Chapter 258
Saul reached into his battered leather briefcase and pulled out a thick stack of manila folders. He handed them to Isolde.
She sat on the hard plastic chair in the ER hallway and flipped through the pages. Every cancellation letter, every breach of contract notice, felt like a physical cut across her skin.
“Grayson’s fund insisted on a comprehensive audit,” Saul explained, his voice raspy. “We gave him everything. We trusted him, Isolde. He was your husband.”
Isolde stared at the date on the first audit request. It was from six months ago. She remembered that week perfectly — she had spent hours in the kitchen trying to perfect a recipe for Grayson’s favorite cake for their anniversary.
While she was baking for him, he was methodically planning the destruction of her family.
“He laid the trap months ago,” Isolde whispered, her eyes scanning the text. “He was building a runway for Belle’s company.”
Saul nodded miserably. “InnoTech’s new ‘Aegis’ system is a direct clone of our ‘Guardian’ architecture. They just changed the user interface.”
Isolde slammed the folder shut. “This is blatant intellectual property theft! We can sue them into the ground!”
Saul offered a pathetic, broken smile. “With what money? Grayson’s legal team will drag it out for a decade. And worse — look at page four of the investment agreement.”
Isolde flipped to the page. Her eyes locked onto a paragraph buried in fine print.
The Investee grants the Investor and its affiliated entities a non-exclusive license to utilize non-patent technical data for internal market analysis and resource optimization.
Dо𝗐𝘯𝘭𝗈𝘢𝘥 𝖯D𝘍ѕ 𝗳𝘳eе оn g𝗮𝗅n𝗈v𝗲lѕ.сo𝗆
It was a legal loophole — a massive, gaping trap door. Grayson had legally shielded his theft under the guise of “resource optimization.” A wave of nausea hit the back of Isolde’s throat.
She had thought Grayson was just a cold, emotionally stunted man. She hadn’t realized he was a predator.
The heavy double doors of the ER swung open. A doctor in blue scrubs walked out, eyes on a chart. “Family of Ellyn Carson?”
Isolde jumped to her feet. “I am her daughter.”
“She is awake,” the doctor said. “Her vitals are stable, but her blood pressure is dangerously low. She is agitated and keeps asking for you.”
Isolde wiped her hands on her pants, took a deep breath to compose her face, and walked into the trauma bay.
Ellyn lay on the narrow bed, her skin the color of ash. IV tubes snaked out of both arms.
Isolde walked over and gently took her mother’s cold, frail hand. “Mom. I’m here.”
Ellyn slowly turned her head. Her eyes were sunken and dark. “Isolde… the company… you can’t let it fall. It’s all your father left us.”
Isolde swallowed the massive lump in her throat and squeezed her mother’s hand. “I know. I will save it. I promise you, Mom. Nobody is taking it from us.”
Ellyn closed her eyes. A single tear leaked out and rolled down her pale cheek. “Grayson… how could he be so ruthless to his own family?”
That single sentence shattered the last remaining fragment of Isolde’s heart.
.
.