Bad Love: An Alpha's Regret

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 I compromise 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 this company 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 this company.” I glance 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’d land 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 accompanied 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 places

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 occupy desks with

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

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

is comfortable 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

computer stations everywhere. This is like some high-tech bunker.

“Liam, what do you mean weaponry?”

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

“What kind of software?” I ask carefully.

“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. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

”

”

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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 splash 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 blame 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 annihilate our own species.

I look at the engineers bent over their laptops 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?”