At Her 'Victory' Launch, I Took the Stage as the CEO She Fired

Chapter 2 The Stolen Ride

I took the elevator to the lobby and ordered an oat milk latte at the coffee shop. From an armchair by the window, I opened my phone.

My thumbprint unlocked the anti-theft app. A blue dot moved across the live map as the Porsche left the parking structure and turned onto the main boulevard.

The dot accelerated into midday traffic. I waited until she was about five blocks away and had cleared the busiest intersection downtown, then set down my cup.

I tapped the red icon. A confirmation window appeared: [REPORT UNAUTHORIZED USE AND INITIATE SAFE-STOP?]

The command required my fingerprint. I pressed it to the screen.

The safe-stop routine reduced acceleration, activated the hazards, and used the driver-assistance system to guide the car toward a legal curbside loading bay two blocks ahead. Once the speed reached zero, the engine immobilizer engaged. Notifications appeared on my phone.

[Vehicle Safely Stopped.]

[Engine Restart Disabled.]

[Cabin Egress Available.]

[Location and Owner Report Transmitted to Local Authorities.]

The blue dot stopped beside the curb. The cabin remained unlocked, and the car sat out of traffic. When officers arrived, they would find Mia beside a vehicle registered to me, along with my recorded warning and live owner report.

The call from the police came shortly after one p.m.

“Ms. Vance? This is Officer Miller. We recovered your vehicle, and we have detained a young woman who claims it is a company car. The registration says otherwise. We need you to come to the central precinct to make a statement.”

“I’ll be right there, Officer.”

The precinct smelled of stale coffee and disinfectant. Mia sat in a small glass-walled room. Her designer dress was wrinkled, and mascara had dried below her eyes.

She saw me through the glass and shot to her feet, slamming her hands on the table.

“There she is!” Her words came through the glass. “Tell them you let me borrow the car, you jealous old hag! My fiancé is going to buy this whole precinct and have every single one of you fired!”

An exhausted-looking officer sighed beside me. “She’s been like that for hours. Said her fiancé is the CEO of Apex Tech and that he’s on his way.”

“Is he?”

The front doors opened. A man climbed out of a beat-up taxi and hurried inside, smelling of cheap cologne. His polyester suit pulled across his shoulders, and sweat had darkened the collar.

“I am here for Mia Thorne!” His voice cracked on her name. “I am Leo Mercer, and I demand to know why you have detained my fiancée!”

I recognized him. Leo was a junior auditor at the third-party firm that handled our quarterly expense testing. Six months earlier, a restricted beneficial-ownership review had put him under a nondisclosure agreement and given him access to the founder-control packet. He had seen my name there, along with enough templates and signature blocks to misuse them.

Leo marched to the front desk without looking around. I sat ten feet away in a black turtleneck on one of the hard plastic chairs.

“My fiancée is the most important new talent at Apex Tech,” he told the desk sergeant. “Her fiancé, the CEO, will hear about this gross misconduct.”

He followed the sergeant’s gaze and saw me. His mouth stayed open, but no sound came out. One hand went to his collar. He had recognized the woman whose title he was using.