Chapter 3

I marched straight to Grant's office to demand answers, but stopped dead outside his door.

Inside, Vivian had her head bowed. "Grant, this is all my fault. Mara seems really angry."

"There's still time before graduation," Grant said, his voice flat. "She can just build another project. Don't worry about it. Professor Mercer asked me to look after you. I won't let you lose your degree."

"I know." Vivian paused, her voice dropping to a soft, intimate whisper. "My dad told me... your core AI platform used to be called Viora. That's the pet name you called me in private, isn't it?"

She took a step closer.

"I was too young back then. I shouldn't have rejected you. When you got together with Mara, I had to bury my feelings. But if you're willing—"

"The past is the past," Grant cut her off. "Don't bring it up again. Once you graduate and your job is secure, we're getting a divorce."

Outside the door, my fists clenched so hard my nails bit into my palms.

No wonder Grant had always flat-out refused whenever I asked to study his core algorithm.

Now it all made sense.

Vivian was the first love he had never gotten over. And I was just the collateral damage he was willing to sacrifice so she could get her degree.

It was pathetic.

I pulled out my phone and texted Adrian.

[Adrian, I've made my decision. I want to join Professor Reed's research team with you.]

He replied almost instantly.

[Great. I'll come pick you up in a week.]

When Grant returned to the apartment that evening, I was already packing my bags.

He grabbed my wrist, his grip tight. "What are you doing? It's just a Capstone Project. Is it really worth running away over?"

I ripped my arm out of his grasp.

"Just a project? Do you have any idea how much blood and sweat I poured into that? Vivian stole my work, and I am going to make her pay."

"I did it."

The clothes in my hands dropped to the floor.

"It has nothing to do with her," Grant continued, his jaw tight. "Don't blame Vivian."

"I knew it was you."

The day I finished typing the last line of code, I saved the files and was just about to submit them when Grant walked in out of nowhere.

"Finished the project?"

"Yeah, about to send it to the department."

"Hold on, let me double-check it for you."

"Okay."

He was a year ahead of me. In terms of technical skill, almost no one in the university could beat him. He sat down, and within two minutes, claimed he found a bug and fixed it.

"Leave it alone for now. Let it stabilize and submit it tomorrow," he had said before rushing out.

He wasn't fixing a bug.

He was copying my project, forging Vivian's logs, and altering my local timestamps.

I snapped back to the present, glaring at him. "You did this to me for Vivian. Did you even once think about how I was supposed to face everyone calling me a thief?"

Grant's lips parted, but he hesitated.

He knew exactly what it would do to me. He just believed Vivian needed that Capstone Project more than I did.

"What's done is done," he finally said. "Stop pursuing this. I'll help you build a new one."

He reached out toward my laptop.

I slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch my computer. I don't want to miraculously 'plagiarize' someone else's work again. Get out."

Fighting back tears, I shoved Grant out of the bedroom and slammed the door.

For the next three days, I locked myself in, refining the original project until I had developed an even more powerful AI system.

Then, I sent the files to Adrian, asking him to forward them to Professor Reed.

Over those three days, Grant tried to talk to me multiple times. I ignored him completely.