On the other end of the line, Victor's breathing was heavy, like a broken bellows.
"Serena... you... you dare!" His voice trembled, stripped of its earlier arrogance.
"Why wouldn't I?" I asked, my tone as light as if we were discussing the weather. "You were the one who begged me to use the technical concepts my father left me before our marriage to help you perfect this algorithm. You said that once the company grew, we would be one entity, indivisible. To show your sincerity, you even voluntarily put the patent in my name, calling it the ultimate security for me."
I chuckled. "Victor, thank you. It really is my best security."
"You can't do this! Serena! You're destroying our collective hard work!" he wailed.
"Our collective work?" I chewed on the phrase, finding it profoundly ironi
