Six months later, a short financial article reported that Julian Thorne was buried in debt, had declared personal bankruptcy, and had been permanently barred from the industry.
A gossip column gave Serena Blake one last sentence: three years in prison for corporate fraud and embezzlement. Neither article took up more than a few lines.
I read both from my new corner office overlooking the city. A copy of *Forbes* lay on the polished glass desk, showing a photograph from last week's launch of our flagship AI, ‘Aura’.
*Chloe Vance: The Architect of Tomorrow.*
Aura used the clean, uncorrupted foundation of my original Nexus code and broke every industry record in its first quarter.
Every line of code, strategic decision, and patent carried my name. No one else stood in front of it for the
