?Chapter 1058:


    The Carter family had made it painfully clear she wasn’t wee. Even if she stayed, she’d never win over Karson, the head of the family—or Lance, for that matter. So what was the point? It was smarter to focus on helping Erebus instead.


    She pulled her suitcase upright and walked straight to the door.


    Lance watched her leave and sighed again. “Nina, you know that’s not what I meant…”


    It wasn’t that he cared less about her because of Ste—it was just that Nina had handled things the wrong way from the start.


    “Doesn’t matter what you meant,” Nina shot back. “Everyone clearly prefers Ste. So fine, let her move in. I’ll get out of her way.”


    Without another word, she walked out of Carter Mansion and didn’t look back.


    In her newly acquired apartment, Nina quickly unpacked and sat at her desk.


    Three monitors glowed in front of her, each running a different program. The people at Erebus had treated her better than anyone ever had. They had given her every resource she needed—and even covered half the cost of her new home.


    She didn’t need their money, but she appreciated their sincerity. At least they saw her worth—unlike the Carters, who pretended to be fair but only cared about Ste. What a joke.


    Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she set her n in motion. Using confidential Carter family data, she created a fake file about Erebus working with a multinational techpany tounder money and transfer assets. Hidden inside that file was a data-tracking program.


    Nina smirked. Ste would definitely fall for it. Just like her, Ste was a researcher with hacker friends—and anything rted to Erebus always caught her eye.


    Once Ste opened or shared that file, the tracker would quietly sneak into her device, letting Nina see everything she did.


    Her eyes drifted to the calendar beside her. The international tech ethics forum was next week—and Ste was listed as one of the keynote speakers.


    Erebus had already told her they’d have people at the event. All Nina had to do was wait for the right moment to secretly hand the file to Ste.


    She stared at the finished program on herputer, a faint smile tugging at her lips.


    “Let’s see if Ste’s so-called friends can save her this time,” she thought.


    Before long, the day of the forum arrived.


    Ste showed up looking neat and professional, her confidence shining through as she spoke on stage.


    Meanwhile, Nina sat among the audience, dressed like a journalist—baseball cap low, sunsses hiding her eyes—watching coldly from her seat.


    Even Nina had to admit, Ste was good at what she did. She spoke clearly and with ease, throwing around theories that Nina could barely follow.


    That only made Nina’s dislike for her grow stronger.


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