“She told me last week that a startup was a playground for people who didn’t want real jobs,” I said.

“That was before the press release draft went out,” Derek said.

“She saw the pre-money valuation,” I said.

“She saw the names of the institutional investors who signed on,” Derek corrected. “She saw the name of the venture firm.”

Marcus watched us both, his expression neutral but highly observant.

“If she buys out the early seed investors, what does she get?” Marcus asked.

“She gets a direct line to our board seats,” Derek said.

“And she gets to tell her friends at the country club that she funded us,” I said.

“She can claim she was our primary backer all along,” I added.

“She wants to rewrite the history of this company before the ink on the Series A is even dry,” Derek said.

I picked up my water glass, but my hand was shaking slightly, so I set it back down.

The glass made a soft click against the polished wood.

“We need to stop this,” I said.