Chapter 5 - THE COMPANY HAD AN ENEMY BEFORE IT HAD A NAME
Arthur Sterling asked for the ballroom doors to be closed.
Not locked.
Closed.
The distinction mattered.
Nobody was trapped.
But nobody wanted to leave.
Mark stood beside the stage looking as if his promotion gala had turned into someone else’s trial.
In a way, it had.
Sterling spoke quietly to me.
“Your grandmother never wanted you to know until it became necessary.”
I almost laughed.
“Tonight seems very necessary.”
He nodded.
NovaStream had not begun as NovaStream.
Before the company had a name, before venture capital, before Silicon Valley cared, I had built the core recommendation model with two other graduate researchers.
Adrian Cole.
Mason Wren.
I remembered them.
Brilliant.
Competitive.
Gone before the first major funding round.
I had always been told they accepted settlements after a disagreement over ownership.
Sterling corrected that story.
“They attempted to transfer the underlying model to a private buyer.”
“Whose buyer?”
He hesitated.
“Henry Parker discovered the financial channel.”
Mark stared.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Henry had been reviewing a banking client when he noticed suspicious payments tied to the attempted sale.
He quietly warned my grandmother.
The deal collapsed.
Adrian and Mason were removed.
Settlements were signed.
Everyone moved on.
At least that was what we thought.
Sterling continued.
“Your grandmother believed they might return someday through intermediaries.”
I looked toward Jessica.
Her confidence disappeared.
Mark followed my gaze.
“No.”
Jessica backed away.
“Don’t look at me.”
Sterling placed a photograph on the screen.
A younger Jessica Reed.
Standing beside Adrian Cole.
At a university alumni event nine years earlier.
Mark whispered, “You know him?”
Jessica’s answer came too late.
“Barely.”
Sterling changed the slide.
Another photograph.
Then another.
Jessica at a private technology conference with Adrian three years ago.
Jessica entering his investment office eighteen months ago.
Exactly when the questionable consulting payments began.
Mark looked at her as if she had slapped him.
“You used me.”
Jessica’s face hardened.
“You used me too.”
“I didn’t know any of this.”
“No, Mark. You just liked being told you were brilliant.”
That landed.
Because it was true.
Jessica had not created Mark’s vanity.
She had merely found the easiest door into him.
I looked at Sterling.
“Where is Adrian now?”
Sterling’s phone buzzed.
He read the message.
His face changed.
“Apparently, closer than we thought.”
The ballroom doors opened.
A man in a charcoal suit walked in.
Older.
Silver at the temples.
Same sharp eyes I remembered from graduate school.
Adrian Cole smiled.
“Hello, Elena.”
May you like
Then he looked at Mark.
“And thank you for making access so easy.”
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