No Longer Anyone’s Accessory Chapter 33
Two years later. London.
XR-7 officially entered FDA Phase III clinical trials.
If everything went smoothly, it would reach the market within two years. As the lead inventor, I’d draw ongoing sales royalties once it launched — conservative estimates put the total take over the next decade north of one hundred million.
But that number no longer mattered.
What mattered was that I was standing on ground I had chosen for myself.
A weekend. In my penthouse on the south bank of the Thames, making breakfast for my parents. They’d been visiting for a month now. My mom said London had such a rich cultural atmosphere. My dad’s heart was recovering better and better. He took a walk in Hyde Park every day.
My parents sat out on the balcony, looking across the river at Tower Bridge.
I carried two cups of hot coffee out.
“Mom. Coffee.”
“Corinne. This apartment — it must have cost a fortune, didn’t it?”
“Not cheap.”
“It’s so much bigger than that place in Palo Alto. And the view is so much better.”
“Yeah.”
My mom took the coffee and out of nowhere asked a question.
“Corinne. Are you happy now?”
I looked at her.
“You’ve never asked me that before.”
“I never dared to before. I was scared that if I did, you’d start crying.”
I smiled. A real smile this time.
“Mom, I’m happy. Happier than I’ve ever been in my whole life.”
My mom’s eyes reddened for a second. She dipped her head and sipped her coffee, pretending it was just the wind off the Thames.
My dad, beside her, pretended not to notice. He turned a page of the newspaper in his hands.
That afternoon, Nadia called on video.
“Corinne! That BBC interview you did about XR-7 — it’s blowing up online all over again!”
“Which one?”
“That one! Fifty million views in three days!”
“Mm-hmm.”
“That’s your reaction? ‘Mm-hmm’? Fifty million.”
“Fifty million views and fifty million in the bank are two different things.”
“Can you, just once in your life, not be this bulletproof level of unbothered? Let me be excited for you, would it kill you?”
“Fine. Be excited.”
Nadia cursed me out under her breath, then started up again.
“Oh. One thing. You definitely don’t care anymore.”
“What?”
“Trevor. Latest update.”
“You’re right.”
“I… never mind, forget it.”
“Just say it.”
“I heard his landlord evicted him. He’s living in an RV park now. And because of all of it — the industry-wide blacklist — no company in Silicon Valley will touch him. He’s working at McDonald’s now for minimum wage. Ursula’s still in federal prison.”
“Hm.”
“You really don’t feel a thing?”
“Nadia.”
“Yeah?”
“Some people, once they’re out of your life, turn into complete strangers for good. I’m not one of those people who just says they don’t care. I genuinely, truly, absolutely do not care anymore.”
Nadia was quiet a moment.
“Cori.”
“Yeah?”
“You are the strongest woman I know.”
“Don’t get sappy on me. Next time you’re in London, I’m taking you out for Michelin three-star Beef Wellington.”
“It’s a date!”
I hung up. I leaned against the glass balcony railing and watched the boats drift slowly down the Thames. The river ran on unhurried, just like two years ago. And it wouldn’t be any different two years from now.
Deep in my cloud drive, one folder still sat there. Its name was “Project Phoenix.”
But I hadn’t opened it in a very long time. Not because I’d forgotten it. Because I no longer needed it.
Those documents had done their job. Like a cicada’s shed shell. It was fine to leave them right where they lay. I’d long since flown to higher ground.
