Chapter 6 - The True Founder
Arthur Sterling didn't smile at Richard. He didn't acknowledge Samantha’s pathetic attempt at elegance.
He walked directly past the billionaire couple and stopped right in front of Victoria. To the absolute shock of every single elite guest in the ballroom, the Wall Street titan offered a subtle, deeply respectful bow of his head.
"Victoria," Arthur said warmly. "Thank you for coming. I assume you brought the core files?"
"I always come prepared, Arthur," Victoria replied seamlessly.
Richard stopped breathing. His brain completely short-circuited. "Mr. Sterling... what is going on? Why are you speaking to her? She stole millions from my company!"
Arthur slowly turned to face Richard, his eyes dead and unfeeling.
"Your company, Richard?" Arthur asked, his voice dripping with aristocratic condescension. "For the last month, my forensic auditing team has been tearing your servers apart to finalize this acquisition. We found something incredibly interesting buried in the source code of your flagship algorithm. The algorithm you claimed you wrote."
Samantha’s heart hammered against her ribs. She subconsciously grabbed Richard’s arm, her perfectly manicured nails digging into his tuxedo jacket.
"I did write it!" Richard lied frantically, his voice pitching up in pure panic. "She was just my secretary!"
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"Then why," Victoria interrupted, taking a slow, lethal step toward her ex-husband, "does the foundational architecture of the software contain an encrypted, un-erasable digital watermark registered to my fingerprints?"
👉 Richard's massive lie was exposed, but Victoria was about to drop the ultimate evidence that would destroy his life.
