CELESTE
The next day.
In the boardroom, my soft light skin felt like I was in a fridge.
And it was not just because of the cold emanating from the AC, but because of the silence from everyone present. They were staring, with heavy tension in their eyes.
Rafi, the head of my legal department, placed a stack of papers in front of me like it was a loaded gun.
"This came from Kade Global's team," he cleared his throat and said, his voice seemed steady but tense. "They are claiming they have prior rights to our engagement feature."
I blinked, once, trying to process what he had just said to me. "That is impossible. We have been building this internally for over a year."
Rafi's lips tightened. He nodded slightly to affirm what I just said.
"Well, they are pointing to licensing agreements from a third-party firm they just bought. It's a small AI lab in Singapore, " he added sharply.
I felt my stomach shift. "That is not even their personal property or technology."
"But they are saying it is now, calling it theirs," Rafi said. He was trying to make me see and understand the reality of things.
With summoned courage, I glanced at the document. I noticed my heart was racing as the words appeared blurry in front of me.
Legal trouble. Patent issues. A cease-and-desist warning.
I swallowed hard and realized that this was exactly what Adrian Kade wanted.
He was not just playing a game.
It's very clear he was out to get me.
"This is strategic bullying," I muttered, frustration had begun bubbling up in me. "He wants to shake us before we can even launch."
Nina was sitting beside me, she leaned closer and said, "And he is doing it well like a pro."
I immediately gave her a short, aggressive look, but she did not back down. "Our developers are nervous. This news spread more quickly than we expected. Some of our beta clients are starting to rethink things." She constructed her words carefully.
I paused, trying hard to take that in.
And then she dropped another bombshell. "I have had three press requests for a statement. In fact, BuzzThread is already hinting at legal issues."
No! No way. This can not be falling apart so quickly.
I straightened up, trying to project calmness. "We are not backing down. This is just a scare tactic from Adrian. He is using his name and money to intimidate us."
But deep down, I felt the doubt creeping in.
He was bigger, smarter, and had been in the game long before I started.
Over the years, all my speeches about independence and not needing anyone fell silent in the face of Adrian Kade. For the first time, I felt unsteady, doubting my footing.
Later that afternoon, we connected on a virtual call with both legal teams. Of course, Adrian did not show up. He preferred to stay above the fray while his team played dirty on his behalf.
The arguments were tossed back and forth with my team outlining our development timeline, our source code audits, including everything we had done independently.
Kade's team pushed back with patents, acquired licenses, and potential design similarities.
The atmosphere was tense. I kept my face neutral, but my fingers gripped the pen so tightly that it hurt.
And just when I thought I was holding strong, it happened.
"Miss Arden," one of their lawyers said, feigning a smile on the screen, "would you agree that the feature you have showcased publicly matches 72% of the architecture in our patent?"
I became dumb instantly. As if cat had got my tongue, I could not even stammer a word.
Rafi tried to jump in and defend himself, but it was too late.
They had found the chink in our armor. A weakness.
After the call ended, I stood by my office window, with my arms wrapped, staring at the city below, alive with lights and movement.
Still trying to figure out how this trauma all started.
"They think I am weak," I whispered, the realization hitting me hard.
Without a knock on my door, Nina stepped in, came closer. "We are going to fight this." She's encouraging a weak boss.
"I know," I forced a smile, but within myself, I felt a growing unease.
It felt like the world I had built, piece by piece since those dorm room days, was beginning to crumble. And the worst part is, Adrian had not even looked at me yet.
He was still lurking in the shadows doing his shitty business.
Nina cleared her throat. "There is something else Celeste."
I turned to her, my heart racing fast.
"Our data analyst did some deeper digging into Kade's patent filing. There are inconsistencies in the timestamps. Their claim might not be as solid as they say, "she said, watching her lips move.
I stared at her, the tiniest spark of hope igniting within me.
"It's something," she added. "But if we call it out too soon, and it turns out to be legit, we will just look desperate."
So we waited. We pretended we were steady.
And hoped that Adrian Kade would make the first real mistake.
That night, I stayed in the office long after everyone went home.
When I finally shut my laptop, I noticed an unopened envelope on my desk. One of the lawyers, Rafi's subordinate, had slipped it to me earlier.
"Just something you might want to review," he had said in his low voice.
I opened it slowly, and curiosity had started twisting in my stomach.
Inside it was a printed email chain between Adrian's legal team and an old investor from GlowThread.
The subject: "Fallback clause in case of a conflict."
I read it twice without understanding anything.
Fallback clause?
I do333 not remember ever signing anything like that.
But the signature at the bottom was undoubtedly mine.
How did this happen? Just when Nina gave a ray of hope before she left.
This is not adding up. I got confused, my mind totally blank.