Elodie couldn''t help but find the whole thing rather absurd.


    Now that Sylvie was in hot water, Jarrod was suddenly calling her himself— something he''d always gone out of his way to avoid. Normally, he''d have Keith reach out on his behalf, as if she might somehow get hold of his direct number and use it against him.


    But now? All that caution had gone out the window.


    It was obvious what he wanted-he was hoping she''d let the whole Sylvie situation slide. Frankly, Elodie couldn''t even be bothered to entertain that kind of conversation.


    "Who was that?" Esmeralda asked, frowning in confusion.


    Alexander nced over, waiting for an answer.


    Elodie shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "Jarrod."


    At the sound of his name, Esmeralda''s temper red. She mmed her hand on the table and shot up from her chair. "Of course he calls now! The moment VistaLink Technologies runs into trouble and you get dragged into awsuit by Neural Intelligence, does he check in? Did he ever even ask if you were okay?"


    Not once had Jarrod shown his face, let alone offered support.


    But now, when it''s Sylvie on the line, the double standard is impossible to ignore.


    "It doesn''t matter." Elodie really couldn''t care less about the hypocrisy. She nced at the clock. "Have the employees at Neural Intelligence all been questioned yet?"


    Alexander flipped through a file, then nodded. "It''s underway. Our department has to cooperate too. We''ve already submitted all our records from five years ago, including the optimized versions. With that evidence, the giarism usations are dead in the water. Next step is pursuing criminal charges against Neural Intelligence for illegally acquiringpany secrets—and for defamation and damages."


    That was a heavy list.


    No wonder Jarrod had been forced to step in and call her.


    With criminal charges on the table, one wrong move and Sylvie could be looking at prison time.


    They were desperate-and it showed.


    From the start, Elodie had never intended to quietly sweep this under the rug. Letting herself be used as bait actually made their opponents act even more recklessly. They rushed to use and sue her, stered statements all over every tform they could, and the


    resulting spike in traffic and shares only strengthened the evidence that VistaLink Technologies'' reputation and interests had been harmed.


    With the severity of the case, Sylvie could see up to two years behind bars.


    l.ne


    Over the next two days, VistaLink Technologies worked withw enforcement on the investigation. Sylvie called once-Alexander ignored it. Then Neural Intelligence tried to reach out, calling both Alexander and the front desk, as well as the admin department? Elodie made her position clear: all calls


    were refused.


    If they had anything to say, they could say it in court.


    As for Jarrod, he seemed to get the message and didn''t call again. What he nned to do next was none of her concern.


    Meanwhile, a few people who had previously ended their contracts with VistaLink now came crawling back, begging to license their patents again-even offering to double the fees.


    Elodie had no time or patience for these people.


    Alexander handled it all, making it clear and final: from now on, there would be no further cooperation.


    The following afternoon, Elodie received a call from the police department: there had been progress, and they wanted her toe in.


    Alexander stayed behind to hold down the fort at VistaLink Technologies, while Esmeralda apanied Elodie to the station.


    When Elodie entered the interview room and saw Seymour sitting there, recognition flickered across her face.


    Suddenly, the whole story snapped into focus.


    If not for seeing Seymour again, she might have forgotten him entirely.


    With the timeline now clear, Esmeralda nearly exploded, but Elodie calmed her down-whatever needed to happen, they''d follow the proper process.


    "So it was this jerk who leaked it? But how did he even know?" Esmeralda asked, baffled.


    As for why he''d do such a thing, it was painfully obvious. He''d barely


    left Vista ink before


    debuted a groundbreaking


    achievement, and with his narrow, self-serving mindset, there was no way he could stand it.


    Elodie frowned, piecing it together. "At the end ofst year, I gave the tech department a talk about some practical code applications—used the prototype version as an example. That''s how he picked up part of it."