The Core Developer's Counterattack

Seven days after a C-section, Fiona Hayes is summoned back to the office by her manager, David Reynolds, who insists she attend a project presentation so the investors can see the core developer. Her incision still seeping, she leaves the postpartum care center and rides to the eighteenth floor, where her name has been quietly moved to the last line of the team roster and the project lead is now Chloe, a junior she once trained line by line.

Chloe cannot read a basic code framework, yet she has built the presentation on Fiona's architecture, algorithm flowcharts and tuned parameters, each slide watermarked with her own signature. David tells Fiona to sit quietly and let Chloe do the talking, and refuses to hand over the materials until pressed.

When Vanguard Capital's Richard Sterling and Olivia Vance arrive, David introduces Fiona only as technical staff. The eighty-million-dollar valuation is on the line, and Fiona must decide how far she will go to reclaim the work she spent two years on.