Finally, he turned and walked back into the elevator.

The doors slid shut, cutting off the view of his defeated shoulders.

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.

The next morning, the temperature dropped to single digits.

I sat at my kitchen island, sipping black coffee that had gone cold.

My laptop was open on the marble counter.

Elena sat next to me, her tablet in hand, her face grim.

“It started an hour ago,” Elena said, sliding her tablet toward me.

A headline on the main business portal of the Minneapolis Tribune caught my eye.

*Voss Holdings Files Lawsuit Against Vance Software Over Intellectual Property Theft.*

My heart hammered against my ribs.

I clicked the link.

The article claimed that the core algorithms of my software platform had been developed using Voss Holdings’ proprietary technology.

It quoted a statement from Patricia Voss herself.

“We supported Claire Vance during the early stages of her venture, providing both capital and key technological frameworks,” the statement read. “It is unfortunate that she has chosen to claim this work as solely her own.”