Chapter 2

The moment the meeting ended, I planted myself right in front of Brad.

"Mr. Michielsen, I'd like to know what the criteria for this award actually are."

Brad seemed to have seen this coming. He pushed up his glasses with a stern face. "Tommy, if you have something to say, say it in my office."

I took a deep breath, held back the urge to blow up on the spot, and followed him there.

Brad's office reeked of stale bureaucracy.

He settled back into his big executive chair and spoke at a leisurely pace. "Tommy, I know you're technically skilled, and you've contributed a great deal to the institute. But..."

He shifted gears and tapped the thick attendance record on his desk. "Take a look at your attendance! How many times are you late in a month? How many times do you leave early?

"Tessa clocks in on time every day and has never missed a day. Her attitude toward work is exemplary, and the project team thinks very highly of her.

"Our institute is a government institution, not a mom-and-pop shop. Discipline comes first! Do you understand?"

I understood, all right.

The algorithm I considered priceless was worth less, in his eyes, than a perfect attendance record.

I didn't bother answering him. I turned, walked out of his office, and headed straight for Dean's door.

Dean was my father's old comrade-in-arms. Back then, he'd courted me relentlessly, leaning on his friendship with my dad to lure me away from a Big Tech company.

My one and only condition at the time was flexible hours, with no rules and regulations tying me down. He'd agreed.

"Mr. Perrin," I said, getting straight to the point, "I can't accept what happened today. You know full well how many problems I've solved. What did Tessa do? If I hadn't pulled an all-nighter at the end to rebuild the underlying code of her project for her, it would be a pile of scrap by now!"

Dean listened, then let out a heavy sigh and patted my shoulder. "Tommy, cool off first. I know you've been treated unfairly here. I'll go have a word with Brad."

I went back to my desk, but I couldn't settle down no matter what I did.

Before long, I heard an argument coming from Brad's office next door.

Almost without meaning to, I got up and drifted to the corner of the hallway.

Dean's voice carried a firmness I'd never heard from him before.

"Brad, I need to make myself clear about Tommy Lowe. I brought him here on the strength of his father's goodwill. That kid is a rare talent. He's the one who cracked every single one of those nightmare projects here at the institute! Go easier on him and stop fixating on his attendance!"

That was followed by a cold laugh from Brad.

"Dean, your problem is that you care too much about personal ties! I don't care who brought him in. Under me, everyone gets treated the same. Discipline is iron, and whoever crosses it bleeds! By protecting him, you're hurting him, and you're hurting this institute too!"

The door creaked open, and Brad strode out, his face livid, running straight into me in the hallway.

He frowned, his eyes full of disgust and contempt, and said irritably, "Young man, keep your feet on the ground. Don't go running over your boss's head the moment you feel a little wronged. If you have that kind of time, you'd do better to think about how to do your job well."

With that, he left without a backward glance, leaving me alone with a thoroughly embarrassed Dean.

I looked at Dean's helpless expression, said nothing, and quietly walked back to my desk.

The screen was filled with complex code. It had once been my greatest source of pride, but now it seemed to be silently mocking me.

Out of nowhere, I remembered an email that had been sitting in my inbox for a few months.

The sender was Bethany Hargrove, the HR director at Nebula Tech.

I could still remember the last line of that email.

It read, "You're always welcome here. Just say the word, and we'll fast-track everything."

I hesitated for a moment, but in the end, I still didn't open that email.

Even so, a seed had already been quietly planted in my heart.