Chapter 2

My phone buzzed again. It was an unknown number. I answered.

"Is this Ryan?" asked the caller.

"Yes," I said.

"This is John Parker from Rivergate Group's Project Management Office. We need to confirm a few technical details with the lead designer of the Seris River project. Are you available to come in this afternoon?"

I sat up in bed. "Lead designer?"

"Yes. The bid documents state that the core design was led by you. According to the contract, the lead designer must be personally involved in the follow-up development phase," said John.

"Didn't Innovatech tell you?" I asked.

"Tell us what?"

"I got laid off this morning."

There was silence on the other end.

I put down my phone and opened my chat with Susan Miller on WhatsApp.

The last message from her was last night. [Hope the review goes well tomorrow.] I replied with a simple: [Yeah.]

I typed: [I got laid off today.]

I stared at it for a couple of seconds and then deleted it.

I typed again: [Are you free tonight? I want to see you.]

Then I deleted it again.

My phone buzzed again. It was Susan calling. "Ryan, did you get laid off?"

Word traveled fast.

"Who told you?" I asked.

"A colleague. Everyone's talking about it in the office group chat." Her voice sounded a bit anxious, but not exactly worried about me. "Didn't you say the third department was safe?"

"Things didn't go as planned," I said.

She was quiet for a few seconds. "So, what's your plan now?"

"I haven't figured it out yet," I said.

"You're thirty-two. You've spent eight years at the same company. What do you think you can do now?" she asked.

I didn't say anything.

"My mom asked about you yesterday. She said working at a design firm isn't stable, and she told me I should think it over," she added.

"Think about what?" I asked.

"About us," she said.

I clenched my phone. "Losing my job doesn't change things between us."

She went quiet again.

"Ryan, I think... maybe we should take a break for now," Susan said.

"What do you mean, take a break?" I asked.

"I mean, let's both sort things out ourselves. You're not in a good place right now, and I need to figure things out too," she said.

"Okay," I replied.

I hung up and sat there for a while.

I opened Instagram. Susan had posted something twenty minutes ago.

The photo was taken at a high-end restaurant. There were two glasses of wine on the table, and across from her, someone's hand was visible, wearing silver cufflinks.

The caption was: [Thanks for the treat.] Followed by a smiley face.

I zoomed in on the photo.

I knew those cufflinks. Howard wore them at the annual party for the second design team. He was always into cufflinks.

I locked my phone.

Outside, the leaves rustled softly in the breeze.

My dad called out from the living room, "Ryan, the soup's ready."

"Coming!" I said.

At the dinner table, my dad kept going on about the news and the big project.

"1.6 billion, that's something else. Frank really has skills," he said.

"Yeah," I said, sipping my soup.

"Did you work on it?" my mom asked.

"I worked on some of the early designs," I said.

"So you contributed, then," she said, putting a piece of steak on my plate.

"Not really," I replied.

"Are you going to the victory dinner?" my dad asked.

"No," I said.

"Why not? You should make an appearance at things like that," he said.

"I wasn't invited," I replied.

My dad glanced at me and dropped it.

After dinner, I headed back to my room. That unknown number called again.

"Ryan, this is John from Rivergate Group. Our call got cut off earlier. I need to confirm a few things with you," John said.

"Like I said, I'm not with Innovatech anymore," I told him.

"Yeah, we know. We got off the phone with Innovatech. They told us you left this morning." John's tone grew more serious. "But that's exactly why we're reaching out to you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The core structural calculation model in your proposal is listed in the official records as your personal patent, not Innovatech's," John explained.

I stayed silent.

"From what we've found, you signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Innovatech for this patent, valid for one year," John continued.

"That's right," I replied.

"The license expired the day before yesterday," John said.

I straightened up.

"There's no record of a renewal on file. So, starting yesterday, Innovatech has no right to use your patent anymore," John explained.

I remembered. Last year, Frank had me sign that agreement. It was for one year. He said we could renew it when the time came.

And after it expired, no one brought it up again, and I ended up forgetting about it myself.

"So..." I said.

"So from a legal standpoint, Innovatech used an expired patent license to enter the bid. That means the core technical foundation of the winning proposal may not be legally valid," John said.

John started speaking faster. "Ryan, this concerns the legal review of the 1.6 billion dollar project. We need to meet with you in person as soon as possible. Please bring the original patent and any related documents."

I checked the time. It was 2:10 PM.

"Right now?" I asked.

"The sooner, the better. Sending you the address," John replied.

He hung up. A text came through. [Rivergate Tower, downtown, 26th floor.]

I walked out of my room.

My mom was clearing the dishes. "Heading out again?"

"Got something to do," I replied.

I went back to my room, grabbed the key to the filing cabinet, and unlocked the bottom drawer. There it was, the blue folder with the patent certificate for the structural calculation model. I stuffed it into my backpack.

"What is it?" my dad asked, turning his head from the couch.

"Something for work," I replied.

"Didn't you finish your last project?" he asked.

"There's something else now," I said, slipping on my shoes.

"You didn't finish your soup. I'll heat it up at dinner," my mom said.

"Okay," I replied.