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Chapter 5 Time to Walk Away

Author: Inkwood
"Obviously, she used her position to quietly claim the company's work as her own!" Liennea screeched.

I looked at Linnea, almost amused by her foolish audacity.

"Linnea, I filed for this patent during my junior year of college. Luke and I hadn't even graduated then. The company hadn't even been incorporated yet. The application date is clearly printed on the patent certificate. Do you want me to make a copy and tape it to your face?"

Linnea was left speechless. However, she quickly found another excuse to throw a fit.

"Then, you must have deliberately left a backdoor! Why did the entire system crash just because I changed a few labels? You must have built a security vulnerability into the model, waiting for today so you could extort money from the company!

"Luke, we should call the police and have her arrested!"

She turned and clung tightly to Luke's arm, looking for an ally.

Luke said nothing, but the look in his eyes had changed from desperation to something dark and sinister.

Now that a great deal of money was on the line, it seemed like the 22 years of friendship we shared suddenly seemed as fragile as paper.

He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "Savannah, let's talk in private."

I pointed to the coworkers around us, who were openly eavesdropping. "We can talk right here. Either pay me or watch the company go under. Those are your two choices."

Luke's expression darkened.

"Savannah, don't forget that you're still bound by a non-compete agreement. If you stand idly by and cause the company to go bankrupt due to your refusal to help, I'll sue you for deliberately damaging company property and refusing to follow work assignments."

He paused, his tone taking on a condescending certainty. "You're a smart woman. You should know what happens when you cross a partner who has connections throughout the entire industry."

When Linnea saw that Luke was siding with her, her brazen confidence flared to life once more. "That's right! And your salary and commission from last month are still sitting in the company's account. You won't get a single cent if you refuse to cooperate!"

I looked them in the eye, reached up, removed my employee ID badge, and set it gently on the desk. "Then, go ahead and sue me."

I stood up, opened the drawer, and put the patent certificate into my bag.

"Savannah, what are you doing?" Luke's brow furrowed as he stepped in front of me.

"Quitting. As for last month's pay, keep it if you want. We'll settle the non-compete penalty in court."

"Savannah!" Luke growled, the veins in his forehead bulging. "Do you really think the company can't function without you? Let me tell you something. You'll never be able to walk through those doors once you leave the office today."

Linnea sneered beside him. "Once I find another technical expert to fix the model, you won't even have a chance to beg us to take you back!"

I ignored them both, leaving Luke's livid face and Linnea's taunts behind me.

I strode out the company's doors under the complicated gazes of my ex-coworkers.

I pulled out my phone once I was in the elevator. There was only one missed call on the screen.

I called back, and the other person answered almost immediately.

His tone was respectful as he said, "Ms. Eve, the chairman wants me to ask if you've had enough of 'experiencing life' at that little operation out there."
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  • The Genius They Underpaid   Chapter 14 No More Tears

    Luke stood outside the car, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something. However, he had nothing to say for himself after my sharp words.My car pulled out of the parking garage, the sunlight blinding my vision for a second.I saw Luke's figure grow smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror until he was a mere speck at the garage exit.I didn't look back.Some people weren't worth stopping for, not even for a second.…I later heard a few things about Luke and Linnea through a long chain of mutual acquaintances.Linnea's nail salon went under less than six months after its launch.After her parents paid off the more than 200,000-dollar debt she owed, they promptly cut ties with her. It wasn't that Linnea wanted nothing to do with them. Instead, her parents were simply too afraid to call her their daughter anymore.Their relatives back home had spread the story of what she had done all over the family group chat. Eventually, her father posted a single message in the fam

  • The Genius They Underpaid   Chapter 13 No Second Chances

    I didn't reply. Instead, I deleted the text and blocked the number.It wasn't that I was heartless. I only did that because some people deserved one more chance, while others didn't.I headed toward the parking garage after the event. My heels clicked sharply against the pavement.The underground garage was eerily quiet, with only the sound of my footsteps breaking the silence.Just then, I saw someone standing beside a car. His back was hunched, his hair gray, and he was wearing a dark gray coat covered in pilling.It wasn't until I got closer that I saw that the person's cuffs were worn through, the cotton stuffing poking out.The man standing there was painfully thin. His cheekbones jutted out, his eye sockets were sunken, and his skin had a waxy yellow pallor.Only his eyes still held a trace of the person I remembered.It was Luke. He looked at least 20 years older than he had in my memory. He had been in his early 30s three years ago. Now, he looked like he was in his 50s

  • The Genius They Underpaid   Chapter 12 The Bottom Line

    My eyes suddenly began to sting as I ate.I wasn't crying because of Luke. I was thinking about my mother.If she were still here, she would've been so heartbroken for me after seeing everything I had been through these past few months.But she would have said, "Savannah, you did the right thing. In life, you can afford to learn the hard way when you lack the skills, but you can't afford to learn the hard way by trusting the wrong people."'Mom, don't worry. I will never make that mistake again.'…I found myself standing on the stage at the industry's annual conference three years later, facing an audience of more than 2,000 people.The spotlight was uncomfortably warm against my skin, but I could ignore it."Hello, everyone. I'm Savannah Eve, head of the digital technology division at Eve Group. Today, I'd like to talk about The Bottom Line for Algorithms."A smattering round of polite applause broke out from the audience.I calmly opened my PowerPoint. The first slide disp

  • The Genius They Underpaid   Chapter 11 No Looking Back

    I later heard that Luke had been sentenced to prison on a rainy afternoon.I was reviewing a contract in my office when my secretary knocked and came in. "Ms. Eve, there's a package at the front desk that requires your signature."I signed for it. When I opened it, I found a photocopy of a court judgment. The sender was someone I knew well—Luke's mother.Why would she send me her son's judgment? I didn't understand, but I opened it anyway."The defendant, Luke Zephyr, is hereby sentenced to two years and six months in prison for embezzlement and one year in prison for assault. The defendant shall serve a total sentence of three years…"Assault? I frowned and continued reading."The defendant, Luke Zephyr, got into an altercation with the victim, Linnea Gardenia, and pushed her down a flight of stairs, causing a fracture of her left tibia, which constituted a minor injury…"Luke had pushed Linnea down the stairs.I stared at those lines for a long time, and a thought suddenly cr

  • The Genius They Underpaid   Chapter 10 The Fall

    If Linnea had never gained access to the company's finances, the 800,000 dollars would never have been transferred into her bank account.It also meant that she would never have been arrested if she couldn't get her hands on that 800,000 dollars.That was the wonder of cause and effect for you. It only sucked more for Luke because he planted the buds of the cause to his own ruin.He had planted a seed called "Linnea," and it grew into a tree called "Destruction."Who could he blame? Himself.Linnea's case was resolved quickly. Later, I heard she had been released pending trial. However, she was ultimately given a two-year suspended sentence due to the amount of money involved, with three years of probation, and ordered to repay all the stolen money.She had already spent more than 200,000 dollars of that 800,000 dollars she stole, leaving her with less than $600,000.She had to fill that 200,000-dollar hole herself.Her parents sold their house back home to help her scrounge

  • The Genius They Underpaid   Chapter 9 Two Wrongs Settled

    What was in the past was in the past.We couldn't keep looking back. The more we did, the harder it became to move forward.Later, I heard about Luke from the former sales director.After he left the company, we bumped into each other during a few business dealings. One day, he suddenly brought Luke up after we were done talking shop over the phone. "Ms. Eve, I need to tell you something. Please don't get upset.""Go ahead.""Luke's father was hospitalized. He had a stroke."My fingers tightened slightly before relaxing again. "When did that happen?""Last month. His father fell ill because of him. When Luke's company went bankrupt, he got sued. Their house that his mother had poured her entire retirement savings into was seized. The old man was so overwhelmed that he suffered a stroke.""How is he now?""They saved him, but he can't move the left side of his body. He needs long-term rehabilitation. I heard from our former colleagues that Luke couldn't even afford the hospital

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