Page 262 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

Jeffrey turns the screen. Timestamp. Remote authentication. Legacy admin credentials. Aircraft stabilization configuration access. Eleven hours before Megan’s fatal flight.

“The key resolves to Bryce’s credential set,” Jeffrey says quietly.

Silence fills the room.

Bryce accessed the system remotely hours before my wife died.

Proof.

Finally, I have proof.

My jaw locks so hard pain shoots upward behind my eyes.

Jeffrey steps toward me carefully. “Ethan.”

“Send everything to legal.”

“Already done.”

“Federal investigators?”

“Not yet. I wanted you to see it first.”

I turn on him instantly. “If this is admissible evidence, it should already be with the investigators.”

“And it will be.” His voice hardens. “But you deserved to know before your wife’s death became a federal briefing.”

My anger hits the wall of that sentence and stops.

I hate him for being right.

Then I hate Bryce more.

There are very few people in the world who knew Bryce before he became this. Before arrogance rotted into cruelty. Before entitlement became motive and ambition turned poisonous.

Jeffrey studies me carefully. “I don’t think he intended for Megan to die.”

I look at him sharply.

“He wanted to prove something,” Jeffrey continues. “Look at the architecture. The failsafe wasn’t removed randomly. He thought the dampening layer was limiting system authority. He thought the AI should have more control.”

Bryce said safety constraints made the system weak.

Megan said safety constraints were the reason pilots came home alive.

Jeffrey gestures toward the screen. “He wanted the AI to fail just enough to prove he was right. To prove the company needed him.”

My stomach turns.

“He thought if the system destabilized,” Jeffrey says quietly, “he’d be the one who could fix it.”

“And become indispensable again.”

“Yes.”

The rage inside me sharpens, becoming colder. Bryce gambled with aircraft safety because he wanted recognition.

And Megan died for it.