CELESTE'S POV
If another person should knock on my door again and manage to enter, I swear I would throw my phone at him or her without any regret.
I felt I was on the edge, exhausted, and starving. And my inbox was a war zone on fire. But worse than all that is the deafening silence from Adrian Kade.
He had not responded to our legal rebuttal, no press statement, no email, absolutely nothing from his end.
Because he did not have to. Not because he is a coward.
This is killing me inside. I could barely have my daily routine posts, meals, and skincare since the award night.
It felt like he had lit a match and was just sitting back, watching me burn satisfactorily.
At that instance, Nina walked in with her tablet clutched tight in her hands.
I was about to throw my phone at her, but I noticed she wore a look on her face that made me refrain from doing that halfway. I could not stop her, so she entered my office.
"I think you need to see this, Celeste, you are trending again," she said, her voice sounded thick with concern.
My heart raced fast, as if I had just finished running a 400-meter race. "Why?" With my cracky voice, I managed to ask.
She handed me the tablet, and I scrolled through the chaos.
#CodeThief.
#GlowThreadScandal.
#FakeBrand.
#FakeWoman.
#KadeVsArden.
#Glowing Lies
The headline hit me as if Mike Tyson had just landed a solid punch on me: "Celeste Arden Accused of Stealing Code for Latest Feature." I could almost hear the collective murmur of the online world echoing in my ears.
"BUT I…, I never stole anything," I murmured, my voice was barely above a whisper as bitterness filled my throat.
Nina gave me a sympathetic look and said, "I know. But online, people don't wait for proof anymore. They find it easy to jump to conclusions."
I stood up, paced the room, and my heart was pounding in my chest.
I half yelled, "What do they want from me? A public apology? An explanation? We have done nothing wrong!" The air felt heavy around me, like I was suffocating under the weight of it all.
"It is not just the media," Nina said quietly, with a hint of trembling in her voice. "Investors have started calling," she added.
Her last statement froze me in my tracks. "What are they saying?" I tapped my hands on my desk with curiosity written over my face.
"They are saying if this bad press continues, they might pull funding. Or push for a change in leadership," Nina said, her voice sounded awful in my ears.
I could feel the panic rising in me, a tight knot of anxiety gripping my chest. I thought about all the hard work I had put in, the long days and nights I spent coding alone, the sacrifices I had made just to prove I also deserved a place at the table.
Now, they…, I meant Kade Global wanted to tear it all down over some baseless accusations, a patent fight.
And Adrian Kade? He was still completely silent. Operating in the dark like a hungry vampire.
I went silent for a long time, with my memories flooding back.
I remembered the tiny dorm room where it all started, my second-hand laptop. The frustration when lines of code refused to cooperate, and the day I found out my ex had sold my prototype without telling me, and pocketed the money.
That pain, the deep sense of betrayal, was why I vowed to myself not to rely on a man again. But now, here was another man, cunnier, richer, and ready to take it all away from me once more.
No! Not again.
I turned to Nina with pleading eyes. "We need to dig up something real on Kade. Anything that can turn this around."
For a moment, she hesitated, fidgeting with the tablet in her hands. "Funny you should mention that."
I don't seem to understand what she meant by the statement she uttered.
Then, she handed me a printed contract. The legal language filled the entire page, but one line jumped out at me like a chick coming out of its shell:
'In the event of corporate conflict, both parties agree to a merger solution… including marital alignment for legal asset consolidation.'
I blinked. With my brain stuttering, I tried to process it. "Wait," I said. " What the hell is this?"
"It is from a funding agreement five years ago, before GlowThread took off. One of your first investors was connected to a shell company that turned out to be owned by Kade Global." She said plainly, in the best way I could understand.
I could sense a mix of disappointment and weariness in her voice.
"And this clause…?" I asked angrily, pointing at the paper in my hand.
She nodded slowly and responded. "Apparently, if there is a hostile situation like we are in right now, this merger clause kicks in. And it even includes a marriage option."
I stared at her with disbelief washing over me. "No one actually enforces stuff like this, right?" I tried to laugh it out, but it came out hollow.
Nina's face remained serious as she pointed to the bottom of the page.
Alas! It was a signature.
My signature.
Then I remembered the envelope I received from Rafi's subordinate and its content. Many questions came running through my shady mind.
Could this be real? I am seeing this for the second time, which must mean it's real.
I don't even remember knowing this old investor. How then was this possible?
These questions remained unanswered.
Slowly, I sank into my chair, the world around me was spinning. I did not remember signing anything like this, but there it was, my name, clean and clear. And beneath it, a second signature.
It was Adrian Kades'.
A cold wave of panic washed over me, and I could not shake off the feeling that my life had just taken a turn I never saw coming.