The Heart System

Chapter 669: Chapter 669

It seemed my little stunt at the pawnshop had earned me a few good boy points, although I was still stuck at neutral. Damn. If it had not been for Penelope, I probably would have gained a lot more by now, but to keep up with her craziness I had to sacrifice the reputation points I would have earned. Annoying, but at least it was something.

"Sheesh. When was the last time I was here?"

I stood in front of TechForge’s massive building and looked up at it. It was still early in the morning, the sun was already up, and the rain had finally stopped. A few people were standing near the entrance, smoking or drinking coffee before work, and the parking lot was packed so tightly that I had a hard time finding a spot.

I headed up the stairs and stopped at the entrance. The security guard saw me right away and gave me a small nod with a faint smile. I nodded back and stepped through the metal detector. It beeped, but he did not care, since he recognized me.

"Mr. Marlowe," he said. "So you’re back?"

"Just thought I’d stop by," I replied with a shrug. "Not officially back."

"Well, either way, good to see you here."

"Likewise."

I walked toward the elevator and pressed the button while fixing my tie. Wearing a suit again felt weird. I was not an employee anymore, but I still had to match the dress code, and besides, with the extra Strength points I had been putting in lately, I was in better shape now. The suit actually fit me pretty well.

The elevator opened, and I stepped aside for the people inside to get out. Once they had left, I got in with a small group of coworkers and pressed the button for my floor.

"I’m actually glad we went public with the project," one woman said to her friend.

"For real."

"Wait." I glanced over. "Project Phoenix went public? Fully public?"

The woman turned to look at me. "Uh... yes. Who are you?"

Huh. I had not known that.

That must have happened after Nala and I broke up. I would have to ask her about it. The public probably already knew that the company was working on something, but going fully public was a different story. Nala had reasons for keeping the project hidden until it was ready.

The elevator doors opened, and I stepped out without answering them. Turning left, I saw my old desk. It was empty.

Just behind it was the glass office. Nala was inside, fully focused on her laptop while drinking something dark green from a cup. I didn’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to know that the drink tasted like shit.

I walked to the office and opened the door. "Hey."

"How dare you..." She looked up immediately, then a bright smile spread across her face. "Evan?"

"How dare I walk in without knocking?" I teased. "My bad, Mrs. CEO."

"Why are you here?" she asked.

"I was bored and wanted to check on you girls." I shrugged. "Where’s your new secretary?"

"Fired," she said with a tired exhale. "They filmed themselves during work and posted it on social media. With me in the background. I was in the middle of a meeting with Anotta."

"Oh. That sucks." I sat down across from her. "What is that green thing you’re drinking?"

"Oh, it’s a ’health’ drink."

The smell alone made me grimace. "Yuck."

"Yeah, it tastes awful," she admitted. "But it’s healthy."

I leaned back in my chair and glanced at her drink again. "So, uh... yeah. Since you brought up Anotta, she wanted me to spy on you."

"Spy on me?" Nala repeated.

"Not you. The project, I mean."

Nala let out a long breath and shook her head before leaning back in her chair. "Of course she did. She is so bossy and paranoid about the project. We showed her the stats. We showed her how this thing is supposed to go. She still wants full control."

"Is she the only backer?"

"No," Nala replied. "But she is the biggest one. That is to be expected, according to the board."

"And you went public with Project Phoenix too."

She cocked an eyebrow. "I mean... not fully."

"I heard it was fully."

"What?" She leaned forward. "From who?"

I shrugged. "Some random employee in the elevator."

Before she could respond, a woman rushed into the room looking panicked. I knew her face, but her name escaped me for a second. She worked in marketing, that much I remembered. Sarah? Maybe something like that.

"Nala?" the woman asked, breathing hard. "Anotta is on Fox News right now."

"Oh no," Nala muttered. "She’s testing the waters. Socializing the narrative to gauge public reaction."

"Why is that a problem?" I asked.

Nala turned back to her laptop, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "Because our executed agreement includes a standard three-month rescission window. If she formally terminates her involvement prior to the public launch, we are contractually obligated to return her initial capital injection in full."

That got my attention.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yes." She kept her eyes locked on the screen. "On paper, Project Phoenix is structured as an enterprise-grade AI security architecture. The long-term valuation relies on securing high-barrier contracts across private enterprise, federal agencies, and eventually, defense infrastructure."

"That sounds huge."

"The market potential is massive," Nala said, her tone sharp and calculated. "Which is precisely why early public exposure is a liability. Public sentiment on autonomous defense systems is highly volatile. It requires extensive validation protocols, empirical performance data, and regulatory compliance metrics to mitigate risk. We possess none of that yet because the core architecture is still in development."

Sarah looked like she wanted to scream. "I have to go. Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"By controlling the rollout, we control the risk mitigation," Nala continued, watching Sarah bolt from the room. "Now that Anotta has forced a premature public disclosure, she’s compromised our leverage. If the backlash tanks our valuation before that ninety-day window closes, she pulls her funding, and we absorb the entire loss."

Yeah. That sounded about right.

"Oh, God. She really is on the news, talking about the project." Nala exhaled and rubbed her forehead. "I have to get the board, Evan. Sorry. I need to go."

"Sure, sure," I said, standing up and giving her a small nod. "Don’t let me get in your way. And good luck with all that."

"Thank you." She got up and adjusted her pencil skirt, still looking irritated. "What am I going to do with that woman... that bitch..."

"Hmm."

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