As a Tech startup, while not very fancy, the interior of Lynch looked like something straight out of a futuristic movie. There were display screens on the walls on which various chips and their capabilities were outlined and advertised. One could see how proud a Tech company was of its products by how willing they were to reveal details about its limits.
As they approached a glass-walled conference room, something on the wall caught Gabriel's eye, and he stopped.
Turning to it, he squinted and tilted his eyes slightly. While out in public, he had long learned to hide the peculiarity of his eyes.
"This is the chip?" He asked turning slightly to Andrea without taking his eyes off the display screen.
"It is, yeah," Andrea replied while letting out a heavy breath.
"There are some differences," Gabriel pointed out.
Andrea glanced at Gabriel and then back at the display screen. Was this his last attempt at mercy?
If the product were different, then a patent dispute would be pointless. They'd just have to prove the product was different.
A smile appeared on her face, rather than a sign of weakness, she saw this as a sign of humanity.
"Are there?" She asked turning again to Gabriel, her gaze fixed on him intently as she watched his expressions.
Gabriel's facial muscles eased and he slowly turned away from the display screen and back to the conference room a few feet ahead.
Through the glass wall, he could see a woman in a cream dress watching them. He maintained the gaze for a moment without moving then continued onwards with any more hesitation.
Ahead of them, Aika entered the conference room and pointed at three seats directly across from where Zina stood with her lawyer.
"Good morning, Mr Auralis, your reputation precedes you," Zina greeted as Gabriel drew a chair back for Andrea.
Confused, Gabriel frowned and glanced briefly at Zina as he walked around the chair to sit beside Andrea.
"Your generous charity donations? I work closely with most charity organizations in the city, and your name keeps coming up," Zina explained.
"Oh, that's mainly the doings of my partner, she was raised in an orphanage, so she does her best to improve the lives of the children in those homes," Gabriel explained, gesturing at Andrea as he slowly sat.
"You have a good heart, Miss Zade," Zina replied with a flattering smile as she turned to Andrea for the first time. Suddenly, she squinted and looked down at the file she had on the desk before her.
"Andrea Zade" she muttered.
"Good morning Mrs Lynch."
For a moment there was an awkward silence around the table as Zina stared at Andrea. Her expression slowly turning frosty.
"I was wondering how my husband's research work got out of his hands and into a start-up. I always respected you, Miss Zade. You played your cards right. I did not expect this." Zina relaxed on her chair, a frown on her face as she glared at Andrea.
"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" Gabriel couldn't resist asking as the situation had taken an unexpected turn.
"Miss Zade was my husband's secretary. Suddenly I find her working with you, a new startup from out of town and here we are today for a patent dispute over one of my husband's principal technologies"
Hearing her inference, Gabriel could only stare blankly at the woman for a minute. Everything she explained was logical and anyone would argue the same, but there was one slight problem with that reasoning.
Himself.
"Mrs Freeman, are you accusing me of espionage?" Gabriel asked, his expression turning frosty.
"If you have any other explanation to make sense of this, I'd love to hear it." Zina folded her hands and stared back at Gabriel, her back relaxed on the chair as if she was watching a show.
"If I may," Tony, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up.
Feeling all the intense gazes on him, he gulped hard. Despite being a lawyer, it was different when everyone stared at him in court, and now. Especially as Gabriel's was among those stares.
"The reason we are here is because you, Mrs Freeman, infringed on our Patent rights, not the other way around. You can't turn this around by accusing us. Of course, you can claim patent invalidity but then you would have to prove that this was originally your husband's design"
Gabriel's gaze faltered, and he stole a sharp glance at Andrea, who was already squinting at Tony. The design was indeed originally Adam Freeman's, and Gabriel insisted on starting his company with it as a way to honor Adam's legacy.
But there should be no way for Zina to prove the Tech was originally Adam's, in fact, she shouldn't have the Tech at all!
Thinking this, Gabriel placed his hand on Andrea's under the table and turned to Zina with a calm gaze waiting to hear what explanation she would come up with.
Beside him, Andrea felt peace wash over her as his warm hand gently squeezed hers, slowly, she turned to glance at Gabriel, her eyes wide and her gaze tender as she stared at his side profile. The accusation from Zina and the tension in the room faded into distant memories as she felt her heart beating on her tongue.
Zina noticed the change in the atmosphere. She didn't notice Andrea's tender gaze on Gabriel but Gabriel's calmness unsettled her. She was certain that the chip was designed by her husband, although he never built it. However, she couldn't prove this because of what she had done to recover some of her husband's work. The people she'd found herself involved with could never see the light.
Just then, as if to save her, the door opened and a young man in a fancy suit walked in confidently as if he owned the place. His suit was fancy but like Gabriel's, very formal, and yet he walked with a certain wild gait, contrasting sharply with the noble air in the room.
"How did you get in here?" Zina rose from her chair and asked, her eyes spitting fire as she asked.
The tall man ignored the question and instead drew a chair at the head of the table. He made himself comfortable on it before producing a file holder from which he brought out two documents and slid them over to both sides of the table.
Seeing his actions, Zina took a deep breath and lowered herself back on her seat. Relaxing once again on her chair, she ignored the document, opting to stare calmly at the smug man at the head of the table.
"Mr Oswald, this is a private meeting" Gabriel decided to speak up.
"Yes, but when I got wind of the meeting, I realized it greatly affects my client's interest. See you two are in a patent dispute over my client's product, I believe I have every right to be here"
"Miles, how did you get in and where did you get this news?" Zina asked, although unlike before, her tone held a confident calm. However, everyone in the room could tell she was very angry.
"I walked in and I can't reveal my sources, what's important is that the information was accurate." Miles finally turned to Zina and replied.
Zina looked away from him, then glanced at Gabriel. Her pupils shrank as she watched Gabriel tapping his left index finger with his right. Her gaze slowly moved up to his face, but her expression fell at the sight of an unfamiliar person.
Andrea noticed Zina's gaze and she turned to see Gabriel's involuntary tic. She reached and slowly pulled his right hand under the table to stop him.
Their antics, fortunately, went unnoticed by everyone in the room; their attention had instead been captured by Zina, who was slowly gathering her things.
Rising, she started for the door, and her assistant Aika and their lawyer, a bald man who maintained his silence all throughout, followed behind.
"Mrs Freeman, this is your company, you can't walk out on us." Miles lost his cool and called behind her, but there was not even a pause in Zina's steps as she left the conference room.
Miles turned to the other party at the table, but while he recognized Andrea, Gabriel was an unfamiliar face, yet something about his demeanor put Miles off.
Without taking his file holder or documents back, he rose sharply and hurried after Zina.
"More drama than anticipated?" Andrea turned to Gabriel with a tender loving smile.
"Indeed, Mrs Freeman is an interesting person, but I don't see what Adam saw in her," Gabriel replied.
Andrea lowered her head and smiled, "You will, she is beautiful"
Gabriel frowned not realizing that Andrea was not talking about Zina's physical appearance, although, by looks alone, Zina was indeed very beautiful.