004: The First Glitch In The Matrix pt. II

He gestures toward the dining table, where an elegantly wrapped box rests beside a plate.

Ah yes, how can I have forgotten? We took a honeymoon four days after our wedding to Barbados and had to do a bunch of activities planned out for us, while we were stalked by paparazzi. We were the “it” couple that were a poster for body positivity and how it’s the heart that matters—if only I feel positive about my body for once.

Before I can formulate a response, he walks beside me into the dining room, pulling out a chair with a low bow. “Please, have a seat, sister-in-law.”

I blink, thrown off by how polite he is. I take the seat, watching as he picks up the silver teapot and gently pours tea into my cup.

“Thank you,” I murmur, still trying to wrap my head around his sudden existence.

Hurried footsteps echo from the dining archway and Leigh walks in, his dark gaze locking onto Damien. A scowl instantly takes over his face, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle ticks in his cheek.

Without a word, Leigh storms over, stepping directly between us. His fingers close tightly around my wrist, pulling me backward so I am standing behind his back.

“What the fuck do you want, Damien?” Leigh spits, his voice dropping into a deadly tone. “Who let you in?”

Damien doesn’t even flinch. He casually sets down the teapot, leaning back against the edge of the dining table with his hands tucked into his pockets. “Relax, Leigh. I just came to visit my brother.”

“Half-brother,” Leigh cuts in coldly, his grip on my wrist tightening just enough to make me wince. “And we both know you wouldn’t even exist if not for that whore of a mother who almost destroyed my father and everything he ever worked for.”

The air in the room turns freezing cold.

God, why do I have to be in the middle of whatever this is.

Damien’s smile wavers for a split second before turning bitter. “You treat me like I’m responsible for my mother’s actions, Leigh. It’s not my fault your father didn’t love your mother. If he had, mine wouldn’t have had a chance, would she?”

Leigh’s snaps.

He roars, ripping his hand away from my wrist as he draws back a clenched fist to drive it into Damien’s face.

“Leigh, stop!” I yell, jumping forward and throwing my hands around his arm, desperately holding him back with all the weight of my body.

Leigh freezes, his chest heaving with rapid breaths. He glares at Damien, but he lowers his arm, his eyes practically shooting daggers across the room before landing on me.

I gulp, then straighten. I am not scared of him… okay, that's a lie.

Damien straightens his jacket, looking completely unbothered by the near-fistfight. He turns his attention back to me, that polite smile returning to his face as if Leigh hadn’t just tried to break his nose.

“Anyway, Stephanie,” Damien says smoothly, his tone light and conversational. “I’ve been reading through your background. I am not surprised you are marrying Leigh even though you two do not love each other—did Leigh tell you he had a girlfriend he was hiding from everyone? I think they’re still—“

“That’s enough,” Leigh seethes through his teeth. “It’s none of your business.”

“Right?” Damien chuckles. “Anyways, I saw your paper. I know all about your technology… seventeen… thats…” he whistles. “The bypass for a third model in your source code is pure genius. Quite the clever little loop you designed there. I think when we finish working on the second, we should do that, huh?”

Wait… what?

My breath hitches in my throat immediately.

Am I tweaking? Or remembering shit wrong?

The third model bypass was a private, deeply buried software loop I wrote in my bedroom late at night. I never included it in the paperwork. I deliberately kept it out of the public patent draft the Gilfords forced me to hand over. I was nineteen when I did it, and it was what I was going to use in the future to get out of the marriage. They had already started working on a second derivative of what I made to improve stocks, so I decided to create a third one that was going to be way better.

Leigh had found it three years after our marriage and killed me.

But before that, nobody on this planet knew that existed except for me.

So how the fuck does this stranger—Damien—know about it?

What the fuck is wrong with this new life of mine?

Is this a glitch in the matrix?

Beside me, Leigh stiffens.

He whips his head toward me, revealing a slightly pale face that is shocked.

Before I can even open my mouth to say a word, Leigh grabs my arm and drags me out of the dining room.

He pulls me down the hall and shoves open the doors to his study, practically throwing me inside before slamming the door shut.

“What sort of stupid twisted game are you playing with my step brother?” He asks as he turns to face me.

I blink in confusion. Everything about this is confusing. I should have just stayed dead.

“Did you sell Damien company information behind my back?”

“What?”

“I’ve read the fucking code. It wasn’t there. And we’ve been figuring out… my father asked me to figure out what that missing thing was to make it stronger because competitors are replicating. And you’re meant to be on my side… not his!

“Even if I did, so fucking what! It belongs to me! Me!” I spit at him. “And what does it matter? He’s your brother isn’t it? It’s still within the fucking family!”

Tears are streaming down my face already and I hate that this is making me emotional. “I never wanted to sell this shit. You and my parents took my whole life away from me. Took my idea away from me!”

“You think I was interested in this? In your technology enough that I would want to marry you? I was forced into this as much as you were but for the family business I endure! To protect a business that's rightfully mine, that I have been helping to build long before the acquisition of your technology. And you go ahead and hand it over to my fathers favorite son?” He asks, shaking my shoulders so hard. “You’ve no fucking idea the blood that has been shed—“

“Oh Ì do,” I snap. “Your plan is to kill me isn’t it? So you’ll be the genius who added more value to my project? Take all the glory and what? Marry your true love? The girl Damien mentioned?”

“What’s it to you if I have someone else?” He scoffs. “And just so you know, I don’t care enough about your existence to kill you over some code.”