Chapter 3 - The Trojan Horse
For the next three days, Daniel played his part to perfection. He sent me expensive floral arrangements. He texted me melancholic, poetic apologies about how empty the hotel bed felt without me. He acted like a man desperately trying to save his marriage, completely unaware that I was watching his location data pinpoint him directly at Sophie’s upscale apartment every single night.
On Thursday evening, a courier arrived at my door with a thick stack of legal documents. It was the spousal release form. Attached was a handwritten note from Daniel: Just the standard IP transfer for the expansion board. Sign where highlighted. I love you, Mara. We are going to take a long vacation when this is over.
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I took the documents into my office. I didn't sign them. Instead, I carefully inserted a digitally altered, legally binding amendment that Marcus had drafted. The amendment didn't release my intellectual property rights; it executed a unilateral, instantaneous revocation of Hayes & Co.’s licensing agreement to use my algorithm the exact second the buyout was signed.
I forged the notary stamp, sealed the envelope, and handed it back to the courier. I was slipping a digital bomb into the center of his eighty-million-dollar deal, disguised as a love letter.
