Page 122 of Hale Yes
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid not, Dr. Hale.”
My jaw clenches in anger, but I know she’s just doing her job. “I understand.”
And with a heart full of dread, I walk out of the security office and straight to my car. The ring in my pocket seems like a heavy boulder, reminding me what I stand to lose. I love Nicolette, and I know she loves me too, but I need to talk to her in person about this.
It’s not a conversation I’m looking forward to having.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
It’s over
Nicolette
The security system in my townhome beeps, and I roll over in my bed to check my phone to see it’s almost midnight.What the hell?
I just laid down a couple minutes ago, so I’m still fully awake as I creep from bed and notice the panel on the wall says the alarm has been disarmed. Must be Helix since he has a key and the code.
I smile to myself as I stick my head out and call down the stairs, “Did you miss me?”
“Can you come down?” he calls back, and I frown, wondering why he doesn’t just come up and get in bed.
Working my way down the stairs, I see my sexy man sitting on the couch in the dark, his elbows on his knees and hands wrapped around the back of his neck. When I first realized he was here, I thought he wanted some sexy couch time, but his posture tells me something is wrong.
With my hand on his shoulder, I sit beside him. “Are you okay?”
He shakes his head, and I begin to get worried. “Is someone sick?”
“No,” he finally says before straightening and clicking on the lamp, draping the room in a soft glow. When his eyes meet mine, my concern ramps up to a thousand. Before I can ask anything else, he says something that knocks me for a loop. “Aquarius filed a patent today for a formula that’s an exact replica of ours.”
I’m stunned silent for a full minute. “That’s impossible.”
“Apparently it’s not because I saw the fucking paperwork,” he snaps.
I ignore his sharp tone because I’m just as pissed as he is. And confused. My mind tries to work through what the hell he’s saying. “There’s no way they came up with the exact same formula. It’s too complicated for that to be a coincidence. Shit, I’ve been working on it for two years.”
“There’s no coincidence. The paperwork was stolen from my safe. They copied it, put their name on it, and are now trying to patent it as their own.”
My head cranes so far forward my neck cracks. “They literally stole it?” I shout. “But… how did they get into the building and then into your office safe?”
Instead of answering, he stares at me, his eyes rimmed with red. The silence becomes uncomfortable, so I speak again. “Have you contacted security?”
“Yes. We went immediately to Bernadette when we discovered the theft.” His blue eyes have gone dark and intense, as if he’s waiting for something from me.
Standing, I begin pacing. “We put it in there Wednesday before we left the office. Have you taken it out since then?”
“No.”
I nod, walking from one side of my living room to the other as Helix’s eyes track me. “Okay, so they need to watch the camera footage for the past two nights. I’m assuming that’s when it happened since I don’t think anyone is stupid enough to try and pull that off while everyone is in the building.” My finger taps a rapid, nervous beat against my bottom lip. “There are cameras all over the place, but security can focus on the third floor hallway where your office is located, and they should be able to see whoever entered.”
Helix says nothing, so I continue to narrate my stream of thought as my mind works overtime. “Hopefully, the cameras are able to get a good enough view to make an identification with facial recognition software. There are some really good ones out there.”
Still, he doesn’t speak, and I fill the silence. “We should file a cease and desist on them. We have proof of every step of our work, and they’ll never be able to get away with this.” I stop in front of Helix and prop my hands on my hips, growing angrier by the second. “Whose name was on the patent? I know you said Aquarius, but who was the scientist whosupposedlydeveloped it?”
“Will Wilhelm,” he finally says.
I snort out a furious scoff. “The guy they hired to replace me? That’s fucking bullshit. He was a grad student at Aquarius while I worked there, and trust me, the guy couldn’t formulate a breath mint. Plus, he just finished grad school last year.” Jabbing my finger in Helix’s general direction, I rant, “There’s no fucking way anyone would believe he came up with that work of art we developed once we tell our side. No. Way.”
“We will definitely be stopping this.”
