My family told me not to come over on New Year’s Eve because “I’d just make everyone uncomfortable,” so I spent the night alone in my apartment. But at 12:01 a.m., my brother called—his voice shaking. “What did you do? Dad just saw the news, and he’s having trouble breathing…”

My cursor hovered over the refresh button.

Midnight.

Fireworks exploded on the screen.

I hit refresh.

The article went live.

SYNAPSE LOOP INC. GOES PUBLIC AT $2.1B VALUATION. FOUNDER REVEALS ATTEMPTED IP THEFT BY REYNOLDS MEDICAL GROUP CEO.

The sub-headline: Emails and Recordings Show Lucas Reynolds Attempted to Claim Sister’s Billion-Dollar Algorithm.

Twitter exploded instantly. The hashtag #SynapseLoop began to trend. The TechCrunch companion piece dropped at 12:01.

My phone was silent for exactly sixty seconds.

Then it rang.

“Hello, Lucas.”

“What did you do?” he screamed. “Dad isn’t breathing! Mom is screaming! What did you do?”

“I went public, Lucas. I documented the truth.”

“You… you published our private emails? You recorded us? That’s defamation!”

“It’s documentation,” I said calmly. “The patent dates don’t lie. March 2022. Four months before your investor pitch. You called me your assistant. You tried to steal my life’s work. Did you think I would just vanish?”

“You’ve killed this company!” he sobbed. “Investors are calling. They’re pulling out. Do you understand what you’ve done?”

“I didn’t kill the company, Lucas. You did that when you built it on a foundation of theft.”

I hung up.

My mother called next. “You are unforgivable,” she hissed. “You have humiliated this family.”

“I haven’t been part of your family for years,” I said. “You made sure of that. Enjoy the party, Mom.”

I didn’t sleep. By morning, the avalanche had begun.

247 missed calls. 512 emails.

At 10:00 a.m., Lucas held a press conference. I watched it live on YouTube, coffee cooling in my hand. He looked terrible—rumpled suit, red eyes.

“My sister is going through a difficult time,” he read from a prepared statement. “Her allegations are baseless. We have always supported her.”

A journalist raised her hand. “Mr. Reynolds, how do you explain the patent filing from March 2022, four months before you presented the technology as your own?”

Lucas froze. “Coincidence. Great minds… overlap.”

“And the email where you explicitly asked for her ‘source code’?”

“Context,” he stammered. “It was… out of context.”

“And the recording where you threatened legal action if she didn’t hand it over?”

“That press conference is over!” he shouted, and walked out.

The clip went viral within the hour. CEO Meltdown trended on TikTok.

By 4:00 p.m., the Board of Directors of Reynolds Medical Group issued a statement. Lucas Reynolds has been suspended pending an independent investigation.

My father called me the next day.

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