Chapter 6 - The Nevada ConnectionThe morning sun poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my corner office in Silicon Valley. Evelyn Holdings was operating like a well-oiled machine. I was reviewing the quarterly projections, sipping a matcha latte, when my intercom buzzed. It was Sarah, my newly appointed VP of Operations, and a woman who possessed the exact kind of ruthless efficiency I valued.
“Evelyn, we have a situation,” Sarah’s voice crackled through the speaker, devoid of its usual calm.
“Bring it in,” I replied, leaning back in my ergonomic leather chair.
Sarah hurried into the office, dropping a thick, red-tabbed dossier onto my glass desk. “Someone is aggressively buying up the secondary supply chains for our new AI-driven diagnostic chips. They’re using a shell company called Apex Logistics, routing the purchases through a series of offshore accounts. But I traced the original IP address of the buyer.”
I opened the folder, scanning the highlighted IP address and the physical location tied to it. A cheap, run-down industrial park in Henderson, Nevada.
A cold, sharp thrill ran down my spine. Nevada.
“It’s Julian,” I said, my voice dangerously soft.
Sarah frowned. “Your ex? The one working mid-level management at a warehouse? How could he possibly afford a multi-million dollar corporate buyout?”
“He can’t,” I replied, my mind racing. “Julian doesn't have the brains or the capital to orchestrate a hostile squeeze on our supply chain. He’s a parasite. Which means he found a new host. He’s partnered with someone who has deep pockets and a grudge against my success.”
I stood up, walking over to the window that overlooked the sprawling tech campus I had built from the ashes of his family’s failure. Julian couldn't stand the fact that I was thriving. He couldn't handle that the woman he used to treat like a doormat was now on the cover of Forbes.
“Let them buy the contracts,” I said, turning back to Sarah with a predatory smile.
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“Evelyn, if they choke our supply chain, production halts in three weeks,” Sarah warned.
“They aren't choking anything,” I replied. “Because those diagnostic chips are yesterday’s news. I signed the exclusive patent for the V2 quantum chips last night. By the time Julian and his secret backer realize what they’ve purchased, they’ll be holding millions of dollars of obsolete plastic. Let them bleed.”
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