Chapter 7 - The Crash
Julian flew back to San Francisco in a state of blinding rage and profound denial. He convinced himself Clara was just going through a phase. She was punishing him, and once she realized how difficult life was without limitless resources, she would come back.
He walked into Vance Analytics on Monday morning like a man possessed. He fired a mid-level manager for a minor coding error. He ripped up a marketing proposal and threw it at his PR director. He was a tyrant, using his anger to build a wall around the gaping hole in his chest.
On Wednesday, the crisis hit.
"Julian," his CTO ran into the office, his face pale. "We have a catastrophic data breach. A backdoor vulnerability in the legacy code from version 2.0. Hackers have accessed user data. The stock is already tanking."
Normally, this was the exact scenario Julian lived for. He was a wartime CEO. He thrived on adrenaline and impossible odds.
He looked at the flashing red metrics on his monitors. He looked at his panicked executive team waiting for his brilliant orders.
And he felt absolutely nothing.
"Shut the servers down," Julian said blankly.
"Julian, if we shut them down, we lose millions by the hour," the CFO pleaded.
"I said shut them down!" Julian roared, slamming his fist onto the glass desk so hard it cracked.
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The room fell dead silent. Julian stared at his bleeding knuckles. He looked at the shattered glass, and all he could see was Clara’s face in the rainy gallery. Go back to your company. It's the only thing you've ever truly loved.
She was wrong. He didn't love this at all anymore.
