How did he save it? I erased my work before I left. I’m certain I did.
“Nothing is fully tested or close to completion,” I tell Marcela, to explain why the betrayal is not only theft but illogical. “Is that why he went out of his way to ask me out? To profit off my ideas? This can’t be happening.”
Why would Kieran do this? Because I didn’t want to date him or hike in the snow?
When he asked what I was working on, I gave a summary in broad strokes. I was being nice because of his hospitality. I didn’t think he would steal my concept.
“He won’t get away with this,” Marcela asserts in her big-sister voice that leaves no room for bullshit. “I won’t let him.”
“You can’t stop him.” Tears fall. “He has the reach and the legal power to steamroll me.”
Maple King has the capital to flesh out my idea. It will be a race to file a patent application for exclusive rights to use the concept while preventing competitors from exploiting it.
The irony, right?
My sister blows out a long breath. “I’m checking with someone who works in the legal department. The chief attorney’s job is to defend the city in lawsuits, should it come to that. If there’s some way we can prove it’s your concept, I’ll fight like hell to can it. But we need to be quick, Miri.”
“How long do I have?” Acid burns my throat.
The line is quiet. “A month, maybe more if I can stall. The proposal is on the schedule for next week’s City Council meeting. It will get kicked to the Community Development Committee, where it will get the votes to pass back to the council for a full vote. You should call our father.”
“No.” I sniffle. “I listened to him lecture me about taking this job. I can’t stomach an ‘I told you so.’”
“Miri, he loves you, and he wouldn’t let this slide. I’ll follow your lead, but you have an army behind you. I keep bail money in the bank for this reason.”
An underdeveloped idea stolen by a man with an unnecessary plaque on his desk who can’t deal with rejection.
I don’t know what to do. What can I do?
Chapter 47
Antonio
“Excuse me. Do you have an appointment?” The receptionist is on her feet. Her slender hips switch in tall heels to beat me to the door next to her desk.
“Do you have an appointment?” she asks again, skidding to a stop in front of me. Her penciled brows slanted into toothpicks are a reminder of my media training. I’m a walking brand at all times, which is the only reason this door isn’t modeling my silhouette. Flinging Kieran from a window is a different story. He’d fall four floors before he met the sidewalk.
Anyone who messes with Miriam can die twice.
I knew something was wrong with Dickhead. It was bad enough that he took my baby out for a tasteless salad and paid for a date to get close to her. I never thought he’d physically hurt her, but this? Stealing her idea to patent it for himself is sinister. The reason why he did it doesn’t matter. He preyed on her, and that won’t go unchecked.
“If you don’t have an appointment, you need to leave.”
Her again.
I could ignore Bobblehead Brooke and push past her. She’s the size of my elbow, but that wouldn’t end well for her or for me. She’d weaponize her tears on a two-part prime-time special, while I’d be staring at a double-digit sentence for shoulder-checking her too hard.
Option number two it is. Charm.
“I’m sorry. I wanted to surprise a friend. Is Kieran here?” I practice my mugshot grin and point to the door.
Her softening scowl becomes wide-eyed. “You play for the Steel.”
“Guilty.”
“I saw you on PSN the other night. You’re…fit.” That nasally voice wanted to kick me out thirty seconds ago. Her gaze slides over my navy parka and down my sweats to my winterized sneakers. In hindsight, I should’ve worn steel-toed boots to stomp her boss’s ass, but I had to improvise.
“Can I run in real quick?” I didn’t come here to get eye-fucked. “Gotta get back to practice.”
