“How?”
“Easy.” Grace grinned. “Let’s pay him a visit. I’ll drive.”
They went down the stairs and got in Grace’s car. Grace was still in disbelief about everything that was happening, but it felt good to be with Alex again. And it felt good that they’d finally gotten to the bottom of what had happened at MatchupNow.
Patrick’s offices weren’t far. For most of the drive, they just sneaked looks at each other, as though neither could believe that they were really together again. When they arrived, they headed straight up, and when they reached Patrick’s secretary, Cecilia, Grace smiled at her.
“Hi there. We’re here to see Patrick.”
“I’m so sorry, but he’s busy,” Cecilia said. “He isn’t taking visitors.”
“He’s not too busy for this. Ask him.”
Cecilia called Patrick’s office, and a moment later, she nodded.
“He’ll see you.”
Grace and Alex entered. Patrick was lounging behind his desk, looking at his phone. When they entered, he sat up with a crocodile grin. The office, with its dark walls and mahogany desk, was everything Grace remembered from her previous meetings. The thought of his manipulations made her stomach twist.
“If it isn’t Grace and Alex,” he said. “Grace, dear, I thought I told you not to talk to Alex directly. It might hurt your case.”
Grace approached the desk and leaned her palms against it so that she stood over Patrick.
“There is no case,” she said, enunciating each word.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Patrick looked between the two of them. “Don’t tell me that Alex tricked you into dropping the case. He fired you! I’m the one who’s been helping.”
“Don’t even…” Alex said, joining Grace and taking her hand. “We know what you did.”
“I helped a poor pregnant woman who you used,” Patrick said. “Which, by the way, was a big surprise, Alex. I thought you didn’t date. How was I supposed to know that you were dating your employees?” He shook his head. “This won’t look good for you during the lawsuit. Or have you decided to settle out of court?”
“Again,” Grace said. “There is no case. I’m dropping it. As soon as we leave here, I’ll let the lawyers know that I’m out. There won’t be any more of your manipulations.”
“Manipulations?” Patrick put a hand to his heart as though wounded by the mere suggestion. “I would never manipulate you. Not like Alex here.”
“Cut it out, Patrick,” Alex said. “It’s over. Grace and I talked. It’s time to return the laptop.”
“What laptop?” Patrick made wide, confused eyes. “I don’t know who has it.”
“We know you do,” Alex said. “I’ve seen bits of my code show up in your app. Which, by the way, you’ll need to remove.”
“Your code? Not at all. My developers came up with that.”
Grace slammed a hand on the table. “Enough. Patrick, if you don’t give the laptop back, I’m starting a new lawsuit. Against you. It’ll detail all the ways that you manipulated me and the way you framed me.”
“And I’ll add details of how you stole my laptop, which is intellectual property theft,” Alex added.
“You’ll never win,” Patrick said, but there was a hint of worry in his voice now. “I have excellent lawyers. They’ll protect me.”
“Oh,” Grace said sweetly. “But it’s like you toldme, Patrick. We don’t need to win. The case itself will ruin your reputation. Your stock values will plummet. Your employees will quit. Users will avoid your app. And we won’t settle out of court, will we, Alex?”
“Certainly not,” Alex said. “We’ll make the case as public as we need to.”
“I have to add something, though,” Grace said. “No matter how good your lawyers are, they can’t argue with hard proof.”
“True,” Alex said. “And I have emails between you and my assistant, Louisa, in which you planned this whole thing. For someone who works in the digital space, you should have been more aware of how big a footprint an email leaves.”
Patrick’s eyes narrowed. Grace even spotted a few beads of sweat on his forehead.
