Chapter 3

A sharp intake of breath crackled through the speaker.

"Evelyn... are you serious?"

"We'll have live road tests during the keynote. I achieved true vehicle-to-everything synchronization—completely ditching high-definition pre-mapped data."

"Damn," Victoria breathed, excitement trembling in her voice. "If you really pulled that off, this entire market is about to get flipped on its head. I'll handle the press. We're going to make this massive."

I hung up and headed toward my car.

Passing a convenience store, a TV near the counter caught my eye. A financial news broadcast was playing.

Julian was on screen.

Dressed in an immaculate bespoke suit, he smiled effortlessly under the studio lights.

"Astra Tech will aggressively focus on smart mobility, aiming to achieve full commercial deployment of Level 4 autonomous driving within three years."

The reporter chimed in, "Rumor has it that your former co-founder, Evelyn Clark, was the core brain behind this initiative. Will her departure impact your R&D timeline?"

Julian’s smile didn't waver.

"Evelyn is a fine engineer. But Astra Tech is a team, not a one-man show."

"Do you have any words for her future endeavors?"

"I wish her the best in finding where she truly belongs."

His charm was utterly flawless.

I stood glued to the sidewalk, staring at that familiar yet repulsive face.

The Julian from six years ago—the boy who pulled all-nighters coding in a freezing room, who swore we were going to build something that changed the world, whose lips were chapped but whose eyes shone like stars...

That boy was dead. Murdered by the man on the screen.

Two days before the launch.

Liam, Leo, and I were running on fumes at our new workspace.

Our new company was named "Skye AI." We rented a modest three-story brick building in the old industrial district. Rent was forty-five hundred a month—laughably pathetic compared to Astra Tech’s towering glass headquarters.

Yet the servers humming inside this little building were running the most advanced self-driving algorithms on the planet.

"Boss, the real-vehicle test results are in!"

Leo kicked the office door open, dark circles hanging under his eyes like bruises, but practically bouncing on his heels.

"Urban scenario success rate: 99.3%. Highway scenario: 100%. We just curb-stomped every single competitor on the market."

"Cut the telemetry footage into clips. We'll run them during the keynote."

"On it," he plugged a flash drive into his laptop. "Oh, by the way, Boss... one thing."

"Go ahead."

"A headhunter hit me up this morning offering double my salary to jump back to Astra. Julian is desperately poaching everyone who walked out. He's throwing blank checks around."

Liam looked up from his monitor. "He's terrified."

"Damn right he is," Leo sneered. "He's terrified we'll drop something groundbreaking, but he's too arrogant to beg us back. So he's throwing money at the wall to lock people down and keep his investors pacified."

"Then why are you two still here?" I asked quietly.

Leo grinned broadly. "Because sticking with you means we actually change the world."

Liam smiled, too. "You gave me my first shot right out of grad school, Evelyn. Nobody has enough money to buy me away from you."

Looking at them, a warm ache bloomed in my chest.

At three in the afternoon, Victoria arrived.

With over a decade in tech media, her word carried serious weight. She brought an entire camera crew to shoot an exclusive interview.

"Evelyn, you have to claim the narrative right now," she urged, sitting across from me as the lights were rigged. "Astra received your press invitation.”

“Julian's PR machine is already seeding articles. If you don't strike first, the moment you unveil your prototype, they'll frame you as a disgruntled ex stealing company IP."

"I know," I smoothed my blazer. "Roll it."

The red recording light flashed on.

Victoria leaned in. "Evelyn, tell our viewers: why launch a brand-new startup so immediately after leaving Astra Tech?"

I stared directly into the lens.

"Because I couldn't let it go."

"Let what go?"

"The code. The blueprints. The hundreds of nights spent debugging in the lab." I paused.

"Every foundational algorithm and neural network at Astra Tech was written by my own hands. The day I walked out, their technical soul died. This industry deserves better than marketing hype. That's why I'm back."

"Julian claims Astra's engineering team remains intact and their Level 4 timeline is on track. What's your response?"

"I wish them luck."

Once the interview wrapped, Victoria’s team hurried to edit the cut.

She pulled me aside, lowering her voice. "Evelyn, I just got a tip. Julian called a sudden press conference of his own. Set for tomorrow afternoon. The day right before your launch."

Liam frowned. "He's trying to hijack our news cycle."

"Worse," Victoria warned. "He invited top venture capitalists. Marcus Sterling will be sitting front and center."

I stayed silent for a beat.

"Let him talk. A real product doesn't lie."

Except the next morning, disaster struck.

The testing track facility we booked for our live demonstration abruptly cancelled our contract.