He Tried AI Wife, I Hacked Him To Jail

Chapter 2

The next day, two of Zachary's bodyguards escorted me back to the house we had once shared on his estate.

The moment the front door opened, I wondered if they had brought me to the wrong place.

Ximena's belongings had swallowed the living room whole. The clean-lined furniture I had chosen was gone, replaced by pale velvet sofas, lace-trimmed throw pillows, and gaudy little ornaments.

The white roses I had planted on the balcony had been ripped out by the roots and dumped in the trash.

In its place was a poodle that Ximena had been keeping.

The instant it saw me, it charged, yapping furiously.

Ximena came down the stairs wearing one of Zachary's dress shirts, the oversized sleeves hanging past her wrists.

"Look who's finally home. Zachary says you'll be handling all the cleaning from now on, and anything else I ask you to do."

She stopped in front of me and deliberately poured the rest of her coffee onto the carpet at my feet.

"Oops. How clumsy of me." She smiled. "Clean that up, would you, Valentina?"

I watched the dark stain spread across the carpet. Zachary had paid an obscene amount for it, saying it belonged in the home we were building together.

I fought the implant with everything I had, willing my knees not to bend.

"Secondary user command received. Environmental spill detected. Housekeeping protocol activated."

My knees buckled, forcing me to the floor. Then my hands moved on their own, dragging my bare fingers through the wet carpet and smearing the coffee deeper into the fibers.

"Such a good girl," Ximena said with a laugh. "No wonder Zachary likes you so much better like this. Just looking at you used to ruin my appetite."

I kept my eyes on the carpet as my fingers worked uselessly over the same patch, the implant holding my face in a pleasant smile.

"I'm always happy to be of service, Ms. Leach."

*****

Zachary came home that evening.

The second he walked through the door, Ximena rushed over to meet him.

"You're finally home. Valentina took forever to clean the carpet. I thought she'd never finish. I was so bored."

Zachary shrugged off his suit jacket, tossed it onto the couch, and looked at me.

"I didn't spend all that money having your brain rewired so you could still be useless. Apologize to Ximena."

I stood frozen, my fingernails biting into my palms.

"Primary user command received. Required action: Apologize."

I crossed the room, stopped in front of Ximena, and lowered my head. "I'm sorry, Ms. Leach. I should have finished sooner."

Zachary crossed to the bar and poured a glass of wine for himself and another for Ximena. Then his gaze landed on the two small wooden figures inside the glass display case.

During the hardest year of building our company, he had carved them from a discarded block of wood he had found by the roadside, carving each figure one careful cut at a time.

He had said the figures represented us, proof that nothing could break what we had.

He had sworn that no matter who else turned against us, he would always choose me.

Zachary opened the display case and took out the figures. "Why are we still keeping this junk?"

He dropped them onto the floor.

"Coco," Ximena called, "get them."

The dog pounced. Its teeth sank into the figure that represented me, splitting the wood with a sharp c***k.

My chest clenched so hard I nearly doubled over.

Those little carvings had carried me through the worst year of my life.

"What's wrong?" Zachary crossed the room, seized my chin, and forced my face up. "What? Does that hurt your feelings? Is the implant malfunctioning?"

"Heart-rate anomaly detected. Autonomic stabilization initiated. Required emotional display: Joy."

I looked down at the splintered wood and smiled.

"Why would I care? They were worthless. We should've thrown them out years ago."

Zachary's expression shifted briefly, before hardening into a cold smile.

"At least the implant finally gave you some common sense. Go finish the final financial due diligence report on Stellar Technologies. I want it in my inbox by morning."

He wrapped an arm around Ximena and led her upstairs, their soft laughter trailing down the stairs behind them.

I stood alone in the living room, staring at the splinters scattered across the floor as another notification echoed in my head.

"Emotional Display Mode: Extreme Joy."

My smile widened until my cheeks began to ache.