Chapter 125


    Touche.


    Smart girl.


    I can’t insist on being married and then treat her like a stranger. Even if I shouldn’t mix business with


    pleasure.


    “125 total, and Ipromise to sell back 1%.”


    She shakes her head. “This is my family’s corporation, Aaron. We need to get back control of it.”


    “I am your family, Leah. You don’t get to pull that card only when it suits you.”


    Equal shares would mean we’d have to vote and interact on decisions. He ll, I let her run the show


    today only because I respect her opinions and I wanted to see what she’d do with this


    situation.


    I can dismantle thispany and sell it off. I can bring in external investors and not disrupt my own


    cash flow. There are a dozen deals that can be made to liquidate. Not to mention that with Pack


    Roberts being in debt as bad as it is, I can get those lenders to call in their loans and crush Roberts


    Corp in one fell


    blow.


    More gently I say, “You do know you’re in no position to


    negotiate, right? I’ve reviewed all the financials, honey.”


    She swallows hard but holds my gaze. “You can’t have it both ways, either, Aaron. You’re either with


    me or against me.”


    She’s throwing my words back in my face and I can’t even fault her for it.


    “Fifty percent. Even shares. And I give you the capital. I’ll pay the interest on your other loans, so they


    don’t call them in. Princess,” I warn her. “I can destroy thispany.” I nce at Liam briefly. “And you


    both know it. This is my final offer. Take it or leave it.”


    LEAH


    I took Aaron’s deal.


    It’s not like we had better options and we both knew it. I came in high hoping we’dnd where we did,


    and if I’m being totally honest, I would’ve taken a lot less.


    Liam is furious.


    It’s just the two of us now. We’re seated in the boardroom. Aaron left as well as several of the wolves


    that apanied him. Liam has his own group of wolves maintaining security. “Come with me,” he


    says.


    “Where?”


    “Anywhere but here. I can still smell the s*x on the hardwood and, no offense, I’m a little si ck of it.”


    My face burns.


    I don’t bother denying and I’m not going to apologize. I’m a grown adult. But his judgment of me doesn’t


    feel nice.


    We leave the main conference room and get back into the elevator. There is a scanner that he ces


    his hand on and it brings us to a higher, unlisted floor.


    The doors open silently and there is a flurry of activity. At least a dozen people upy desks with


    multiple monitors. They all appear to be working hard… on something.


    2


    “Dad’s office is one floor down. If you n to work from here or stay here, you can upy it. The couch


    isfortable enough and the bathroom has a shower in it. We can have clothes delivered to you.”


    “What is this floor?”


    “State-of-the-art AI software designed specifically for unmanned, autonomous weaponry systems.”


    I see the mechanical aspects of drones and spider-looking robotics, and even simpler models that look


    like a jacked up Roomba vacuum.


    The walls are some kind of reinforced concrete. There are


    “Liam, what do you mean weaponry?”


    “We have a multi-billion dor DoD contract if we can deliver on the software.”


    “What kind of software?” I ask carefully. Content is property of N?velDrama.Org.


    “It’s the tech that mans these robotics,” he tells me, “creating an autonomous, intelligent machinery


    capable of acting independently to carry out missions. It will change the face of warfare forever.”


    This is… terrifying.


    ”


    ”


    1


    K


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    c


    I can’t put my head in the sand and pretend the tech doesn’t exist, but actively developing it doesn’t sit


    right with me.


    “This is where all the money’s been going,” I venture.


    “Yeah. We ssh around some so people think we’re partying and living extravagantly, and we let the


    packhouse go to he ll because it reinforces the image. But that’s not the case. We pull all the money


    we can out of every other department and personal asset to feed it back into this program.”


    They’ve fo oled everyone… even me.


    “We’re not stupid, sister. Or mismanaging anything. This is Dad’s vision. And I’m going to see it


    through.”


    Lies. So many lies.


    And secrets.


    “This will save lives all over the world,” Liam tells me.


    Whose lives?


    Not the people they’re attacking. And isn’t this like the premise of the plot from Terminator!? Where AI


    is meant to stop war, but then it goes rogue and kil ls everybody. I me Aaron and his obsession with


    action flicks for my overactive imagination.


    But what if it isn’t?


    What if in this very room, we are developing the AI that will one day decimate entire cities?


    And what about this power used against another pack? We could annihte our own species.


    I look at the engineers bent over theirptops and monitors typing away and analyzing code or


    tinkering with whatever these machines are.


    A chill crawls up my spine. I’ve been arrogant and wading into waters without knowing their depth.


    Now, I’m in way over my head.


    And given just how much they’ve lied about already, I can’t help


    but ask, “Liam, what else aren’t you telling me?”