She did.
Margaret’s files were the last piece. Victoria’s private notes about “consolidating IP ownership before the IPO.” A draft of the false continuation patent applications, with two Bennett engineers listed as inventors and my name nowhere on them. And an email from Victoria to the company’s outside patent attorney asking how quickly those applications could be filed “once the Foster release is signed.”
The patent attorney had written back that he wasn’t comfortable listing inventors who hadn’t actually invented anything, and that he’d need to speak with Dr. Foster first.
Victoria had fired him the next week.
That evening, while I was going through Margaret’s files at my kitchen table, Daniel called.
“Mother’s called an emergency board meeting,” he said. No hello. “Tomorrow at nine. She’s going to ask the board to approve a lawsuit against you. Theft of trade secrets. Breach of contract. All of it.”
“I know,” I said.
“You know?”
“I know everything, Daniel. Including what your mother’s been planning for years. The only question left is what you’re going to do about it.”
He was quiet for a long time.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, are you going to keep sitting next to her while she burns down the company your father built? Rather than admit she was wrong?”
“What choice do I have?”
“There’s always a choice, Daniel,” I said softly. “You just have to be brave enough to make it.”
The next morning, I put on my favorite suit. Deep navy. Not one of the ones Victoria had “helped” me pick out for company events over the years. One I bought myself the week after I left. With my own money.
It was time.
Marcus met me in the lobby of Bennett Technologies at 8:55. We each carried a banker’s box of documents. We’d timed it perfectly. The board members were filing into the elevator just ahead of us.
The security guard at the front desk was a sweet older man named Clarence who’d worked there longer than I had. He looked at me. He looked at the boxes. He looked at the elevator.
Then he smiled and looked back down at his newspaper.
“Ready?” Marcus asked as the elevator doors closed.
“Ready.”
Ethan Blake is a skilled Creative Content Specialist with a talent for crafting engaging and thought-provoking narratives. With a strong background in storytelling and digital content creation, Ethan brings a unique perspective to his role at TheArchivists, where he curates and produces captivating content for a global audience.
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