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Chapter 9
I watched the sun rise, breaking over the top of the trees. I’d seen that same view from my office many times, but it had never looked quite as beautiful as it did morning. I paced, feeling restless, remembering the feel of Gabe’s hands on me.
I’d woken up early and taken a quick shower. Gabe slept, his face peaceful, his chest rising and falling rhythmically. He must have felt me staring at him—he suddenly sat up. “You’re staring at me, aren’t you?” He rubbed his half-open eyes. “I told you that was rude.”
“I’m sorry, but I have to go. I wanted to say thank you.” I waited until he stopped scrubbing his hands across his face and appeared to be listening. “I think I’m going to lie to Clive for now. Tell him that I’m entertaining his offer, just to buy myself some time.”
Gabe sat up a little more. “You’re going to call him?”
I nodded. “I’m still thinking everything through, but I know I need more time.”
He nodded. “Just make sure you don’t go near him. I don’t like that he keeps physically coming around you. He’s dangerous.”
“About that… If your offer still stands to send a private message to him, I accept. But it has to be one of your men. Not you. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I can take him.” Even half-asleep, he still wanted to fight.
“Of course you can,” I said soothingly. “But now that Dynamica and Paragon are partners, I’d like to keep you out of jail. So send him a message, if that’s what you want. At least it’ll get him distracted and give him something to think about. I have some…plans. I think I have an idea about what to do, but it’s going to take some time.”
He tried to wrangle those plans out of me, but I only promised to call him later. I had to get to work. Then I kissed him good-bye. I didn’t want to leave him, but I couldn’t be a child about it, even though that was exactly how I felt when I left—bereft, as if I were a small child leaving her favorite blanket behind.
I had my driver take me home so I could change. I hadn’t checked in with my men last night. I hoped they’d slept in the guesthouse with the other security, but I was too mortified to even ask. Yet if Timmy and the driver had been judging me, they’d given no sign. I should probably give them both raises.
My gaze ran over my desk, pausing at the picture of my parents. They looked warm and happy in the photo, with colorful fall leaves in the background. They’d been visiting me in Cambridge during my freshman year when the photo was taken. It had been a happy weekend. We had gone to the North End for pasta, spent an afternoon in Harvard Square people watching, and visited the harbor seals outside of the aquarium. I remembered hugging my mom and kissing my dad on the cheek, the feel of the early October sun warm on my face.
For the first time in a long time, I felt a sharp pang of longing for them.
I wondered if they would have liked Gabe. A small smile sprang to my face. Of course they would. He was impossible not to like—kind, protective, intelligent. And I knew they would want me to pursue a relationship with him if it made me happy. My mother, in particular, had always worried that I would only ever be married to my research.
I could feel my parents with me still. I always did. I knew they were proud of me. When they were alive, they’d supported every decision I’d made. They’d always trusted me to do the right thing.
And that was what I had to do now. Even though it was going to be difficult.
Taking a deep breath, I hit Clive’s number.
“Lauren?” He didn’t sound surprised at all.
“I’m going to accept your offer. I don’t want my technology going to a third party—I’ve worked too hard on it for too long. I’ll have to present the offer to my board, though, and my investors. This isn’t going to happen overnight.”
“That’s all I needed to hear,” he said. “You’re doing the right thing—trust me.”
I told him I would keep him posted. I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough.
But there was someone else I needed to call. The only person who could help me pull this off.
“Hannah?” I hated to wake her up, but I needed her. “I need a press conference called. For early next week. I need local and national coverage. And call the FDA approval team and the board, please. I need to schedule emergency meetings with them. They need to hear this from me first.”
Hannah was able to arrange a video conference with the FDA the next morning. I ran through the results of my successful clinical trials and sent them the documentation. I’d worked with the same small group of government scientists from pre-market approval since Paragon’s inception. They’d recommended I pursue the Product Development Protocol course of approval for the patch. What that meant was that I kept them apprised of my progress on an ongoing basis. We had an agreement about what Paragon had to do to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of the patch before it could be sold.
The FDA group was happy with the first successful trial I’d run, and they were thrilled that I’d already started compiling additional positive results. Still, before I could start selling my technology, they needed more proof. Proof was what I promised them in the coming weeks. I needed to conduct round-the-clock clinical trials, as well as intense study of the test subjects after use of the patch.
I told them it was because I was worried about competitors getting to market first. Which was neither the whole truth nor a lie.
They said if I delivered, they would expedite the approval process. Through the past six years of research and ongoing reporting, I had demonstrated a market need for my noninvasive, fast-acting technology. The FDA supported my vision. If I could execute it safely, they were behind me one-hundred percent.
My FDA meeting gave me the confidence boost I needed before I met with the board. I told the board about Clive’s initial offer, my rejection of it, and his subsequent breach of Paragon’s computer system. They took the news better than I’d expected, better than I’d given them credit for.
I explained that he’d offered to buy a majority stake of the company. I showed them his announcement, outlining his supposed partnership with “one of the biggest stars in healthcare technology.” I told them about his threat to sell the technology to a foreign buyer, and we discussed the possible pitfalls of involving the FBI at this point. I had every intention of turning Clive over to the authorities eventually, but the timing needed to be right. A lot of discussion and a lot of strategizing followed, then finally, they turned back to me. “What do you want to do, Lauren?” Allen Trade, one of my original board members and a former Nasa advisor, asked me.
