Regulatory submissions referencing the engine would need review.
Intercolix could withdraw and potentially seek damages if it believed Corivia had knowingly misrepresented ownership.
“And the termination?” Evelyn asked.
“Brittany’s employment agreement allowed removal for documented misconduct, fraud, or material breach.
I have not received evidence supporting any of those grounds.”
Alex interrupted.
“She resisted leadership.”
“That is not contractual cause.”
“She threatened the acquisition.”
“She reminded you of the license restrictions.”
“She was obstructive.”
Marcus met his eyes.
“She was correct.”
The room changed after that.
Until then, several directors had treated the crisis as a legal complication that Alex might bully into submission.
Marcus’s answer made the problem personal.
Alex had not been ambushed by an obscure clause.
He had been warned and proceeded anyway.
Evelyn asked everyone except the directors and Marcus to leave.
Alex remained standing.
“I am the chief executive.”
“You are also the subject of this discussion,” Evelyn said.
“Wait outside.”
For the first time since joining Corivia, Alex looked unsure whether an order applied to him.
Then two security guards appeared at the conference-room door.
They were the same guards who had waited for me the previous morning.
Neither reached for him.
They did not need to.
Alex walked out beneath the eyes of the employees he had forced to watch my removal.
At 10:14, Sarah called me.
I was sitting at a small café three blocks from my apartment with my laptop closed in front of me.
I had ordered coffee but had not touched it.
“They suspended the closing,” she said.
I looked through the window at pedestrians moving along the sidewalk.
“And Alex?”
“The board is meeting without him.”
I expected triumph.
Instead, I felt tired.
Corivia was not only Alex.
It was hundreds of people, including engineers who had worked beside me before he arrived.
It served clinics that depended on the platform.
Revoking the license had been necessary, but I understood what prolonged uncertainty could do.
“Intercolix will want a direct conversation,” Sarah said.
“They can speak through you.”
“They want to know whether you intend to shut the platform down.”
I looked at the untouched coffee.
“No.
I intend to stop them from selling what they don’t own.”
That afternoon, Intercolix requested a call with Sarah and me.
Their general counsel joined with the acquisition lead and a technical adviser who had interviewed me months earlier during diligence.
The adviser looked uncomfortable.
“We were told you had assigned the patent to Corivia,” he said.
“I did not.”
“Did anyone ask you directly?”
“No.
Alex removed me from the diligence schedule after the first technical session.”
