He pulled his arm back, slipping out of Helen’s grasp.

Helen froze, her hand remaining empty in the air.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“I said no,” Derek repeated.

The wind picked up, rustling the leaves of the eucalyptus trees that lined the edge of the courtyard.

A dry leaf scraped across the concrete, stopping near Helen’s high heel.

She looked at him as if he had spoken in a foreign language.

“You are being childish,” she said, her voice dropping to a harsh whisper.

“We pay your rent, Derek.”

“We leased that car you drive.”

“We funded your entire lifestyle while you sat in Palo Alto deciding what you wanted to do with your life.”

She took a step closer to him, her shadow falling over his work boots.

“If you do not walk out of this gate with us right now, that ends,” she said.

“Everything.”

“Every single cent.”

The courtyard was completely silent now.

Even the hum of the cooling fans on the microgrid seemed to have quieted down.

I stood beside my brother, feeling the heat radiating from the metal chassis of the prototype.