Chapter 5
489words
The room erupted in applause—for Stellar, for me, for the underdog story they couldn't wait to print. Reporters swarmed us like piranhas, camera flashes creating a strobe effect around our team.
Nathan's area emptied like a sinking ship. His few remaining team members packed up with ashen faces, eyes fixed on the floor.
I navigated through the crowd toward the exit, headed for our victory celebration.
In a quieter section of the hallway, Nathan suddenly appeared, blocking my path.
His bloodshot eyes were wild with desperation. All composure gone, he grabbed my wrist with bruising force.
"You backstabbing bitch!" he hissed through clenched teeth. "You planned this from the start, didn't you? That algorithm—MY algorithm! You stole MY work! Have you forgotten who kept you fed and clothed for five years?!"
I yanked my arm free, a red bracelet already forming where he'd gripped me.
I stared coldly at this man I'd once loved enough to die for, now reduced to a snarling, pathetic shadow.
"Your technology?" I said quietly.
"Should I remind you that before your accident, you could barely patch together other people's code? Should I play the recordings of you sobbing, begging me not to leave, swearing I was your only hope? Or mention how that 'breakthrough report' after your recovery was actually written by me at 4 AM while you slept soundly?"
He staggered backward as if physically struck, his back hitting the wall with a dull thud.
What little color remained drained from his face, leaving only naked fear and the hollow realization of complete defeat.
His mouth worked soundlessly, unable to form words.
"The code… the solutions… they're mine…" he mumbled, eyes unfocused, desperately clinging to his crumbling reality.
"I wrote every line," I stated flatly. "Every project you couldn't crack, every problem that stumped your team—I solved them all. Your 'genius moments' were just solutions I fed you after all-nighters. Without me, Nathan, you're nothing. Your empire was built on sand. You're just a fraud with good timing."
He stared at me as if truly seeing me for the first time, his eyes wild and unfocused.
"Why?" he whispered, voice breaking. "You stayed five years… suffered everything… just for revenge? You planned this from the start?"
"Why?" I laughed softly. "Because I loved you, Nathan. God help me, I actually loved you. Enough to bury my talents, become your stepping stone, push you back to glory. I even convinced myself that suffering for you was some kind of honor."
I looked at his devastated face, his trembling hands, feeling nothing but cold finality.
"But now I'm cured. Looking at you turns my stomach. Your success or failure means nothing to me anymore. You're on your own."
Without another glance, I walked toward the Stellar team waiting ahead, toward my future.
Leaving him and his collapsing world in darkness where they belonged.
