Chapter 32

He finally looked up and met her eyes straight on for the first time. His gaze was sharp enough to cut. "Aether's data privacy architecture doesn't exactly have the best rep in the industry." His voice was cold, laced with scrutiny and pressure. Calliope forced herself to stay calm, meeting his eyes without blinking. "That was a trade-off made for business, not because the tech couldn't do better. If I'm in charge of the ApexTech initiative, I'd go with federated learning and differential privacy-secure data, zero compromise on user experience." Behind glasses, his eyes narrowed slightly. "Talk is cheap." "Then give me a shot and let the proposal speak." Calliope stood her ground-confident, unshaken. After a short pause, he finally looked away, leaned back on the couch, and let out a lazy grunt in response. The director of Apex Living jumped in right away: "Miss Godfrey, please send us the proposal as soon as possible. We'll review it and get back to you." "Thank you, Mr. Sterling. Dir