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She shook his hand and walked him to the office door. “Thank you. Have a great afternoon.”
She watched him leave before she slowly closed the door and melted against it.
Kimmy, her assistant, threw her a sympathetic look. “I know that was difficult, but now you own the majority of shares in Artemis, and the papers you just signed will protect your personal assets.”
Bronte lifted a hand to brush her long bangs off her forehead. The deep red strands could use a trim. “I know I did the right thing. I just didn’t expect it all to hit me again.”
Their gazes met.
“You know…what Angelica did.”
Kimmy nodded. “It shocked all of us. We never thought she’d steal from the company you both put your hearts and souls into.”
Pushing away from the door, Bronte walked over to the table serving as her workspace and sat down behind it. Kimmy sank into a seat too. How many times over the past week since Bronte discovered her partner’s treachery had she and Kimmy sat here hashing it all out?
She reached across the table and squeezed Kimmy’s hand. “You’re such a good friend to me. Thank you.”
A blush crept up Kimmy’s sun-kissed cheeks and made her complexion even more glowing. She looked like a true California girl with her tan and short blonde hair that always appeared windblown. Bronte would forever look like the transplant from Portland that she was. Even the retro wardrobe she preferred never seemed to fit in with the carefree aesthetic going on in San Francisco. Times like these, Bronte wished she wasn’t so different.
But what did she expect, being raised by parents who put all their time and energy into art, music and literature? Even Bronte’s name spoke of their passion, and she guessed they passed that on to her.
Kimmy squeezed her hand in return. “OfcourseI’m your friend. I’m here for you.”
Bronte arched a brow. “Even if I ask you to pull all the files on MemoTech and copy them twice?”
Her assistant gave a little mock shudder of horror. “Well, maybe notthat.”
They shared a laugh. Kimmy performed all her assistant duties with sunshine and cheer but she despised filing and copying. Luckily, she didn’t need to do those things when almost everything was digital.
Bronte settled her palms on the table. “Now that this is all out of the way, I need to start focusing on Trade Con.”
With a nod, Kimmy pulled a computer tablet closer to take notes. Usually when Bronte got on a roll, the ideas flowed and her assistant knew to jot everything down.
“The trade show is my chance to find a partner to distribute my software to hospitals.” Bronte threw a look at the vacant chair her partner occupied until last week. “Now I’m dealing with this BS. I can’t help but wonder what Angelica stole. What if our software isn’t so secret anymore? What if she already shared it with our competitor after she hacked our system?”
Kimmy lowered the tablet and gave her a sympathetic look. Exactly what Brontedidn’tneed. When she shared that Angelica had taken company secrets and that the only way to protect Artemis was to buy up all the public stocks and become the majority shareholder so she could officially fire Angelica… Well, Kimmy gave her that look.
So had her parents when she video-chatted with them. They also offered her financial backing if she needed it, but she refused to run to Mom and Dad for rescue. In a few months, she would be thirty years old. She owned a trending tech company with an expensive office space in one of the most expensive cities in the country. It was time she stood on her own two feet.
Kimmy pitched her voice low. “What do you think Angelica really stole?”
She shook her head. “There’s no way of knowing. Not that I can see.”
“There’s always the FBI. I bet they can find out.”
Bronte shook her head. “I don’t want to turn her in for corporate espionage. Not yet, at least. It means prison time, and well, she might have tried to ruinmylife, but I’m not a person who ruins others’ lives. Even if they deserve it.”
Kimmy gave her a smile.
“Maybe Ishouldhave turned her in while I had the chance. But I wanted to save the company and the stockholders’ investments.” She dropped her face into her hands and sighed. “There isn’t a manual for your partner going rogue and stealing company files.”
Kimmy made a soothing noise. “If she did already sell Artemis’s secrets, then I think the FBI is your only choice.”
“I know. Thank god I got the company switched from public to private after I bought those stocks, though.”
“And your personal assets are separate now that you signed the paperwork.”
She brightened. “There is that. Everything I did was about saving Artemis. Now if only I wasn’t so worried I’ll be a laughingstock at Trade Con after I present ‘old’ software that everyone already knows about, thanks to Angelica.”
