Partners in Crime, Not in love

All of Silicon Valley knew that the so-called business overlord, Ethan Blake, was madly in love with me.

At a multi-billion-dollar project launch, he once dropped to one knee to tie my shoelaces. He once flooded half the city with roses just to celebrate my birthday.

To outsiders, we were the most dazzling couple in the tech world.

But they didn’t know—

For him to secure a critical patent, I had forced our rival into bankruptcy, driving its CEO to jump to his death. To protect a core algorithm, I had eliminated more than one threat.

He once told me that we were destined for each other, meant to be together for life.

Yet when his little protégé shed tears before him, he allowed her to steal the glory I had spent half my life fighting for.

“Rachel, I love you. But Lily is pure. She’s not like you—she’s clean, she’s beautiful, and her future should remain so. Please, understand me?”

I smiled and nodded right there, but the next day I splashed etching acid across that protégé’s once-perfect face, the one the industry never stopped praising.

“So now, tell me, what’s her future supposed to look like?”

On the other end of the line, Ethan roared my name like a madman.

I stroked the Chief Security Officer’s badge pinned to my chest as I tapped into his corporation’s central control system.

My tone was light and mocking:

“Don’t panic, Mr. Blake. Your business empire is about to end up just like her face—”

“Rotten to the core.”

…

His furious roar nearly shattered the receiver.

“Rachel Adams! What did you do to Lily?!”

“What did I do?” I laughed softly, my eyes sweeping over Lily curled on the floor nearby, whimpering in agony.

The high-concentration etching acid worked instantly. The flawless face once hailed by countless in the industry now sizzled with a faint crackle.

“I just wanted to test if the delicate flower you put on a pedestal could withstand even the slightest wind and rain of reality.”

“Rachel! Don’t touch her! I warn you—if you dare lay another hand on her—”

“Mr. Blake.”

“Instead of worrying about her, maybe you should worry about yourself. If the Aegis System’s unpublished plans, along with your unexplainable financial dealings, all landed in your competitors’ inboxes… tell me, what do you think would happen?”

On the other end, there was a stunned silence, followed by rage and disbelief:

“You… how dare you?! Rachel, that’s ten years of our work!”

“Our work?” I sneered.

“The moment you let her parade around with my research to claim that award, the word ‘our’ ceased to exist. Ethan Blake, you were the one who taught me that once something gets dirty, you throw it away.”

Perhaps hearing Ethan’s voice, Lily let out another sharp, pitiful cry:

“Brother… my face… it hurts… kill her…”

Ethan’s voice trembled with panic and heartbreak.

“Lily! Don’t be afraid, I’m coming right now!”

“Rachel, if you want to punish someone, punish me. Lily is innocent—she doesn’t deserve your cruelty!”

“What do I want?”

I glanced at the computer screen as the prompt [Transmission Complete] flashed. My lips curved into a cold smile.

“I want you to watch with your own eyes how the empire you’re so proud of crumbles, just like her so-called perfect future—”

I paused, then pronounced each word with chilling clarity:

“Completely shattered. Nothing left.”

With that, I hung up, cutting off his enraged screams.

Leaning back in my chair, I couldn’t stop the echo of his words in my mind: ten years of work.

Ten years.