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“I know a lot of people have been skeptical of that decision in the past year, but today has proven Amber correct. Themarkethas proven her correct. Advanced Crypto Solutions is worth so much more than the analysts predicted, and will only continue to grow. The future is brighter than ever!”
Everyone applauded, and the Wills tried to hoist me up on their shoulders until I backed them down with a glare.
“Speech!” Melinda said, words slurring.
“I amnotgiving a speech,” I told the condo. “But I will say one thing: this isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning. Let’s keep kicking ass until we run Silicon Valley!”
The room erupted in cheers, and the music was cranked back up as the party resumed. I wandered into the kitchen to get another drink; like Melinda, I felt like getting properly drunk tonight.
Furio, Owen, and Jude followed me in there. “So. Where do we go from here?” Jude asked.
“You tell me,” I replied. “You are all very rich.”
“I’m the thirty-fourth richest person in the world,” Owen said, “and Jude is forty-fifth. We can do pretty much anything.”
“Should we buy an island?” Jude proposed, grinning like an idiot. “I think we should buy an island!”
“Ease up there, Goldfinger,” I said. “No need to become a supervillain.”
“You two should begin by hiring your own drivers,” Furio said. “And perhaps a private jet.”
“Way ahead of you, my suave Italian friend,” Owen replied. “I’ve got feelers out on a Gulfstream III.”
“I, personally, am donating twenty percent of my share to the Hope for the Future Fund,” Furio said.
Owen rolled his eyes. “We’re doing the same thing. No need to brag about it.”
I smiled at all of them. It was something we had discussed previously, but it was nice to know they were intent on keeping their promise.
“We’re still in charge of the company, although we’re beholden to a board of directors now,” Owen explained. “But I’m planning on stepping back and relaxing a bit more. Delegating my work rather than taking everything on myself.”
“Me too,” Jude agreed.
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “What are you going to do? Retire and play golf all day?” I snorted to let them know what I thought aboutthat.
The two of them looked at each other, then grinned. “Actually, we have some little coding projects we wanted to tinker with,” Owen said.
“We want to develop a new cryptocurrency,” Jude said, grinning widely. “One with node-based transaction fees.”
My breath caught.Node-based transaction fees?That was the hallmark of a coin that already existed. ArgoCoin. The cryptocurrency I helped develop.
Jude saw the shock on my face, and continued. “Of course, we will want to update it with newer algorithms. Perhaps a lightning network for faster sidechain blocks.”
“Good call,” Owen said. “What do you think we should call it? ArgoCoin 2.0?”
“I like the sound of that,” Furio said, smiling to show he was in on the plan from the start. “And with our connections, both at ACS and ateTodo, we can dominate the competition. Especially with an array of token-based utilities built on top of the currency.”
I threw myself into their arms, squeezing all three of them tightly. There were tears in my eyes, and I didn’t try to stop them from flowing.
“You had better let me help you with it!” I said fiercely.
“That was implied, yes,” Owen said.
We hugged some more, and I thought about how lucky I was to be with them. To have them in my life, supportive and loving in every possible way. This wasn’t how I expected things to go when I took that job interview last year. Not by a long shot. But that’s because it was better.
“Owen!” shouted Clarence, a low-level coder who worked under Nancy. “Show Jill your Home-AI!”
I quickly pulled out my phone and navigated to a program that I had queued up. “Yeah, Owen. Show them how much you paid for the celebrity voiceover.”
