes with a tis

cut through the silence. It was sharp, every word a perfectly formed accusation.

y, freezing on the most critical slide. But it wasn' t my fault. I

I said, my voice low and steady. "I ran

iffled

at Sarah. "You were... rushing. You looked so stressed.

ing more. He' d hovered near my workstation, making smal

aid, looking directly at Sarah. "

on the mahogany table. The s

I don' t want to

ht in front of me. She was shorter than me, but right no

' s been working day and night, picki

core of this company from nothing. The nights I spent cod

ing to a dangerously calm level, "I' m making a change. Mark i

looked past her at Mark, who was now looking at

s a mix of pity and corporate indifference. They wouldn't chall

e devoid of any emotion, of any memory

ght, pressing down on me. Fired. I

be serious,"

aid. "Pack your personal belongin

ere a stranger, an inconvenience. She pu

but I have faith in you. We need to get

rted to murmur. One of them, a

is the architect of the entire syste

a cold, confid

e will transfer all project files and pro

an order. The project was my life' s work. The core of it was built on an algori

I said, my voice finding a st

e looke

m... it runs on my proprietary algor

w about the patent, but she always saw it as a formal

. "You' ll sign the transfer agreement

clearly. "It' s licensed to the company, not ow

rue, Sarah? Is our entire platform de

threat passing between us. She was furi

dismissively to the board. "Alex will co

ention back to her

saying the user interface is clunky. You' re right. It needs a fres

show of lookin

' s code is so complex. I' m not sure I can get up

, but he was lazy and manipulative.

"Alex will stay for the rest of the day. He' l

humiliates me, and then orders me to train my replacement, the wea

he board members. At Mark' s fake humility. At Sar

ob anymore. This was about years of being taken for gra

break. Or maybe, somethin

as quiet, but it carried the

ed to the conference room monitor. Sarah thought sh

me, standin

ic attempt at feigned sympathy. "But think of our future. The I

g to manipulate me, using the future we we

of everything on the company servers that wasn' t part of the core, licensed algorithm. My notes, my research, my

e outside, but it wasn't the one she had called. It

years of emotional labor, of propping

ou asked," I sai

had won. As she turned to leave, she th

to drop your keys and ID

around Mark. The perfect picture

for our shared car. It was for my old one, the

't tur