Chapter 2 The Cost of Refusal

I raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to come in.

The door opened, and Lauren walked in. Each pearl on the necklace around her neck was perfectly round, and her tailored skirt suit accentuated her refined, gentle demeanor.

The moment she entered, she handed me a business card, her smile polished, with just a hint of the condescension of someone accustomed to being above others.

"Mr. Morgan, it's a pleasure. My name is Lauren Bennett, a shareholder of Evercore Technology."

She smiled again, the expression perfectly practiced but devoid of warmth.

"Eugene was out of line yesterday. He's young, and he doesn't always know better. I wanted to apologize on his behalf."

She paused, watching for my reaction.

When she saw that my expression remained impassive, even that perfunctory smile faded, and her tone turned cold.

"Of course, we at Evercore Technology aren't unreasonable. We do value Starcrest Group's technology. The terms can be renegotiated. But Mr. Morgan, in business, it's unwise to be too aggressive. It can come back to hurt you. If you insist on refusing to work with us…"

She leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice, each word perfectly clear. "I guarantee that you and your company won't have a place in this industry anymore."

The threat was naked and icy.

But the next second, her tone softened strangely, taking on the effortless pride and indulgence of a mother showing off her beloved son.

"Eugene was spoiled by us, but he's a good kid at heart. He's smart and ambitious. You're young and accomplished, Mr. Morgan. Don't hold it against him. We only have one son, so naturally, we're going to be a little protective of him."

Her words felt like barbed hooks digging into my ears.

I suddenly remembered that bitter winter when I was eight. A draft came through the window. My fever had climbed to 103.6 degrees, my face burning red. I was so delirious I barely had the strength to cry.

My father clutched the only few dollars he had in his pocket and took me to a local clinic, only to find that we couldn't afford the medicine.

With no other choice, he called my biological mother, Lauren. But the voice on the other end simply said, "A child who never should have existed? If he dies, he dies."

By then, she'd already settled down with Connor Carter in Westbridge, enjoying the enviable life of a professor's wife.

I burned with fever all night, nearly suffering permanent damage. In the end, the elderly woman next door gave me half a fever reducer, saving me from the brink.

And now she stood before me, doting on the son of the man who had taken everything from my father.

She didn't even recognize me.

I shoved the emotions aside and let nothing show.

I looked up and met her gaze. "Are you done?"

Lauren visibly froze, clearly not expecting that reaction from me. Then, the corner of her mouth curved into an expression laced with mockery and pity.

"Success seems to have gone to your head, Mr. Morgan. You've forgotten how to show your elders some respect, and you've lost sight of what's important. I'm not here to beg you for anything. I'm giving you and Starcrest Group one last chance to make the right choice."

I pressed the intercom. "Security, please escort this woman out."

Two security guards quickly entered.

Lauren's expression finally changed. She shot me a furious look and snatched up her purse. She still tried to maintain her graceful composure, but she could no longer conceal the chill in her voice.

"Fine. Very well. Daniel, remember the choice you made today. Three days. That's all it will take for you to understand exactly what it costs to refuse the Carter family."

The moment Lauren left, my assistant rushed in, panic written all over his face.

"Mr. Morgan, we have a problem! We just got calls from 12 of our project contacts. They said every smart-campus project we previously won has been suspended. The contractual penalties alone are going to cost us more than $86 million!"

I nodded, letting him know I understood.

…

I was jolted awake in the early hours of the next morning by a call from the head of PR, her voice thick with tears. "Mr. Morgan, you need to look at social media!"

The hashtags #DanielMorganIsAPlagiarist, #StarcrestGroupStoleAITechnology and #TraitorDanielMorgan were already dominating the trends.

The most popular post was a lengthy article packed with text and images, claiming that Starcrest Group's core large language model architecture had been plagiarized from research by a leading laboratory in Astoria.

It accused me of accepting funding from foreign interests, attempting to monopolize the country's foundational AI infrastructure, and deliberately suppressing Evercore Technology, a patriotic company with fully independent intellectual property.