nto him, a perfect picture of dependence. Their connection was a tangible thing,

d, visionary CEO. He was furious. He took a step toward Jake, his face red with anger. "You are r

flinch, not even when Mr. Henderson' s han

s balance. The slap of hand against su

he CEO, though his anger was clearly directed at me. "Sarah has her own brilliant ideas.

wn code, creating simpler "modules" that Sarah could pretend to understand, all so Jake could praise her

lled the fights we had in our past life, when Sarah would demand access to my core programming, claiming she could "

id you see that?" "He just defied Henderso

e calm and collected. "Mr.

softening into concern. "Ch

hen I saw him. Alex Reed. He was a quiet software engineer from another department, someone I'd only exchanged polite greetings with. He was standing near the back, his fist

am not trying to be insubordinate. I am simply proposing a different path. A little friendly competition. Let Chloe form her team, and Sarah and I w

long, frustrated sigh. He was a man who hated messy conflict

ine remains the same. The winner takes all." He turned and walked off the podium without another wo