The Sterling Acquisition Gala was the crown jewel of the tech industry’s social calendar, a massive, opulent affair held in the grand ballroom of the city’s most prestigious hotel. It was a night of champagne, high-stakes networking, and corporate pageantry. Tonight, it was meant to be Julian Vance’

The ballroom descended into absolute chaos.

Camera flashes exploded like strobe lights, blinding in their intensity. Reporters shouted over one another, desperately trying to hurl questions at the stage. The venture capitalists in the front rows were already aggressively texting their risk-managem

The glass doors of AuraTech headquarters slid open with a soft, pneumatic hiss.

For the first time in three years, Clara Vance did not walk through them as a visitor, a silent partner, or a dutiful wife bringing her husband a forgotten briefcase. She walked through them as the undisputed owner.