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Darcy felt small again, faced with his anger. His disdain. But this time, she held strong.
“No, I didn’t,” she said. “I really didn’t.”
Hence the shame. That she had been fooled by the man she’d loved. During their last year at college, when Darcy had been swimming in offers from tech companies, Richard had proposed she come work at his company.
He was going to become CEO, daddy had said. So why not use her brilliant mind at Archam Tech? Together, they could conquer the world.
Darcy had hesitated at first. Wouldn’t it be weird to work with her boyfriend? Wasn’t there some company policy against it? And, maybe…maybe it was best if she struck out on her own.
But Richard had filled her head with nonsense. About Archam’s vast resources. She could study and invent anything she wanted. She’d been talking about building robots, right? Archam Tech would help her with that.
She could show the world her true potential, he’d said. Wow everyone who had called her a mouse in highschool, stealing and hiding her physics books in the bathroom.
Richard had also been extremely attentive and loving during that month he’d tried to convince her to join his company. And when she’d finally said yes, he took her to Paris, their first trip, and brought out the contract while they were on top of the Eiffel Tower, which was an engineering feat she had always wanted to see. She’d asked about the Addendums the contract mentioned and he’d told her not to worry.
But whywouldshe worry? Richard had her best interest at heart, obviously. Didn’t she trust him?
He’d played her, plain and simple. And she’d believed him.
And for one long year, she hadn’t questioned anything.
Why she couldn’t work in the lab with the rest of the research team.
Why she had her own office, a glorified broom closet with no windows, that was right next to his. Why she couldn’t personally present any of her progress.
Why she wasn’t invited to any meetings.
She’d built a robot. A real robot, that looked human and could fold the laundry or check on the baby when it cried. And the code she put into its brain was so precise, so efficient, that she really thought it could change the tech market.
So had Richard. He’d known what she could do before she’d even realized it.
“Youstolemy ideas,” she said at last.
Her words echoed on a loop, beating against her.
It was the first time she’d said it aloud–and she was sorry she hadn’t screamed it from the top of her lungs.
The truth was out. Finally.
“I didn’t steal anything. You signed them over to the company. You ownednothing,” Richard seethed.
“You told everyone it was your work,” Darcy said.
“Legally, it was.”
“Really? Then why don’t I just waltz out of here and tell everyone that, yes, I signed away the rights to my ideas and you technically owe them, but they’re mine, not yours.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” Richard scowled. “I’ll sue you until you don’t have anything left to your name. Even those fucking boots of yours.”
Ah, yes. The fucking boots.
See, Darcy not only had a shitty job, she had a shitty salary. As any intern working for a soulless company. And for Christmas, she’d wanted to buy herself a new pair of boots that actually protected her feet and kept them, you know, dry.
When she brought up the salary issue, Richard had called her materialistic–which had not been the first time, she’d realized afterwards; he loved lording his inherited fortune over her head–and had started an argument about the amount of closet space she took up.
Then he ignored her for two days.
Believing his lies had been Darcy’s mistake. Underestimating her had been Richard’s.
