“Arthur saw Marco’s death as an opportunity.” She stood abruptly—the folder clutched in her hands—and started pacing. “A chance to speed up his timeline.”
“And he saw you as an easy mark,” I said.
She barked out a bitter laugh. “He miscalculated.”
I watched her flip through more pages, saw her assembling the pieces. Arthur’s communications with QuantumTech. The orchestration of his own hiring through Johnson and Haskins. The deliberate sabotage of the CFIUS filing.
“This is everything,” she said finally, sitting back down. The adrenaline was fading, leaving exhaustion in its wake. “The board will have to believe this. Johnson and Haskins are exposed. Arthur is finished.”
I nodded. “You’ve got him.”
But something shifted in her expression. I saw it happen—the strategist in her kicking in despite the rage.
“How did your cousin get this?”
Christ. I’d known this question was coming. “Does it matter?”
“It matters to me.” She looked down at the folder again. “Some of this is clearly public record, but these emails...” She tapped the pages. “You don’t just find encrypted emails by accident. Your cousin hacked into something. Or broke into somewhere. Or...” She trailed off. “This was obtained illegally, wasn’t it?”
“Some of it occupies a grey area.”
“Which means illegally.” She set the folder on the bed beside her. “Patrick, I can’t use this. Not if it was gained through illegal means. That makes me just as bad as Arthur.”
“No.” I crossed to her, felt my voice go hard. “Using information to save a company and protect medical innovation is not the same as conspiring to destroy that company for profit.”
“But if I present this to the board?—”
“Then Arthur is exposed for what he is. A corporate criminal.” I knelt in front of her so we were eye level and took her hands in mine. “Theresa, he plotted against Marco while he was still alive. He’s been manipulating the board for eighteen months. He sabotaged your business deal deliberately. And his endgame is selling your patent to a company that will bury it so diabetic patients can’t access better technology.”
“I know all that.”
“Then why are you hesitating?”
“Because I don’t know if I can win by fighting dirty.” Her voice cracked slightly. “Marco always said thathowyou build something matters as much aswhatyou build. If I use illegally obtained evidence to save the company, what does that make me?”
I was quiet for a moment. Then I said, “It makes you someone willing to do what’s necessary to protect what matters.”
“Or it makes me someone who crosses lines I can’t uncross.”
“You’re not crossing lines. I am.” I tightened my grip on her hands. “I hired Callum. I asked him to dig. I brought this information to you. Whatever moral ambiguity exists, it’s on me.”
“We both know that’s not how it works.” She looked at our joined hands. “If I use this, we’re both complicit.”
“Yes.” My grip tightened. “We are. And I’m fine with that.”
She looked exhausted suddenly, the adrenaline that had carried her here fading, leaving behind the woman who had been fighting this battle alone for too long.
“Even if I use this and prove Arthur’s a criminal, the board might still vote to sell just to get something out before it all collapses.”
I watched her sitting there, still clutching the damning folder that might not be enough to save everything she’d fought for. The weight of it all seemed to press down on her, bending but never breaking that steel core I admired.
I stood, gently took the folder from her hands and set it on the desk.
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking up at me with tired eyes.
“That can wait a few hours,” I said, kneeling in front of her. “There are more important matters to attend to right now.”
I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her—not gently, but with the fierce possession I felt whenever I was near her.Claiming her. Reminding us both that some things were worth it.
