It wasn't until the poisoned wine at our engagement party hit my stomach that I realized how naive I'd been.
She had never let go. Not for a single day.
She just buried the hatred. Behind her smiles. Behind her casual concern. Inside that carefully prepared glass of wine.
When the poison took hold and I collapsed, she crouched down and looked at me. The expression on her face is something I will never forget for as long as I live.
It wasn't anger. It was satisfaction, bordering on madness.
She never once believed she'd done anything wrong.
Never believed Nelson's program was flawed. Never believed he chose to drink. Never believed he chose to drive.
All she remembered was that I embarrassed him in that meeting. That I was the one who pushed him down that road.
There was no reasoning with that kind of logic.
So in this life, I wasn't going to try.
The next day's test was scheduled for two in the afternoon.
By the time I arrived, Kate was already standing in the observation area.
Nelson stood right beside her, tablet in hand, leaning in to show her some data. Their shoulders were nearly touching.
I didn't spare them a glance. Found a seat in the corner and sat down.
The test track was a closed-off stretch of road behind the company building. A straight lane ending in a cluster of simulated obstacles, traffic cones lining both sides. The test vehicle was a modified SUV with a lidar array and cameras mounted on the roof, "Autonomous Driving Test" decals running along the body panels.
The executives filtered in one by one. Three people came from the client's side, led by a man in his forties. His name was Nigel Donaldson, and everyone addressed him as Mr. Donaldson.
The first test began.
The vehicle pulled away from the starting mark, cruised at a steady speed toward the first simulated pedestrian, and braked to a clean stop.
Mr. Donaldson nodded, visibly pleased.
Nelson jumped in immediately. "That's the result of our optimization for low-speed urban scenarios. Detection range is up fifteen percent over the previous build."
The second test was a following scenario. The lead car decelerated, the test vehicle matched it, gap distance controlled perfectly.
The third was a lane-change overtake. Smooth and seamless.
"Very nice, very nice."
A smile spread across Nigel's face. He turned to Kate. "Ms. Henson, this new team of yours really is impressive."