After Launching My AI Startup, My Father Demanded I Hand Over a Core Module to His Son — He Didn't Know I Was Recording
Back in my office, a strange quiet had settled after the whirlwind of revelations with Lena. My mind, however, was still racing, piecing together the fragments of betrayal. Owen’s cryptic code snippet still sat on my screen, its `chimera_pattern_factor` variable blinking insistently.
My conversation with Lena about Arthur’s “founder’s clauses” review solidified my suspicion that his current actions were part of a pattern. The “Chimera” clue felt like a key to his past.
I returned to the deep dive I had started after Owen’s message. Public records of Beaumont Tech were frustratingly clean regarding “Project Chimera.” It was as if the venture had been wiped from existence, a corporate ghost. This level of deliberate erasure was suspicious.
I widened my search parameters, using obscure keywords and dates that predated my own entry into the tech world. Old archived tech forums, academic papers from nearly two decades ago, obscure business registries.
Hours bled into one another. My eyes ached, but I pushed through, driven by a growing certainty that this was connected to Arthur’s current scheme. If I could prove a pattern, it would strengthen my case immensely.
Then, buried deep within a forgotten corner of an old, defunct tech news site, I found it. A comment thread, dating back almost fifteen years, discussing a promising but mysteriously vanished startup called “Chimera Solutions.” The comments were mostly speculation, but one caught my eye.
“Arthur Beaumont acquired the IP, then vanished the founders. Classic Beaumont Tech move. Just like Project Nova.”
My heart pounded. *Acquired the IP, then vanished the founders.* That was chillingly familiar, a mirror image of what he was trying to do to me. The specific cruelty was the historical echo, the realization that this wasn’t just a new act of betrayal, but a repeated, perfected methodology.
I clicked on the profile of the commenter, but it was anonymous, a long-dead account. The trail seemed to go cold again. But the name “Chimera Solutions” and the explicit mention of Arthur acquiring IP and removing founders, felt too specific to be a coincidence.
Then, a new message popped up on my encrypted channel, from the same anonymous sender who had sent Owen’s code snippet. This time, it wasn’t code. It was a single, grainy image.
I clicked it open. It was a photo of an old-fashioned business card, slightly yellowed with age. The text was faded but legible: “Elias Caldwell, Co-Founder & CTO, Chimera Solutions.” Scrawled on the back, in what looked like hurried handwriting, were three words: “Ask about Project Chimera.”
A shiver ran down my spine. Elias Caldwell. The name from the old Beaumont Tech org chart I had seen earlier. The co-founder mentioned in that long-dead comment thread. He was real. And he was clearly trying to reach me.
This wasn’t just an anonymous tip; it was a lifeline, extended from the past. Owen, in his conflicted way, had led me to the man who could expose Arthur’s true nature, his long-standing pattern of intellectual theft. The specific, mundane object of a business card suddenly held immense power.
The realization hit me: Arthur’s history wasn’t just vague whispers; it was documented, lived experience by people like Elias Caldwell. This wasn’t an isolated incident with Phoenix AI; it was a deeply ingrained modus operandi. The pattern was becoming terrifyingly clear.
I looked at the business card, my fingers tracing the faded ink on the screen. Elias Caldwell was a reclusive figure, by all accounts. Finding him wouldn’t be easy. But this message, this direct connection, was a beacon in the darkness.
Arthur had tried to erase his past, to bury Project Chimera, just as he was trying to bury me. But the digital ghosts, and the people he had wronged, were rising. The stakes had just been raised, not just for my future, but for Arthur’s entire, carefully constructed legacy.
The Chimera’s shadow wasn’t just a legend; it was a living testament to Arthur’s ruthlessness. And Elias Caldwell was the key to unlocking its secrets. I knew what I had to do next. I had to find him.
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