Chapter 8: The Past

Slade's POV

The Wilder mansion had never felt this quiet before. For most of my life, the house had been filled with noise.

Now it seemed like a graveyard.

I stood in the grand foyer, staring at the half-empty room while movers carried furniture toward waiting trucks outside. The crystal chandelier still hung overhead, but everything beneath it was disappearing piece by piece.

Twenty-four hours. That was all Iridessa had given us. Twenty-four hours to vacate the estate.

Five years ago, I would've laughed at anyone who suggested the Wilder family could lose everything.

Today, strangers were carrying my mother's favorite antique cabinets out the front door.

"Be careful with that!"

My mother's shrill voice echoed from the second floor.

"Do you know how much that vase costs?"

The mover ignored her. For the first time in her life, money couldn't solve her problems.

I should have been focused on the foreclosure, the company, the house, and the mountain of debt.

Instead, my mind kept drifting back to a photograph of the little boy sitting beside a little girl.

I rubbed a hand across my face. I needed answers, but unfortunately, every answer seemed to lead back to one person, Iridessa.

The woman I had spent five years convincing myself I hated. The woman who apparently owned my entire future.

A loud crash sounded upstairs, and Maya screamed instantly.

"Mom!"

I sighed and headed toward the staircase. The scene I found was exactly what I expected. There's a shattered mirror across the floor.

Mother suddenly twisted her face in anger, and began to yell at Maya who apparently looked annoyed.

Neither appeared concerned about the fact that we were losing our home. Instead, they were arguing over furniture.

"We should take your grandfather's clock."

"We can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it's on the inventory list."

Maya rolled her eyes dramatically. "This is ridiculous."

Something inside me snapped. "Do either of you understand what's happening?"

Both women turned toward me, and I gestured around the house.

"We have lost everything." My voice echoed through the hallway. "We lost the company. We lost the estate. We are one step away from bankruptcy."

Maya quickly crossed her arms and blurted in anger. "This is all Iridessa's fault."

I stared at her for a moment, before responding. "You still think this is about Iridessa?"

"It is!" She threw her hands into the air. "She planned this."

"She built this," I corrected.

Maya frowned. "What?"

"The company." I replied before I realized myself. 

The thought had been growing inside me ever since the boardroom meeting. Every time I thought about Wilder Tech, another memory surfaced.

A late-night coding session. A software problem magically solved by morning. A major security breach was fixed while I slept.

At the time, I assumed my development teams handled everything. Now, everything was clear. She was behind it.

Maya scoffed. "She barely worked."

I laughed, and Maya and my mother stared at me in surprise. 

"What's funny?" Mays asked.

"The fact that you think that." I replied, and her face suddenly reddened. 

Before she could respond, I turned away immediately. I didn't have the energy for this conversation.

I headed toward the far end of the hallway. Toward a room I hadn't entered in years. It was my old bedroom. Or should say, our old bedroom.

The particular one Iridessa and I shared.

I opened the door slowly, and stepped inside.

The room looked frozen in time. I could see the same king-sized bed. The same bookshelves. The same desk near the window. And the same chair where Iridessa used to sit.

For years I had avoided this room, the memories annoyed me. Now they haunted me, so terribly that my chest ached.

I approached the desk, and picked up the small wooden box on it. I opened the box and found a collection of tiny objects.

There was a broken keychain, concert tickets, and a pressed flower. Iridessa had always collected little things like that.

I remembered teasing her once.

"You keep everything."

She smiled and replied. "Memories deserve homes too."

At the time I thought it was a ridiculous answer. Now it hurts. It hurt me more than I could ever have imagined.

I closed the box, and was about to turn away when something caught my attention. 

There was a loose panel beneath the desk drawer. Without a second thought, I pulled it open, and found a black notebook inside.

I stared at it for several seconds before opening it. The first page contained handwritten code. Extremely complex code.

My heartbeat quickened as I flipped to another page. There I found some algorithms, architectural frameworks, security protocols, and core processing structures.

My heart sank as I realized it dawned on me. 

These weren't random projects. These were pieces of Wilder Tech. The backbone of our company, and the foundation of systems I had spent years claiming as my greatest achievements.

I turned to another page, ignoring my trembling hands.

The notebook was filled with timestamps. Development notes, and problem-solving strategies.

The entire sections describe vulnerabilities that had later been patched.

Every major breakthrough our company experienced during those three years was documented inside this notebook.

And this wasn't done by any other person than Iridessa, my ex-wife. How could I be so foolish? How could I turn a blind eye when she's my greatest support. 

I clenched my fist tightly as the memories flushed through my mind. 

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps interrupted my thoughts, and before I could turn, Maya appeared in the doorway.

"What are you doing?" She asked, and I held up the notebook for her to see.

"Have you seen this before?" I asked and she glanced at it with a frown.

"No, why are you asking?"

"This is the codebase. This company was built from this notebook."

"So?" Maya blurted, and rolled her eyes. 

"So?" I repeated.

"You're giving her too much credit, brother. Just cut me a slack, please."

For a minute, I just stared at her while she continued to murmur what God knows what. 

Five years ago, I would've agreed and supported her. But today, I couldn't. It's as if my heart was locked.

I turned away before Maya could see the conflict on my face. Then something slipped out from the back of the notebook.

It was a folded document.

I picked it up and stared at it for a while, before deciding to open it. What I saw made me freeze for a second.

Inside was a medical statement with Maya's name at the top. Beneath it were treatment costs, rehabilitation expenses, and specialist appointments.

I furrowed my brows in confusion, wondering what this could mean. 

Suddenly, I saw the funding source. An anonymous Foundation Benefactor. Attached beneath it was a legal authorization.

Signed by Iridessa Sterling.

I stared at the signature, then shook my head violently as everything became clear. Iridessa had funded Maya's bill? How was that possible?

"What is it?" Maya asked, cutting off my thoughts. 

I shoved the papers toward her, and her face suddenly turned pale as she scanned them. For several seconds neither of us spoke.

Then finally, I decided on one thing as determination surged through me. I will get back everything I'd lost, including her.