My Husband Chose My AI Creation Over Me

Chapter 4

At eight in the morning, I was working on a $50,000 dark web firewall bounty when Chris called five times. I cut my comms and picked up.

"Why did it take you so long to answer?" Chris asked.

"I was working on a bounty," I said.

"Come over. The city hall officials are difficult, and Shirley can't handle them," he said.

"I'm cracking a node. I can't stop midway," I replied.

"I'll pay you double the penalty. It's the first day of the island handover. Come help her handle it," he insisted.

"It's not about the penalty. This will wipe my reputation on the dark web," I said.

He hung up just like that.

Two hours later, I finished writing the last line of code and received a message from him.

Chris: What's the point of making that dirty money on the dark web day after day? You won't even come help Shirley with the island handover.

At ten p.m., I returned to the castle. Sophia wore a cold expression. Chris slammed the tablet down in front of me. On the screen was a bounty review thread from a dark web forum.

A: [This hacker codenamed Y has top-notch service every time she delivers a job. Whatever you ask her to change, she changes it.]

B: [Does anyone have her offline contact? I'd love to pay to see what she looks like in person.]

Chris stared at me. "When you take jobs every day, is this how those gutter rats talk about you?"

"These are normal transaction reviews on the dark web. It's the same for all bounty hunters," I said.

"Normal?" Chris slapped the table. "You call these filthy remarks normal?" he shouted.

Sophia chimed in. She said, "A woman dealing with dirty, unsavory men on the dark web every day, if word gets out, what happens to the family's reputation? Just look at Shirley. She would never do something so degrading."

I looked at Sophia. "The fifty million for the island was earned by me, one degrading job after another," I said.

Chris stood up. He said, "It's true you earned the money, but the way you earn it makes me look bad. Starting tomorrow, delete your dark web account. Shirley's island needs a logistics manager. Go over there and do menial work."

"I've built this account up for eight years. It's my only source of income," I said.

I ignored him and went back to my room.

At two in the morning, I was awakened by incessant system alerts. I grabbed my device, and a glaring red warning popped up on the screen:

Your dark web account has been reported under verified identity for illegally stealing confidential information. It is currently under administrator review and has been temporarily frozen.

The report contained IP addresses from my past jobs, backend data screenshots, and several deliberately altered transaction records. To force me into doing menial work for Shirley, Chris had personally burned my dark web base to the ground.

At seven in the morning, I went straight to the hall and asked him, "Did you report my account?" I asked.

He didn't deny it. He said, "I'm doing this for your own good. Get out of this shady line of work sooner, so you can settle down properly."

"So I'm supposed to settle down and be an unpaid basement bookkeeper for you?" I retorted.

"What's the point of dwelling on this?" He put on his trench coat and added, "You can't very well attend the family's socialite galas with the hacker label hanging over your head."

I pressed the back of my neck, still oozing blood. I asked, "Did you even read the surgical report for repairing the physical tear in my brain-computer interface? If this keeps getting delayed, my nervous system will completely collapse. I might die."

He froze for a moment, then fell silent.

Shirley walked out of the kitchen carrying two cups of coffee. She said, "Chris, breakfast is ready."

Chris turned toward the dining table. He said, "Finish up and head to the island early. A top-tier planner is coming today." He pulled out a chair for Shirley and cut a piece of steak, placing it on her plate. Just like that, he changed the subject.

I decided not to go through with the repair. I turned and walked out of the castle with my suitcase. I got into the car and headed for the airport.

I took out my device, hacked into Shirley's system backend, and programmed a self-destruct sequence to activate in three months.

Three months later, no matter how much affection Chris had invested in Shirley, she would be completely scrapped, reduced to a pile of electronic junk that would never boot up again.