"Otherwise, I'll make sure the entire internet knows exactly how you cheated on your fiancée and let your mistress come here to make a scene."

Sylvia's face flushed scarlet. She opened her mouth to fire back, but Eugene grabbed her arm and stopped her.

He took a deep breath, pulled out his phone, and made a call to authorize the transfer.

Then he looked at me, his expression complicated.

"Rose, you didn't have to push things this far between us..."

His voice dropped with disappointment.

"I'm not afraid of your threats against Sylvia. As long as I'm here, not even you can touch her."

"I agreed to your terms today only because of what we once had. Rose, after all those years together, it shouldn't have come to this. I thought we could at least be friends..."

He caught the disgust on my face and sighed.

"Fine. Sylvia was right about one thing. Your chip can only be developed by our company right now. Even if you take it back, it'll just collect dust. I know that's not what you want."

"I'll keep the partnership agreement on file for you. When you've had time to think it over, call me. We'll sign a new deal. As compensation, I'll offer you equity..."

I couldn't listen to another word.

"Zara Lambert, throw them out."

As Sylvia left, she kept glancing back over her shoulder, her eyes dripping with venom.

I did the math. The factory fire had cost three million. Now he'd just transferred ten million to me.

Eugene had no liquid capital left.

I thought about the career I'd been forced to abandon in my previous life. The decades of self-doubt and despair.

What he owed me? It was so much more than this.

I wanted everything he'd ever built to crumble in my hands.

Dad tried to comfort me. "Rosie, I'll introduce you to someone better."

I just smiled.

A few days later, I met the man who'd been Eugene's biggest rival in my previous life: Stanley Farley.

In truth, Stanley and I were the real peers. We'd both built our careers in chip research.

If I hadn't poured everything into helping Eugene rebuild his company back then, I might have chosen to bring my technology to Stanley instead.

In my previous life, my chip had been a generation ahead of the entire industry. But Stanley had relied on independent R&D and spent ten years closing the gap.

A man like that, I was certain, would become the greatest ally I'd ever have.