Becoming A Tech Tycoon Begins With Regression novel Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Launch Day: Checkmate

Ethan wasn’t the only one watching Sentinel’s launch unfold through the livestream.

Back in the city of California, inside Google’s HQ, Amelia, her team and a couple of other executives sat in the secured R&D wing, watching the live stream of Sentinel’s launch.

Amelia Rhodes had a visible frown on her face as she looked at the screen. She knew this was coming and OmniTech had given them a chance at first bite but they had gotten greedy.

Back then, OmniTech was just an unknown individual with an unknown software, a software that cut through Google’s firewalls like butter, a software that had identified vulnerabilities their team of experts had missed. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

It was a software offered to them on a silver platter— all they had to do was negotiate a deal with OmniTech, and they would’ve secured a lead over the competition for years, thanks to whatever exclusivity window they could’ve negotiated.

But no?

Thanks to that detestable Nathaniel Langley, Amelia’s chance of convincing the board was squandered and now, they’ve lost the chance of shooting ahead of everyone.

It’ll only be a matter of time before competitors like Apple got interested and once they did, Sentinel would become worth a lot more than whatever OmniTech would’ve asked from Google.

"Is it too late to reach back out?" one of the executives finally asked, his voice hesitant.

Amelia didn’t even look at him.

"They offered us first bite and we tried to copy his software, a task we spectacularly failed at. Now, they’re on stage with a full crowd, trending online, and probably getting a dozen meeting requests by the hour," she said bitterly. "So yes, It might too late."

No one spoke after that.

Alex, by Amelia’s side, could see exactly how annoyed she was at the turn out of this and the cause of all this—well, at least the one she blamed anyway—wasn’t even in the room with them.

Across the city, in an exclusive high-rise suite overlooking the bay, Nathaniel Langley sat in a leather armchair, a glass of wine in one hand and the livestream of Sentinel’s launch playing on a massive screen before him.

Behind him stood Marcus, the same bodyguard who had pulled the trigger that ended Ethan’s last life, and another equally buff man.

They both stood without the least bit of emotion, their eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses despite the dim lighting in the suite.

Though they stood completely still, like statues, their awareness covered the entire room with no movement, no matter how small, going unnoticed by them.

In the suite with the three was Dmitri, seated near the window with a tablet in hand, idly scrolling through news updates and early social media reactions to Sentinel’s launch. The light from the tablet screen reflected faintly in his cold eyes.

Everything was going just as planned, the group of hackers he hired had successfully broken into Sentinel, copied the code and planted the kill switch.

Now all they had to do was wait, wait for the hype around Sentinel to reach its peak. Wait, for most of the tech world to have their eyes on this launch before Nathaniel would order the switch to be pressed.

And waiting was exactly what Nathaniel was currently doing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Lillian Hayes, Chief Operations Officer of OmniTech," the announcer’s voice came through the speakers of his monitor.

Soon enough, a black haired woman walked up the stage, her face was completely calm and her green eyes were filled with determination as she calmly walked towards the mic.

Dmitri briefly looked up from his tablet before looking back down on his tablet. Tapping on it, a file containing the image of Lillian popped up.

"Lillian Hayes," Dmitri said aloud, just loud enough for Nathaniel to hear. "Age twenty-three. Bachelor’s in Business Administration, attends Georgia State University and was a best buy part-timer until a few weeks ago.

This made Nathaniel let out an amused chuckle.

"A Bestbuy girl turned COO in under a month," he said, swirling the wine in his glass. "Either OmniTech is desperate... or there’s something special about her."

His eyes narrowed slightly as he leaned forward, watching Lillian take the stage with surprising poise. She didn’t carry herself like someone who’d just left a retail job—in fact, she looked like someone who had been doing this her whole life.

"Pull everything on her," he said, voice calm but laced with command. "I want to know where she lives, who she is, her past, and anything you can find on her. Also, cross-check every connection she’s made in the last ninety days."

"On it," Dmitri answered before he stood up, walking out of the Suite and leaving Nathaniel with his bodyguards.

Nathaniel continued watching the Livestream while taking occasional sips of his wine.

The stage was set, the performers in place, and the climax drawing near.

_________

Back in Atlanta, in the Thomas B. Murphy ballroom, Lillian calmly took the mic as he started.

"Good afternoon," she began, her voice was steadier than even she expected. "Thank you for being here today, and welcome to the future of cybersecurity."

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