Chapter 2
I sat on that couch all night without moving.
When it got light, I got up, took a long shower, and changed into a sharp work suit.
The woman in the mirror was pale, but her eyes were clearer than they had ever been.
They looked like tempered steel, cold and sharp.
The NovaTech headhunter sent the details soon after. The meeting was set for three that afternoon at a private club downtown.
Charlotte: [Got it.]
Then I turned to my own business.
The three patents came first.
I logged into the patent office site and pulled the full records.
I was the licensor. Pioneer Solutions was the licensee.
The term ran out on the thirtieth of the month, which left three days.
The contract spelled it out in plain language. Once the term lapsed without a renewal, the licensee lost every right to use the patents commercially.
Do it anyway, and the damages would be enormous.
Michael had laughed at me for being such a stickler when we signed it.
"We're married," he'd said. "Why draw lines like that?"
Looking back, thank God I did.
It was the last card I held, and the one that could kill.
I had barely finished with the patents when the doorbell rang.
I looked through the peephole and saw Michael.
He looked wrecked. Dark half circles sat under his eyes and his suit jacket was a mess of creases.
He hadn't slept either.
I didn't open the door.
The bell kept going, and then it turned into fists on the wood.
"Charlotte! Open up! I know you're in there! Open the door and let's talk this out!"
I turned away and poured myself a glass of water. The pounding stopped.
Michael's voice came through the door, and there was begging in it now.
"Honey, I was wrong. I was so wrong. I had no idea Rachel would do this.
"She told me she wanted to reshuffle the department. I never thought she'd cut you loose."
He'd washed his hands of all of it, like he was a bystander who'd caught a stray bullet.
I laughed at that, short and cold.
"Michael, do you actually think I'd buy that? Without your sign-off, would she have dared touch me?"
The hallway went silent. A few seconds later he started up again, faster this time.
"Whatever you do, don't do anything rash. You can't make a fight out of the patents.
"Pioneer Solutions is what the two of us built. You can't stand there and watch it burn!"
He was playing the guilt card again, holding our years of shared work over my head like a debt.
Unfortunately for him, the Charlotte from the day before might have softened.
This one wouldn't. Something in me had died the previous afternoon.
"Michael," I said. My voice came out level.
"Pioneer Solutions is your baby. Yours and Rachel's, more like.
"From here on it has nothing to do with me. Not one cent of it. Go home. I don't want to see you again."
"Charlotte!" He threw himself at the door, hammering on it.
"Don't forget we're still married! Half of what that company owns is mine and half is yours!
"Is this you trying to take us both down?"
I walked to the door and said, flatly, "Not for much longer."
After that I stopped answering, whatever he yelled out there.
Nothing in me moved.
A while later my phone rang, another number I didn't know.
I answered.
A woman's voice came at me, shrill.
"Is this Charlotte?"
I knew that voice. It was Michael's mother.
"Mom. Something wrong?" I asked.
"You jinx! My son is out there breaking his back, and you want to burn his company down!
"I said it years ago. Marry a woman who's too capable and you've brought a curse into the house. You get that patent thing renewed for my son right now, or I swear I'm not done with you!"
I let her shout herself out before I answered, and my voice stayed mild.
"Mom, go ask that wonderful son of yours.
"Ask him how he threw out the wife who won him everything he has, and did it for another woman."
"You!" She had nothing to follow it with.
I hung up and blocked her too.
That family was rotten from the top down.
Not long after, another text came in. This one was from Rachel.
Rachel: [Charlotte, don't push your luck. You think one patent scares anybody?
Pioneer Solutions runs fine without you. Sign the renewal like a good girl and everyone keeps their face.
Otherwise don't blame me for forgetting we go back.] Arrogance came off every line of it, and so did the threat.
She talked about history. What history did the two of us have worth remembering?
I read the message again and found it funny.
Did they all still think I was the soft touch they could squeeze whenever they liked?
Did they think that without Michael and without Pioneer Solutions I'd have nothing left to stand on?
I didn't answer. I took a screenshot of the message and filed it away.
Then I opened my laptop and started a new document, a divorce agreement.
I set out the division of assets and the custody terms, every clause in plain language.
The Pioneer Solutions shares had come out of money I owned before the marriage, which made them mine alone.
I wanted every share back.
The house, the cars and the savings were marital property, and they would be split the way the law required.
On our son I had one demand only. Custody came to me.
A man like Michael had no business being anyone's father.
By the time the agreement was finished it was almost noon.
I ate something quick and started getting ready for the meeting.
I built one detailed deck out of my roadmap for the three patents and a breakdown of the technical hole Pioneer Solutions had dug itself into.
I wanted the people at NovaTech to understand that I wasn't some cornered woman with nowhere left to go.
I was a partner who could make them a great deal of money, and I was worth more than they'd guessed.
At half past two, I got in the car and pulled out.
Michael was still camped outside the building.
He saw my car and pulled out after me. I couldn't be bothered.
I drove straight to the private club downtown, parked, and walked in without hurrying.
Michael came in behind me, shouting.
"Charlotte, what are you doing here? What is it you actually want?"
I didn't turn around. I gave my name at the desk.
A server showed me to a private room.
Security stopped Michael at the door, and the heavy panel cut off the sound of him losing his temper.
I pushed the door open. A man was sitting inside.
He was somewhere in his forties, settled in himself, with eyes that missed nothing.
This was Edward Lane, founder and CEO of NovaTech Group.
He stood when he saw me and put out his hand.
"Ms. Quinn. I've heard a great deal about you," Edward said.
I shook it. "Good to meet you, Mr. Lane."
We sat down. There was almost no small talk before Edward got to it.
"Ms. Quinn, NovaTech is very interested in those three patents. We'll pay triple to buy them outright."
Triple came to 10 million dollars.
Most people never see that much money in a lifetime.
I smiled. "Mr. Lane, I didn't come here to sell my patents."
That caught him. "Then what are you here for?" he asked.
I opened my laptop and turned the screen toward him.
"I came to talk about a partnership. I want to put the three patents in as equity.
"On top of that I want a brand new project team, and I run it.
"Six months to ship a product that beats the Polaris System on every measure.
"I want Pioneer Solutions gone from this industry for good."
I hadn't raised my voice, but every word landed.
Edward watched me, and the surprise in his face turned slowly into respect.
There was something close to excitement behind it.
He said nothing for a long moment. Then he laughed.
"Ms. Quinn, you don't lack nerve. But Pioneer Solutions still leads this industry, and a giant on its knees is bigger than most companies standing.
"What makes you think you can take them?"
I met his eyes and gave it to him one word at a time.
"Because I'm Charlotte Quinn. I built the Polaris System. What I built, I can take apart."
The room went quiet.
Edward tapped his fingertips against the table like a man working through a decision that mattered.
That was when the door banged open from the hallway.
Michael pushed in, Rachel right behind him.
His eyes were red and locked on me. "Charlotte, you went behind my back and met with NovaTech."
Rachel's face gave away nothing. She didn't look at me at all, only at Edward.
"Mr. Lane, this is an internal matter at our company, and I'm sorry you had to see it. Charlotte is Michael's wife. Her patents should serve Pioneer Solutions first.
"We'll pay six million dollars to buy them out."
She had the look of someone holding a winning hand and tossing me a favor.
I looked at the pair of them, good cop and bad cop.
They had the rhythm down.
Before I could answer, Edward laughed.
He got to his feet and came around to stand beside me.
Then, in front of Michael and Rachel, he offered me his hand a second time.
"Ms. Quinn."
He said it the way a man says a partner's name, not a candidate's.
"Glad to be working with you. Welcome to NovaTech Group."
Michael's face and Rachel's went sour in the same second.
They looked like they'd bitten into something that had gone bad.