She hadn’t suspected Seymour right away, mostly because he only had access to a small fragment of the code-not the critical part. The real trouble began when Terrence managed to get his hands on a rough technical outline in addition to that snippet of code from Seymour. Combined, the two pieces were enough to cause real damage.

It was only after the police interrogation that she learned more details.

According to the investigation, Seymour explained that Terrence had likely taken the code he’d provided, pieced it together with information gleaned during Neural Intelligence’s collaboration with TerraCore Technologies, and managed to deduce a sliver of technical logic-just a fraction of the bigger picture.

By reverse engineering what little he had, Terrence managed to reconstruct about three percent of her overall technical proposal.

That was enough for him to orchestrate this entire self-directed farce.

Elodie knew Terrence was undeniably talented-just deeply unscrupulous.

Most engineers wouldn’t have managed such a feat.

Still, what he’d uncovered was nothing more than the fringes of her technological framework. He never got anywhere near the core. Terrence likely knew that himself, but even the periphery was enough for blackmail.

The police investigation revealed that Terrence had pulled something similar two years ago, extorting nearly seven million dollars in compensation-a true parasite in the academic world.

So this was just a repeat performance?

Only this time, he clearly underestimated her. Terrence had no idea she’d completed a detailed version of that technical proposal five years ago, back when her focus was on Project U.N2. Later, after she married Jarrod, she’d put the whole thing on hold.

Terrence probably assumed that if she’d developed the plan that long ago, there was no reason it would only now be seeing the light of day; he must’ve thought it was a recent invention. That miscalculation ended up costing him.

By the time VistaLink Technologies reported the case, Terrence-ever the veteran had already made a quick getaway.

Had Sylvie really known nothing about his background?

Clearly, she’d been played by a seasoned con artist.

Now that the internal problems at Neural Intelligence had been thoroughly

uncovered, the company would have to accept responsibility.

A detective handling the case asked, “And what about Ms. Sylvie? What does Ms. Thorne intend to do?”

Currently, all evidence pointed to Seymour as the main source of the leak, and TerraCore Technologies would be investigated to determine if they bore any responsibility.

As for Sylvie…

Elodie’s response was calm and unequivocal. As the project lead, Sylvie must bear joint responsibility She failed in oversight, and Neural Intelligence tried to turn the tables by using my code and proposal in their new system-publicly accusing VistaLink Technologies on every platform before the facts were clear. They inflicted serious damage to our reputation, credibility, partnerships, and finances.”

“My stance hasn’t changed: the matter should be pursued to the end, and if charges are warranted, so be it.”

At the very least, they needed to realize that stabbing someone comes with consequences.

After leaving the police station and settling into the car, Esmeralda asked, “What about TerraCore Technologies? How will they be dealt with?”

Elodie sat in silence for a moment, brow furrowed.

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“The police will determine whether they were negligent or complicit. We’ll wait for the official findings. Naylor, though-he has a pretty close relationship with Sylvie.

Who knew what else might come to light?

When they finally arrived back at VistaLink Technologies, Elodie had barely stepped out of the car when she heard someone call her from nearby.

“Elodie, can we talk?”

She turned to see Sylvie, who must have arrived at some point and now stood there, her expression tense and guarded-gone was the arrogant indifference she’d O displayed so many times before.

Elodie’s eyes were calm, her voice smooth and unyielding as she shattered Sylvie’s brittle façade. “So, Ms. Fielding, are you here to ask for my help?”