Chapter 2 - THE WORK THEY STOLE
Ryan followed us to the Bentley.
I stopped before getting inside.
“You are not coming home with us.”
“I need to understand what’s happening.”
“You needed to understand five years ago.”
His expression tightened.
“I made a mistake.”
“You destroyed our marriage over a mistake.”
“I know.”
“No, Ryan.”
“You don’t know yet.”
I showed him the article.
The leaked documents contained laboratory notes dated two years before Harrison Global announced its revolutionary battery-storage system.
My signature appeared on every page.
Emily Parker.
Lead Environmental Systems Researcher.
Ryan stared at the screen.
“That technology was developed by our internal team after you left.”
“No.”
“I developed the original model before we separated.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I gave the prototype data to legal because I discovered someone was removing my name from the research chain.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Ryan looked toward the airport.
For the first time, he seemed afraid to hear what came next.
“Charles told the board my work belonged entirely to Harrison Global because I was your wife.”
“He had lawyers rewrite the ownership documentation after the divorce.”
Ryan shook his head.
“I signed those papers.”
“Yes.”
“You signed everything they put in front of you because you were too angry with me to read closely.”
The truth landed harder than I expected.
Ryan rubbed one hand over his face.
Rachel opened the rear door.
“Emily, we need to leave.”
Ryan looked inside.
The boys were already arguing about who had gotten the better airplane cookie from the driver.
He almost smiled.
Then Noah noticed him staring.
“Are you Mom’s friend?”
Ryan froze.
I answered first.
“He’s someone I used to know.”
Ryan looked wounded.
He had no right to be.
But the boys noticed everything.
Noah tilted his head.
“You look like Mason.”
Liam laughed.
“No.”
“He looks like all of us.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
For one painful second, I saw the father he might have been.
Then his phone started ringing.
His chief executive officer.
His lawyers.
Three board members.
Finally his father.
Ryan stared at the name.
CHARLES HARRISON.
He declined the call.
That surprised me.
Then another message appeared.
Ryan read it.
His expression hardened.
“What?”
I asked.
He turned the phone toward me.
His father had written only one sentence.
DO NOT SPEAK TO EMILY PARKER UNTIL OUR ATTORNEYS ARRIVE.
Rachel gave a bitter laugh.
“That sounds familiar.”
Ryan stared at the message.
Then he typed something.
I could see the words before he sent them.
I’M DONE FOLLOWING YOUR ORDERS.
He hit send.
Almost immediately, Charles called again.
Ryan answered.
“What did you do?”
Charles’s voice was loud enough that I could hear it.
“Where are you?”
“Chicago.”
A pause.
“With her?”
Ryan looked directly at me.
“Yes.”
Another silence.
Then Charles asked something strange.
“Did you see the children?”
Ryan’s face went pale.
“You knew.”
Charles said nothing.
Ryan’s voice dropped.
“You knew I had sons.”
May you like
The line went dead.
And the look on Ryan’s face told me the airport revelation had just become something far worse.
