When I left Marcus’s office, I felt lighter than I had in a year.
Victoria thought she’d backed me into a corner. She’d actually done me a favor. She’d set me free.
My phone buzzed again. Daniel.
Mother wants to know if you’ve reviewed the documents. Please don’t make this difficult.
I thought about the severance agreement sitting untouched in my purse. The release of all claims. If I’d signed it, I might have signed away my right to challenge anything the company did with my patents.
Victoria hadn’t been offering me money. She’d been trying to buy my silence about my own invention.
I typed back.
Tell her I’ll have an answer soon.
The next few weeks went by in a blur.
I signed a lease on a small but bright apartment in Midtown, on the ninth floor, with a view of Piedmont Park. I bought a desk at IKEA and put it together myself at two in the morning, the way I used to build prototypes.
During the day, I met with Marcus. With investors. With potential partners. At night, I went back through six years of my own research and sorted out exactly which patents the new product line couldn’t live without.
All eleven of them, it turned out.
Victoria didn’t waste any time. Two days after I left, the press release went out on every business wire in the country.
BENNETT TECHNOLOGIES ANNOUNCES NEW R&D LEADERSHIP. MARGARET PHILLIPS TO HEAD INNOVATION DIVISION AS COMPANY PREPARES FOR GROWTH.
The article quoted Victoria three times. She praised Margaret’s “fresh perspective” and her “deep understanding of market strategy.” She called the upcoming launch, the Pulse line of wearable cardiac monitors, “the culmination of Bennett Technologies’ long tradition of innovation.”
My name wasn’t in it. Not once.
As if six years of my life had never happened.
Daniel kept calling. His messages got more worried every time I didn’t answer. He’d moved back into his mother’s house in Buckhead. Temporarily, he said.
We both knew better.
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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