Chapter 2

"Chloe! Your dad was just on the news!"

My dad’s face squeezed through the cracked door, flushed red with excitement.

"The reporters asked me how I raised two such brilliant daughters. I told them we believe in holistic education. Both of my girls are overachievers!"

He happily waved his phone, trying to show me the photos.

I didn't reach for it.

"Dad, have you thought about what happens when this lie blows up?"

"Blows up? How? Lily did participate. Emotional support is a contribution too. Ethan said so himself."

The phone in my pocket buzzed. I pulled it out. It was Sarah.

She was the only colleague in the entire dev team I actually trusted.

Before my thumb could swipe to answer, my dad snatched the phone right out of my hand.

He pushed me back and pressed accept.

"Hi Sarah, this is Chloe's dad. Yeah, Chloe’s not feeling very well lately. The doctor recommended complete bed rest... No, no, she can’t come to the phone right now... Yes, she’s under too much stress. If you have work questions, just go directly to Ethan."

I lunged forward to grab my phone, but he blocked me with his shoulder. After hanging up, he quickly cleared the call history.

"You told my friend I’m having a mental breakdown?"

"It’s not a lie. Look at yourself. Locking yourself in a basement and pick a fight with your own family? Does that sound like a sane person?"

"Chloe, let me give you a reality check. Last week, Ethan took Lily to see Professor Harrison."

Professor Harrison. My master's thesis advisor.

"Ethan told him that the AI model was developed under his guidance, and you only did some minor coding assistance. Ethan’s company made a generous donation to the university's lab. The Professor didn't ask any more questions."

My back pressed against the cold concrete wall. The chill seeped deep into my bones.

"Your sister even sang a song for Professor Harrison. The old man was thrilled. He said Lily has a spark that you always lacked."

"What does singing have to do with AI?"

"You just don't get it, do you? It’s called charisma. Lily has it, and you never will. She’s likeable."

He tossed the phone back to me. A notification from TikTok popped up: Lily is live now.

I tapped it.

She was sitting in the VIP lounge next to the stage, speaking softly to the camera.

"...The core breakthrough of this model lies in utilizing multi-modal alignment to achieve zero-shot transfer learning. Sounds super complicated, right? Put simply, it’s about teaching the AI to learn by association, just like we humans do..."

Word for word.

Those were my exact words from a voice note I sent Ethan at three in the morning, three months ago, when I finally solved the bottleneck.

And there she was, casually reciting my 3 AM breakthrough on camera as her own. The comment section was exploding: "A literal genius!" "She has the brains and the looks!" "Incredible!"

My dad watched over my shoulder, his face wrinkling with a massive grin.

"See? Look at how well your sister speaks. Everyone knows she’s a genius."

"Those are my words. She didn't change a single syllable."

"Well, that just proves you two have sisterly telepathy!"

The timer on my watch ticked down to 38:04.

My dad stood up, brushed some imaginary dust off his jeans, and walked up the stairs.

"Stop fighting it, Chloe. Once you walk out of this room, nobody will believe you. Ethan’s team, Professor Harrison, the media, the public—they’re all on Lily’s side."