Chapter 45

No.1

The executive boardroom at the top of the Aethel tower was a monument to corporate power.

Floor-to-ceiling glass offered a dizzying,360-degree view of the Manhattan skyline. In the center of the room sat a massive table carved from a single slab of black walnut.

Alastair Cromwell sat at the head of the table,casually scrolling through a tablet.

Elisa was not at the table.

She stood in the shadows at the back of the room,completely concealed behind a massive, one-way mirror screen used for observing focus groups. She held a crystal glass of sparkling water, the ice clinking softly against the rim.

The heavy oak doors of the boardroom swung open.

Allena walked in, her medical boot thumping against the carpet. She wore her most practiced, radiant smile, flanked by her nervous assistants.

She scanned the room. Her eyes darted around,looking for the mysterious genius she was here to impress. Seeing only Alastair, a flicker of disappointment crossed her face, but she quickly masked it.

No.2

"Mr. Cromwell," Allena cooed, extending her hand."It is such an honor."

Alastair didn't stand up. He didn't take her hand. He simply gestured to the chair at the opposite end of the long table.

"Sit down,Dr. Mills. You have ten minutes."

Allena's smile tightened, but she sat. Her assistants scrambled to connect a laptop to the main projector.

The lights dimmed slightly. Allena stood up and began her presentation.

She spoke with exaggerated passion, clicking through slides filled with complex-looking medical graphs and buzzwords. Her core request was bold:she wanted her medical research center to be granted Level-2 access to the Project Chiron core Al database.

Behind the glass screen, Elisa watched the slides.

Her eyes narrowed. She recognized the data models immediately. They were fundamentally flawed,relying on outdated algorithms that Chiron had outgrown three years ago.

No.3

Elisa let out a very soft, very dry scoff.

Alastair, wearing a micro-earpiece hidden in his left ear, heard the scoff perfectly. The corner of his mouth twitched upward.

Allena finished her pitch with a dramatic flourish."With Aethel's Al and my clinical oversight, we will revolutionize diagnostics."

She looked at Alastair, her eyes wide,waiting for the applause and the contract.

Alastair placed his hands flat on the table. He looked at her with an expression of absolute, freezing boredom.

"Dr. Mills," Alastair said, his voice echoing in the large room. "I have reviewed your proposal."

He paused, letting the silence stretch until it became uncomfortable.

"Frankly," Alastair continued, his tone brutal, "it is a catastrophic embarrassment."

No.4

Allena's jaw actually dropped. The color drained completely from her face. She looked around the room,convinced she had misheard him.

Alastair didn't give her time to recover. He pointed at the screen.

"Slide four contains fabricated clinical trial data,"Alastair stated coldly. "Slide nine demonstrates a fundamental, almost comedic misunderstanding of neural network architecture."

Behind the glass, Elisa pressed a button on her internal comms unit. She spoke a single, devastating sentence directly into Alastair's ear.

Alastair listened, his eyes locking onto Allena. He repeated Elisa's words verbatim.

"Your model," Alastair said, his voice dripping with disdain, "is like trying to build a nuclear reactor out of wooden blocks. It is not just stupid. It is dangerous."

The words hit Allena like physical blows. Her face flushed a dark, ugly red. Her hands gripped the

edges of the podium so hard her knuckles turned white.

No.5

"Mr. Cromwell," Allena stammered, her voice shrill with panic and anger. "This research is fully backed by the Chambers Group. August Chambers himself-"

"Aethel does not need August Chambers' money,"Alastair cut her off, his voice cracking like a whip."We need competent partners. Not parasites trying to build a career on nepotism and stolen credit."

The word parasite hung in the air. It shattered Allena's carefully constructed facade of professional dignity.

Before Allena could scream a response, the sound of sharp, rhythmic footsteps echoed from the back of the room.

Elisa stepped out from behind the one-way mirror.

She walked slowly into the light, her black suit absorbing the glare of the projector. Her posture was absolute dominance.

Allena turned her head. When she saw Elisa, her eyes bulged.Her brain completely short-circuited.

"You!" Allena shrieked, pointing a shaking finger at Elisa. She looked wildly at Alastair. "What is she doing here?! Security! Get this crazy bitch out of here!"

No.6

Nobody moved. The room was dead silent.

Elisa walked past Allena without looking at her. She pulled out the heavy leather chair directly to Alastair's right and sat down. She crossed her legs and folded her hands on the table.

She looked down the length of the table at Allena. A slow, chilling smile spread across Elisa's face.

"Let's introduce ourselves properly, Dr. Mills," Elisa said softly.

Alastair leaned forward. "Dr. Mills, allow me to introduce Aethel's Chief Technology Architect. The sole creator of Project Chiron."

Elisa tilted her head, her black eyes locking onto Allena's terrified face.

"People in the industry," Elisa whispered, the words slicing through the room like a scalpel, "call me Faye."

The name dropped like a bomb.

No.7

Allena froze. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. The absolute, world-ending realization crashed into her. The genius she had been begging for access, the titan she had been trying to impress, was the woman she had mocked in the lobby.

The sheer humiliation was so intense it made Allena physically sway on her feet.

Elisa reached out, picked up the printed copy of Allena's proposal, and dropped it directly into the heavy-duty paper·shredder built into the table.

The macchine roared to life, grinding the thick paper into confetti.

"Take your garbage," Elisa commanded, her voice absolute ice. "And get out of my building."

Allena let out a strangled sob. She turned and practically ran out of the boardroom, her cane clattering against the doorframe, leaving Elisa sitting in the quiet hum of the shredder, savoring the absolute destruction.