I remembered when he had just started his company, crammed into a tiny office, the two of us sharing one cup of instant noodles. His eyes sparkled as he told me:
“Rachel, we’re going to change the world.”
As the company grew, we made countless enemies.
To win that critical patent, I used every trick, pushing our rival to the edge until its leader leapt to his death.
Ethan held me tight afterward:
“Don’t be afraid, Rachel. We’re partners in crime. For life, we’re bound together.”
On the eve of the Aegis System’s debut, we faced our most vicious hacker attack. The servers were on the verge of collapse.
I locked myself in the server room for seventy-two hours, fighting back wave after wave of intrusions until exhaustion knocked me out in his arms.
He kept vigil all night, red-eyed, whispering:
“Rachel, you’re my armor, and my weakness. Without you, what would I do?”
Those bloody, hidden battles—he once called them our shared medals, proof of our inseparable bond.
And yet now, he claimed Lily was pure and clean, that her future shouldn’t be stained by blood like mine.
How laughable.