“He brought this on himself,” I said.

Evelyn opened the cardboard box and began pulling out folders.

“We have the asset deposition scheduled for Thursday morning,” she said.

“Victor’s defense attorney is trying to claim he owns the intellectual property.”

“He wants to use the original software patents as leverage to negotiate a settlement.”

“He claims he developed the core algorithms himself before the company was incorporated.”

Nathan let out a short, dry laugh.

“Victor doesn’t even know how to write a line of code,” Nathan said.

“We all know that,” Evelyn said. “But on paper, his name is on the registration.”

“He filed them under his personal name in nineteen-ninety-eight.”

I reached into my leather handbag and pulled out a small silver key.

I placed it on the table between us.

“What is that?” Nathan asked.

“It is the key to a safety deposit box at the North Seattle Savings Bank,” I said.

“I opened it twenty-five years ago.”

“Before I even met Victor.”

Evelyn looked at the key, then up at me.

“What is inside the box, Claire?” she asked.