Chapter 5 - KHLOE'S REAL JOB
Khloe had never been hired to manage Carter’s calendar.
That was merely the role everyone could see.
Halcyon Systems had been incorporated eleven months earlier.
Three months before she joined Sterling.
Its business plan focused on the exact same patent families Sterling relied upon.
Artificial-intelligence optimization.
Data compression.
Predictive enterprise architecture.
The overlap was not subtle.
I stared at Carter.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
That answer came instantly.
He looked genuinely furious.
For once, the anger wasn’t aimed at me.
We called the board chair, Patricia Sloan.
By evening, Khloe’s system access was suspended pending review.
She arrived at our Manhattan townhouse twenty minutes later.
I almost admired her nerve.
She stood in the foyer wearing a camel coat and an expression colder than mine.
“You had me suspended.”
“The board did.”
“Because of you.”
“Because you created a competing company while working beside the CEO.”
She glanced toward Carter.
His face hardened.
“Tell her.”
Khloe laughed.
“Tell her what?”
“That Halcyon was your idea.”
“It was our idea.”
My eyes shifted to Carter.
He looked stunned.
“What?”
Khloe smiled without warmth.
“Don’t act innocent.”
Then she turned to me.
“Your husband and I discussed building outside Sterling months ago.”
Carter stepped forward.
“We discussed what innovation would look like without board restrictions. That’s all.”
“You promised to join me.”
“I never signed anything.”
“No.”
Khloe pulled out her phone.
“But you recorded plenty.”
She played a voice message.
Carter’s voice filled my foyer.
Once Samantha’s patent trust renews Sterling for another term, we’ll have time. Two years. Maybe three. Then Halcyon becomes the future.
Nobody spoke.
Carter looked physically sick.
I looked at him.
“How long have you been planning to leave your own company?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Your voice says otherwise.”
“It was fantasy.”
“Fantasy usually doesn’t have incorporation documents.”
Khloe folded her arms.
“You think this is about an affair.”
I hadn’t said it was.
She continued.
“Carter likes attention. I liked access. We used each other.”
Carter snapped, “Get out.”
She smiled.
“Gladly.”
At the door, she stopped.
Then looked directly at me.
“Before you decide he’s the only one who betrayed you, ask your husband who gave me copies of the patent schedules.”
The door closed.
I turned.
Carter stared at the floor.
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
He whispered one name.
“My mother.”
May you like
Evelyn hadn’t merely been stealing company money.
She had been feeding confidential information to the woman building Sterling’s future competitor.
