After the Fall A Leap into a Stranger's Arms novel Chapter 350

Lawrence stepped in right when Catherine needed him, slipping his arm around her shoulders and giving Shirley a cold, sharp look. “Don’t waste your breath arguing with people like that. Let’s just go.”

Catherine understood. Her dad was still gathering evidence. If Shirley found out who she really was right now, everything he’d worked for would fall apart.

“We’ll see who comes out on top,” Catherine tossed over her shoulder. She slipped her arm through Lawrence’s and walked toward their cars.

Nettie had been watching the whole scene play out, totally entertained. When she finally snapped out of it, she realized Nicol was still holding her hand. Her cheeks burned, but she didn’t really want to let go either.

Nicol kept her hand in his as they headed toward his car. The four of them had plans for lunch.

Once they were gone, the entrance to the courthouse felt empty for a moment, but then a pack of reporters rushed out of nowhere. They crowded around Shirley, shouting questions.

“Shirley, can you give us an update on the lawsuit?”

“Did you win or lose?”

Shirley kept her face stony and walked straight to the street. She flagged down a taxi and disappeared inside.

Back at The James Group, Shirley wasted no time. She called her team together and ordered them to pull up the original source code. There was no way she’d let anyone prove the system was plagiarized.

She had to act fast. She needed to wipe out any trace that could get her accused of stealing.

“Bring up the foundational code for Resonance AI,” she demanded, her voice clipped.

Her team stared at her from across the table.

Shirley stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Her team sat there in stunned silence. One of them finally spoke up. “If we change it, the whole system’s going to fall apart.”

Right then, Ted came through the door. He looked at everyone, serious. “Did Shirley just tell you to rewrite the system?”

“Yeah, Ted. Do you know what’s going on? Why does she want us to change the original code?”

Ted knew he needed their cooperation if they had any hope of salvaging the case. So he laid it all out, telling them exactly what happened in court that day.

The truth left everyone stunned. The system Shirley had brought them, the one they’d all worked so hard on, wasn’t hers at all. She’d stolen it from Catherine.