Chapter 10 - The Ultimate Checkmate
"We can't reverse-engineer it, you incompetent fool!" the CEO roared, completely annihilating Greg in front of the entire company. "The patent was registered by one of our own employees! Elias Vance!"
Greg stopped breathing. The blood completely drained from his arrogant face, leaving him looking like a terrified ghost.
"Elias?" Chloe whispered, her coffee cup slipping from her trembling hand and crashing onto the marble floor.
"He developed it on his own time," the CEO hissed lethally, stepping directly into Greg's face. "And legal just informed me that two weeks ago, you personally signed a waiver declining the company's right to purchase the code, calling it 'garbage'! You literally handed Apex an eighty-eight-million-dollar weapon that is going to bankrupt us!"
Greg’s legs physically gave out. The sheer, staggering weight of his colossal mistake crushed him instantly.
"You're fired, Greg. Both of you are fired," the CEO commanded flawlessly, motioning to the security guards. "Clear out your desks. You will never work in Silicon Valley again."
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As the massive security guards violently hauled the weeping, hyperventilating executives out of the glass building, Elias was miles away. The brilliant engineer rode his black bicycle along the beautiful, sunlit coastal path, breathing in the fresh air, entirely free, wealthy, and at absolute peace.
Do you think getting publicly fired and blacklisted was enough justice for the arrogant executives, or did the cruel bullies deserve a harsher punishment for stealing his previous work?
