Chapter 5 - The Stolen Architectural Patents & Selena’s Arrogant Downfall
By 2:00 PM, Selena sat in a private booth at an upscale Italian restaurant near
Midtown, her fingers shaking as she scrolled through social media.
The gossip pages had already caught wind of the spectacle at 740 Park Avenue.
Photos of her designer trunks sitting in the rain on Fifth Avenue were
circulating on Twitter with humiliating captions: CEO’S MISTRESS EVICTED IN THE
RAIN WHILE WIFE GIVES BIRTH TO HEIRESS.
Flynn sat across from her, sweating through his shirt, downing his third glass
of scotch.
“Do something, Flynn!” Selena whined, tears of frustration streaming down her
cheeks. “I’m carrying your child! I gave you your only son! How could you let
that plain, boring secretary treat us like garbage?”
“Mabel was never a secretary, Selena!” Flynn snapped, slamming his glass down so
hard the ice rattled. “She has a master’s degree in structural engineering and
corporate law from Columbia! She wrote the foundational blueprints for the
MagLev transit system!”
“Then steal them!” Selena hissed, leaning across the table. “You have copies on
the corporate servers! You don't need her permission to sign the State contract
on Friday! Take the eighty million, buy a new penthouse in Tribeca, and leave
her with nothing!”
Flynn stared at her, the reality of his predicament sinking in like lead. “You
don't understand how digital patents work. The government contract requires an
active, 256-bit cryptographic signature linked to the primary patent holder’s
hardware key. Without Mabel’s physical key, the system flags the blueprints as
stolen intellectual property. If I attempt to execute that contract without her…
I go to federal prison for procurement fraud.”
Selena blinked, her arrogant confidence beginning to crumble into pure terror.
“So… what are you saying?”
“I’m saying,” Flynn whispered, his voice trembling, “that without Mabel, Vance
Global is completely bankrupt by Friday afternoon.”
Just then, Flynn’s phone vibrated on the table with an incoming video call.
May you like
The caller ID displayed the name of the one man Flynn feared more than anyone on
Wall Street: Julian Sterling.
