Chapter Eleven

FIVE YEARS LATER

"Mama, you forgot your lucky pen!"

She turned at the door and smiled as her four-year-old son ran toward her, clutching the silver pen Howard had given her years ago.

"Thank you, baby." She crouched down and kissed his forehead, breathing in the sweet scent of his strawberry shampoo. "What would I do without you?"

"You'd be lost." He said it with such serious conviction that she laughed.

"You're absolutely right." She tucked the pen into her bag. "Now be good for Aunt Eunice today, okay? And remember..."

"No teaching the other kids binary code during recess." He recited dutifully, though his grey eyes sparkled with mischief. "But Mama, they want to learn."

"I know they do, sweetheart, but your teacher says it's disrupting math class." She kissed him again. "We'll work on your programming project tonight, I promise."

"Okay." He hugged her tight around the neck. "Good luck with your presentation. You're going to be amazing."

Her heart swelled with love and pride because at four years old, her son understood what a presentation was and why it mattered. He'd been reading since he was two and was currently working his way through books meant for children twice his age.

"I love you, Adrian." She whispered against his hair.

"Love you too, Mama."

Eunice appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, coffee mug in hand and a knowing smile on her face. "Go knock 'em dead, Amber. You've been working on that code for weeks and we both know you've got it."

When Howard had given her a new identity years ago, she had chosen the name Amber Clark. In this new life, she was known as Amber. She had buried Claire's identity the day she left the city to start a new life and no one knew about her past, well, except for her best friend Eunice and she only knew to an extent.

"Thanks, Eun." She grabbed her coat and bag. "I'll text you when it's done."

"I'll be waiting." Eunice winked. "And I'm making your favorite dinner tonight to celebrate."

She left the house with a smile on her face and confidence in her step. This presentation was going to change everything. TechCor had been trying to crack their security encryption code for months and she'd finally done it. Three weeks of late nights, countless cups of coffee, and pages of calculations had paid off.

The code was perfect and today she would prove to the entire executive team that she deserved the senior developer position.

The drive to TechCor's headquarters took thirty minutes and she spent the time mentally rehearsing her presentation. She knew the code inside and out because she'd built it from scratch, line by line.

When she arrived, the parking lot was already full. She grabbed her laptop bag and headed inside, nodding at the security guard who knew her by sight now.

"Big day, Ms. Clark?" He asked with a friendly smile.

"The biggest." She grinned. "Wish me luck, Darren."

"You got this."

She took the elevator to the fifth floor where the development team worked and headed straight to the conference room. She was ten minutes early, which gave her time to settle in and calm her nerves.

The room was already filling with executives and members of the development team. She found a seat near the front and set her laptop down, then grabbed a cup of coffee from the refreshment table to steady herself.

Theresa walked in a few minutes later and sat across from her. They exchanged polite nods.

Brian Duke, the head of development, walked in at exactly nine o'clock and smiled at everyone. "Good morning. We have two presentations today on the encryption problem we've been working to solve. Theresa and Amber have both been working on this independently and we're excited to see what solutions you've come up with."

He looked between them. "Who would like to go first?"

"I'll go first if that's alright." Theresa said quickly as she quickly stood up and sashayed forward. Claire watched her silently, something about Theresa's eagerness made her uneasy.

Theresa stood and connected her laptop to the projector. The screen lit up and lines of code appeared.

Her breath caught in her throat at what was on the screen.

What the hell….how the hell did this happen? That was her code on the screen.

Every single line of it.

"As you can see," Theresa began smoothly, "I've developed a multi-layered encryption protocol that uses recursive algorithms to create nearly unbreakable security..."

She stood up and her chair scraped against the floor. "That's my code."

The room went silent and all eyes were fixed on her.

Brian frowned. "Excuse me?"

"That's my code." She kept her voice level and clear. "Every line on that screen is my work. I've been developing this for three weeks."

Theresa's face shifted to surprise. "Amber, what are you talking about? This is my presentation."

"No, it's not." She moved closer to the screen. "That algorithm, that structure, all of it is mine. You're presenting my work."

"That's a serious accusation." Brian's tone was firm. "Amber, do you have proof?"

"Yes, I have all my files on my laptop." She walked back to her seat and opened her laptop.

She clicked on her project folder and her stomach dropped.

The folder was empty, her heart thudded wildly as she stared at the blank screen. Her mind went completely still.

"Amber?" Brian's voice sounded far away. "Is everything alright?"

She clicked through every folder on her laptop, searching desperately for her files. Nothing. Three weeks of work had vanished.

"My files are gone." Her voice came out steady even though her heart was racing. "All of my work has been deleted."

She looked up at Theresa and saw the faintest smile on her face.

"You did this." She said quietly. "You stole my code and deleted my files."

"That's ridiculous." Theresa's voice was full of concern. "Amber, I don't know what's going on with your laptop, but I would never steal anyone's work. This code is mine."

"Then explain the methodology." She closed her laptop and crossed her arms. "Explain why you chose recursive algorithms instead of standard loops."

Theresa didn't miss a beat. "Because recursive algorithms provide better security through layered authentication points and they're more efficient for this type of encryption."

"That's wrong." Her voice was calm and cold. "Recursion is actually less efficient here. I used it for code readability and easier debugging, not efficiency. Anyone who actually wrote this would know that."

Brian looked between them and she could see the doubt in his eyes. Without her files, it was her word against Theresa's.

"This is an impossible situation." Brian said finally. "We have one presentation and one accusation with no proof."

"I can prove it's mine." She said firmly. "Give us both a new problem. Something harder. We'll solve it in front of everyone and you'll see who actually has the skills."

Brian was quiet for a moment, considering.

"Alright." He nodded slowly. "I'm going to give you both a new encryption problem. Harder than this one. You'll both have one hour to crack it in front of this team. No preparation, no notes, just your skills."

Theresa smiled confidently and Claire's eyes narrowed, she expected to at least see her shake in fear, what was she up to now?

Brain looked at both of them. "Tomorrow morning at nine AM. You'll both attempt to crack the new code live. Whoever succeeds stays with the company and gets the senior developer position. Whoever fails leaves TechCor immediately."

The room was completely silent.

"Do you both accept these terms?"

She didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Theresa's jaw tightened. "Fine. I accept."

"Good." Brian stood. "Meeting adjourned. I'll see you both tomorrow morning."

The room emptied quickly and she sat there staring at her blank laptop screen.

Theresa walked past her chair and leaned down close enough to whisper.

"Get ready to leave TechCor” she whispered and then she was gone.

Claire sat there for a long moment before pulling out her phone and calling Eunice.

"Hey! How'd it go?"

"Theresa stole my code." She said calmly. "And somehow deleted all my files."

"What? That's insane! What are you going to do?"

"Tomorrow I'm going to destroy her in front of the entire executive team." She closed her laptop. "But tonight I need to prepare. Can you watch Adrian?"

"Of course. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." And she meant it. "I'm angry but I'm also ready. Theresa made a mistake because tomorrow everyone is going to see exactly who the real developer is."

She hung up and stood, grabbing her laptop bag.

Theresa would regret the day she ever tried to steal from her.