Chapter 329
The engineers turned to Isolde with pleading eyes. Save us.
Isolde caught the lead engineer’s gaze and gave a microscopic nod. Just play along.
She walked back to her desk and opened a terminal window. Her fingers moved across the keyboard in quick, precise bursts.
She wasn’t changing the language. She was building a sandbox — a fake digital environment that mirrored the real system exactly but connected to nothing. Belle could play boss inside it to her heart’s content: rename files, delete folders, reorganize the entire architecture.
“Let her feel important,” Isolde murmured as the code compiled. “While we do the real work in the dark.”
It was 11:00 PM. The office was finally quiet. The neon pink suit had left hours ago for a networking dinner.
Isolde and Arland sat on the floor of the server room, the steady hum of the cooling fans the only sound between them. A carton of lukewarm takeout noodles rested on the floor.
“She ordered pink ergonomic chairs for the dev team,” Arland said, staring at his chopsticks. “They’re revolting. My lead structural engineer threatened to quit.”
𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘴.𝘤𝘰𝘮
Isolde let out a short, tired laugh. “Let them revolt. It builds character.”
“Isolde, seriously,” Arland said, turning to look at her. “That thirty million has a separate operational budget attached to it. Belle is burning through it with her renovations and consulting fees. At this rate, we’ll have runway for the R&D, but the lights will be off in three months.”
Isolde pushed her noodles aside and opened her laptop.
“Look at this,” she said, turning the screen toward him.
It wasn’t the dummy files Belle had been browsing. It was a complex, rotating schematic of an engine. The Phoenix-X7. But this version was different — it carried military-grade specifications.
Arland’s eyes widened. He leaned in, tracing the lines on the screen.
“This is proprietary. This looks like Institute-level architecture. Where did you get this?”
“I didn’t get it,” Isolde said softly. “I wrote it.”
She looked at Arland. It was time for a calculated risk — not a full confession, but a necessary truth to secure his loyalty.
“The Institute called me last week. They want me back.”
Arland stared at her. “The ghost engineer Nelson talks about — Sophia. The way you solved the avionics problem for the Kestrel drone, it was her signature. I just never dared to ask. You’re connected to her, aren’t you?”
Isolde nodded slowly. “She trusts me with her work, Arland. I’m the only one who can execute her designs. I retired for Grayson — to be a wife, to be a mother. I put her legacy on a shelf.”
She looked at the screen, at the brilliance she had kept hidden for so long.
“But her work is back. And this technology is worth billions. Not millions.”
“I’m building it inside Carson Dynamics,” she continued, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Encrypted under my personal IP. When Belle crashes the company car — and she will — we eject in a rocket.”
.