CHAPTER 40: LAUNCH DAY: WELCOME TO THE FUTURE

The day of Sentinel’s launch had finally arrived, and the Thomas B. Murphy Ballroom buzzed with life—perhaps more so today than ever before.

The room was filled with journalists, tech enthusiasts, cybersecurity professionals, and curious investors from across the country, some of whom had flown in just that morning.

Each was either eager to witness the dawn of a new age in cybersecurity or deeply skeptical that this product could live up to the hype.

For a software that was announced just under a week ago, this much reception was surprising and way past what Lillian was expecting.

Yes, she had reached to lots of tech enthusiasts, media companies and the like, but with the way they had all been ghosting them, she thought this launch would barely see a hundred people.

But she was wrong.

Every seat was occupied, the aisles tight with latecomers leaning against the walls, clutching notepads or live-streaming rigs.

Murmurs filled the ballroom as they waited for the presentation to begin and for Sentinel to either prove itself or fall flat under the weight of its own hype.

But they all had one thing in common, curiosity.

Whether fueled by excitement, skepticism, or sheer boredom, everyone in the room wanted to see what kind of software had caused such a stir in less than a week.

Backstage, Lillian took in a deep breath as she mentally prepared herself for this. Although a lot less now, there was still the fact that she was scared of even holding a conversation with someone much less a whole crowd with cameras pointed at her.

Thinking of cameras, her breathing suddenly hitched.

She could already see them in her mind’s eye the dozens of lenses, red recording lights blinking like little eyes, all trained on her, watching and waiting for her to slip up.

But before she could barrel into a full blown painc attack, a hand gently grasped hers, pulling her back to reality.

Turning to her side, Lillian met Aria’s calm gaze.

"Breathe," Aria whispered, her thumb brushing lightly over the back of Lillian’s hand. "In, out. Like we practiced."

Lillian swallowed, nodded, and followed the rhythm Aria guided her into.

Aria knew exactly why Lillian was like this—and that was precisely why she’d been against the idea of Lillian doing the product unveiling in the first place.

But if her friend was willing to take a step to face this, to confront a past Aria hadn’t even known about until a few days ago, then as her best, and possibly only, friend, she would stand by her.

Aria had also finally met Ethan just a day ago, determined to give him a piece of her mind for overworking her friend—but as it turns out, the man wasn’t exactly what she expected.

And long story short, he was now in her good books.

"You got this," Aria whispered again.

Lillian gave a shaky nod, her lips pressing into a thin line.

Just then, the event coordinator peeked through the curtain. "Two minutes," she said briskly, headset flashing green.

Lillian looked to the curtain, then back to Aria.

"Tell me I won’t freeze."

"You won’t freeze."

"And if I do?"

"I’ll cause a fake fire alarm and stealthily drag you out of there" Aria replied with a serious expression on her face.

This got a laugh out of Lillian as her nerves finally, completely calmed down.

Meanwhile, at the top floor of OmniTech Corp’s building, sitting behind his monitors that were currently showing realtime camera footage of the Thomas B ballroom was Ethan.

A part of him had wanted to be there presenting Sentinel to the world himself, he wanted to Stan on that stage as he showed them what true innovation was, but he knew better.

Right now, anonymity was his greatest weapon. Letting the world see his face would tip too many hands too early.

The moment he became visible, Nathaniel would move in for the kill and he didn’t have enough influence or power to fight back, even on equal grounds.

Tapping on his earpiece, he asked, "are you ready?"

There was silence on the other end for a moment before Lillian’s voice came through, "ready as I’ll ever be."

"Good luck," Ethan sincerely wished.

There was another moment of silence, before Lillian whispered a thank you, her voice similar to when Ethan first met her.

With that, the line went silent as she prepared to go up stage.

Ethan’s eyes then moved to a monitor that showed a livestream of the venue, he watched as the comments of the viewer scrolled past the screen.

The comments were mostly the same as the question and concerns running through the minds of the ones in the room.

{"Sentinel? Never heard of it"

"Oh, we’re about to see what all the hyp is about."

"Anyone know who’s behind this OmniTech? This is the first time I’m hearing of them."

"Okay but like... does anyone know how to get printer ink off a baby, I’m asking for a friend?"}

Well...the comments were more or less related to Sentinel and OmniTech and that was exactly what he wanted.

Ethan’s eyes moved to the digital clock ticking down on the corner of the livestream feed: 00:00:23.

Almost time.

The camera feed panned slightly, catching the flicker of stage lights shifting to a spotlight.

And then he heard the words of the host through the live mic: "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Lillian Hayes, Chief Operations Officer of OmniTech."

There was a ripple of applause as Lillian stepped onto the stage, the lights bathing her in a warm, golden hue.

She had on a simple but elegant black pantsuit and her black hair was in its usual neat ponytail.

She reached the center of the stage, her heels clicking softly against the floor, and a small smile on her face, she looked very much unlike her nervous self.

"Good afternoon," she began, her voice steady, surprisingly so. "Thank you for being here today, and welcome to the future of cybersecurity."