“This is a lie,” I whispered, my fingers tightening on the edge of the counter. “I wrote every single line of that code in my basement before I even met Harrison.”

“I know,” Elena said. “But the public doesn’t know that.”

“She’s trying to tank our upcoming funding round,” I said.

“Exactly,” Elena said. “If the venture capitalists see an active IP lawsuit, they will pull their term sheets.”

The phone on the counter began to ring.

It was my lead developer, Marcus.

I answered on speaker.

“Claire, have you seen the news?” Marcus asked, his voice strained. “The team is panicked. Some of the engineers are asking if our jobs are secure.”

“They are secure, Marcus,” I said, trying to project a confidence I didn’t feel. “This is a baseless smear tactic by my ex-husband’s family. We have the version control logs. We have the timestamps.”

“We need to issue a statement,” Marcus said.

“We will,” I said. “Let me coordinate with Elena. Keep the team focused on the deployment today.”

I hung up and looked at Elena.

“We need to go to the office,” I said.