Reclaiming My Empire

Eight years ago, we were the golden couple on the cover of our university's alumni magazine.

Yesterday, the editor-in-chief of a major financial magazine emailed me, asking for a follow-up interview.

I typed out a quick reply: Go interview Ethan's new wife. We're getting a divorce.

Two weeks ago, our company finally went public on the Nasdaq.

Ethan didn't even bother to send me an invitation to the ringing ceremony.

Instead, he transferred my 50% of the founding sharesshares that legally belonged to mestraight to his secretary, Lacey Carter.

I stormed into the boardroom with the agreement to confront him.

In front of the entire board of directors, he slapped me across the face.

"Lacey stays up all night networking and closing deals for me. What do you do besides spend my money, Chloe?"

He seemed to have forgotten that the core AI algorithmthe very foundation of the company's techwas written entirely by me.

"Security, please escort Ms. Chloe out."

Lacey walked in, her high heels clicking loudly against the marble floor. She held an oat milk latte in her hand, complete with a handwritten label on the cup.

That was my cup. My exact custom order.

The handwriting on the label copied mine, but the strokes dragged downward at the endmy habit was always to flick them upward.

She sat down to Ethan's right.

That was my seat. I had sat in that chair for seven years, leaving a faint scratch on the backrest from my favorite jacket.

"Ethan," she whispered, leaning in and acting cute, "it looks like Ms. Chloe hasn't left yet."

Ethan shook his handthe same hand he had just used to hit me. "Didn't you hear her?"

The twelve board members kept their heads down, suddenly finding their bottles of sparkling water incredibly fascinating.

I clutched the share transfer agreement, the corners damp with my sweat.

"Ethan, every single line of the underlying architecture of this company's AI core was written by"

"Enough."

His face looked as bored as if he were listening to a broken record.

"Its just a few lines of code, Chloe. We have a team of hundreds of engineers. Do you really think the world stops spinning without you?"

Lacey handed him a glass of water. He took it and took a sip.

That was when I noticed the pink diamond necklace around her neck.

I had bought that piece myself with my own savings at a private auction last year for three hundred and eighty thousand dollars.

One morning, it vanished from my jewelry box. When I asked Ethan, he said the housekeeper must have misplaced it.

So, it was around her neck all along.

I turned and walked toward the door.

"Wait a minute," Lacey called out. "Let's handle one more little thing while you're here."

She dialed a number and put it on speaker.

"Parker, come up to the 18th-floor boardroom. Now."

Parker was our third employee.

He was the backbone of the tech department. He had worked under me for five years and co-authored thirty percent of the AI modules.

Two minutes later, he pushed the door open. When he saw me, he froze.

"Chloe? What happened to your face"

"Parker." Lacey crossed her legs, tapping her fingernails on the desk. "As of today, your position is eliminated."

"What?"

"Post-IPO restructuring. Youre simply too tied to the old team. You don't fit our new direction."

When she said "the old team," she looked at me with a smirk.

Parker turned to Ethan. "Mr. Vance, Ive been here for five years. The core algorithms"

"Lacey ran the evaluation," Ethan said, not even looking up as he signed a document.

"Your skills no longer match our growth. Keeping you is a waste of company resources. One month's severance. Sign the papers and get out."

Parker's hands shook. He looked at me, his eyes turning red.

I caught his gaze and gently shook my head to stop him from saying anything more.

"Let's go, Parker."

Once we got out of the building, he caught up with me in the parking lot.

"Chloe, how can he do this? Your name is on those patent filings! Your digital footprint is all over that code"

"I know."

My phone buzzed.

It was a notification from the company's Snapchat group.

Lacey had posted a photo. She was sitting at my desk, with the roses I had nurtured for three years blooming in the background.

Her caption: *So grateful for this new journey.*

Parker saw it too. The veins on his neck bulged with rage.

"Chloe, who does this bitch think she is"

"Parker," I cut him off, my voice raw.

"Go home. Don't do anything rash. Just wait for my message."

"Ma'am, your key fob access was deactivated this morning."

The concierge at my luxury apartment building stopped me, flipping through his logbook.

"The primary owner filed the request. Mr. Vance said... you are no longer a resident of this building."

I stood in the lobby. The chilly May evening breeze blew in through the automatic doors.

My phone rang. It was Lacey.

"Chloe, sweetie, did you just get back to the building?"

She sounded as sweet as a best friend.

"Im so sorry about this. Ethan said you two need some space, so he asked me to help pack up your things."

"Everything is boxed up and stored in the basement locker. You can just grab it directly from the front desk."

I was silent for two seconds.

"Are you in my apartment?"

"Yeah. Ethan asked me to move in temporarily to make working together easier."

I heard her rustling through some hangers on her end.

"Oh, by the way, Chloe, that camel cashmere coat in your closetwhat brand is it? I couldn't find the tag."

"Ethan said you bought it yourself, so it wasnt a gift from himwhich means I dont mind borrowing it for a couple of days."

I hung up, went down to the basement, and retrieved my things.

Eight cardboard boxes were piled in the corner of the storage locker. Two of them were crushed.

I opened the top one. Right on top was our framed wedding photo. The glass was shattered, the shards piercing into the printed faces of Ethan and me standing side-by-side.

Below it were a few pieces of clothing Lacey hadn't bothered to steal.

The second box contained my work files.

But something was missing. My blue leather journal.

The development log for Project Three. Handwritten. The very first page held the first line of pseudo-code I had written in my dorm room eight years ago.

That journal was the ultimate proof of who created the technology.

It wasn't in any of the boxes.

I called Ethan.

"Where is my development log? The blue leather one."

"What log?" his voice was completely indifferent.

"Project Three. My handwritten notes, from the first architectural sketches to"

"No idea. Ask Lacey."

"Ethan, that log is the source of all the company's IP!"

"Its just an old notebook. Who cares if its lost? Can you stop being so paranoid all the time?"

He hung up.

I stood in the dim locker room, staring at the eight cardboard boxes.

Eight years of my life, packed into eight boxes. And two of them were crushed.

I called an Uber to take the boxes to a boutique hotel. When I tried to swipe my credit card at check-in, it was declined.

I called the bank.

"Ma'am, your status as an authorized user on this account was revoked by the primary cardholder this morning."

I handed the receptionist my personal debit card.

"Ma'am, a large transfer was made from this account today. Your balance is insufficient."

"A transfer? I didn't authorize that."

"According to our records, the transaction was initiated by the joint-account holder..."

I closed my eyes.

The joint-account holder was Ethan.

Years ago, he told me it would make managing our household expenses easier, so I signed the authorization.

Just like that power of attorney for my shares, I had signed whatever he put in front of me.

Because I trusted him.

I sat in the hotel lobby for a long time. Eventually, Parker wired me some money.

"Chloe, use this for now. Please don't be polite with me."

"I won't be," I said, taking my new room key. "When this is over, I'll pay you back double."

"Chloe"

"Parker."

"Yeah?"

"That severance agreement they gave you? Don't sign it."

"Ms. Chloe, the patent registry shows that the inventor information for the tech you mentioned has already been legally updated."

The clerk at the Patent and Trademark Office sounded completely professional and detached.

"Updated? I never signed any transfer documents."

"Our system shows the application was submitted by Vance Technologies' legal department. It includes a signed consent form with your signature."

"That signature is a forgery."

"I see... In that case, you will need to seek legal counsel to dispute it. We do not have the authority to handle forgery claims here"

I hung up and started calling lawyers.

The first one:

"Ms. Chloe, I'm so sorry, but our firm is fully booked. We cannot take on new clients at this time."

The second one:

"Vance Technologies is a long-standing client of our firm. We have a conflict of interest and cannot represent you."

The third one was an old classmate from law school. She was more honest than the others.

"Chloe, I'm going to be straight with you."

"Vance Technologies sent a legal warning to every major intellectual property firm in the city. Nobody wants to touch your case and risk getting blacklisted by Ethan Vance. If you want a lawyer, youll have to look out of state."

"When did he send that warning?"

"Last month. Before the IPO."

Last month. Before I even knew my shares were being stolen, he had already blocked every exit.

I put down my phone and called my college roommate, Fiona. Her cousin, Harper, worked at a top-tier IP firm in a neighboring state.

The phone rang twelve times before she finally picked up.

"Chloe... hey. How have you been?"

"Fiona, is Harper still at her firm? I need her to"

"Chloe," she interrupted, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Lacey took me out for high tea last week."

I froze.

"She talked to me a lot. She said you haven't been in a good headspace lately... She warned us not to trigger you."

"What exactly did she say about me?"

"She said... she said youve convinced yourself that you built the company's tech alone, but you actually only did a tiny fraction of the work..."

"Chloe, are youplease don't be mad, I'm just worried about youare you sure you aren't just misremembering things?"

I didn't say a word.

Lacey had already gotten to my friends.

As soon as I hung up, a new message popped up. It was from Ethans mother, Eleanor Vance.

"Chloe, let me tell you something."

"Lacey is pregnant. Three months along."

"Ethan wants to finalize the divorce as quickly as possible."

"If you sign the papers quietly, he'll give you a decent monthly allowance."

"Ive always liked you, but a man changes when he has a child of his own. As a woman, you should understand that."

"If you make a scene, everyone loses face. Don't make this ugly."

I set my phone down and turned on the TV.

A financial talk show was airing. Lacey was sitting on the guest panel, wearing my camel cashmere coat.

The host asked, "Ms. Carter, Vance Technologies AI platform is leading the industry. Can you share the journey behind developing this technology?"

Lacey smiled warmly. "Well, Ive actually been deeply involved in the core tech development for years. Ethan handles the front-end business, while Ive been managing the heavy lifting on the backend."

I switched off the TV.

My phone rang again. This time, it was an unknown number.

"Ms. Chloe? This is Diana Miller, Editor-in-Chief of *Business Weekly*. I sent you an email earlier"

"Yes, I remember."

"You replied telling us to interview Ethan's new wife."

"But we did some digging. The original patent application for Vance Technologies' core AI was registered under your name."

"Did you develop this technology?"

I stared out the window into the dark city. I paused for three seconds.

"What kind of story do you want to write, Ms. Miller?"

"The truth."

"Then wait."

"It's not the right time yet."

"Ms. Chloe, this is the final draft of the divorce settlement. Please review it."

Ethan's lawyer slid the document across the table. It was fourteen pages long. I flipped straight to the asset division section.

Shares: Zero.

Real Estate: Zero. (Purchased by the husband prior to the marriage; the wife has no claim).

Spousal Support/Compensation: None.

Living Allowance: Five thousand dollars a month, for two years.

On the very last page, there was a clause in tiny print:

"Non-Disclosure Agreement: The party of the second part shall not disclose any technical data, trade secrets, or operational details of the party of the first parts company for ten years post-signing. Any violation will result in a penalty of fifty million dollars."

"Is this a joke?" I pushed the paper back, pointing at the NDA clause.

The lawyers expression didn't change.

"Ms. Chloe, this is the most generous offer Mr. Vance is willing to make. I strongly suggest you sign it."

"Generous? Seven years of my career and marriage, and you're telling me it's worth five thousand a month?"

"Five thousand," the lawyer corrected me coldly. "Plus the obligation of silence."

My phone buzzed. It was Ethan.

"Just sign it."

"No."

"Chloe, how are you going to fight me?"

"The patents have been transferred, the shares are gone, and your accounts are empty. What do you have left?"

"You and I both know who wrote those patents, Ethan."

"Who wrote them? Do you think the patent office cares about who typed the code?"

"In the official registry, Lacey is the inventor. Our legal department submitted the signed paperwork with your signature."

"How are you going to prove it's a forgery?"

"Are you going to hire a lawyer? Oh, I forgot. Right now, not a single firm in this city will even take your call."

He let out a soft, mocking laugh.

"Take the five thousand a month. Sign it quietly, and don't make me make life difficult for your parents."