My head spun, my brain having no idea where to focus, but as my brother’s door closed, Urse leaned in again.
“One of their highest grossing products of the last two decades was actually created by their son and daughter when they were very young. I’m talking elementary and middle school young. The two of them still hold the patent to this day. That’s why the sale has been so difficult.”
We built things.
Things like computer pieces and heavy machinery mechanics? Leave it to Harper to downplay that part.
“I-if they hold partial ownership then how are they selling?” I asked.
“Well… a portion of it has been signed away. The son gave up his ownership over the hardware about nine, maybe ten years ago. And the daughter, sad story, she died. I think that’s why they want to sell. They just don’t want to deal with it anymore.”
If I thought the room was spinning before, it was shaking now. I felt like I was going to throw up, which surprisingly didn’t stop me from almost screaming, “How do you know she died?”
Urse jerked back from my sudden urgency, her face scrunchingin response to my strangeness. “The report only said the patent loses legitimacy because the holder was no longer with us. Is there something wrong?”
“Yes.” I peered over to the shut door. “Who’s in there this morning?”
“Mr. Fernandez, your sister, and the two Ferguson boys. It’s a rather large deal, and both sides of the merger thought it would be beneficial,” she said. “Ms. Ulburn has joined them as well.”
Dangit. If they were all in there that meant they were signing papers today. This would be official and Harper’s entire childhood, everything his sister had ever known would be gone.
I knew I didn’t speak for him and I knew he probably never told me about any of this for a reason—a damn good reason, and he was probably going to be pissed. But I also knew if they were ready to sell, that meant they were shutting a door that Harper wasn’t ready to be shut.
Dead?
No way. In all the times Harper had told me about his sister, he never once believed she was gone. And if he wasn’t ready to give up on that, if he wasn’t ready to shut that part of the past away, then I wasn’t going to let anybody else close it for him.
Before I knew what was happening—before I knew my place or the facts or the laws or the consequences, I was pushing into my brother’s office without so much as an invitation.
They sat in a tight circle, the Harper’s pressed together on the leather sofa by the window. The two older Ferguson boys sitting in chairs close to them with papers strewn in their laps, Melissa was sat off to the side with Grace at her elbow also looking at papers and Ox was sat at his desk midway through some kind of statement from the looks of it as I barreled right in and cut him off.
The sharp cut of his eyes as they moved along my frantic face didn’t scare me. Nor did the sharp tone of his voice. “What?”
My brother was the least of my worries as I looked around theroom, my eyes eating up the sight of the woman I’d already seen now sitting straight up in her chair as she stared at me, and that of a tall male form that looked way too much like a special guy I knew.
My voice stuck in my throat as I watched them, having come in here with absolutely no plan and no reasoning behind my actions other than a need to protect something important to me. I was panicking. Spiraling fast.
“Que pasa,Alta?” Ox said again.
I looked at him, panic crawling up my spine and overtaking me. I wanted to ask him so badly for help. To ask him to stop this. To wait. But this wasn’t his to take control of, it was mine.
I cleared my throat, turning to the two forms on the couch. “Mr. and Mrs. Harper I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
The room fell absolutely still, no one, not even my brother knowing what to do. The Harper look-alike guy spoke first, “Excuse me?”
Something spurred me on, and I found myself springing into action, words flinging from my mouth at warp speed.
“It seems all information was not made known before the completion of this deal,” I said while simultaneously rushing the couple and confiscating their documents. There would be no signing of any sort while I was around. “Which as part of our right and per the contract of every Fernandez proposal or offer, puts that offer into renegotiation.”
Wide eyes looked back at me in shock. “Young lady, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I hate to be insensitive but there’s a big difference between missing and dead. I know it, your son knows it, and your county clerk probably knows it as well. They can educate you on the extensive avenues you’ll have to go through to prove that death, but until then… We take patents and copyright very seriously, and if the original property holder has not released ownership to you, thenwe willhave to renegotiate,” I said more sternly this time. “Do you understand what I’m saying Mr. Harper… Mrs. Harper?”
Your daughter isn’t dead!I screamed at them in my head.
I didn’t know I was shaking until a steady hand laid over my shoulder, my brother appearing behind me out of nowhere. Coming in here I had no clue what he was going to say, but I was surprised when, without missing a beat, he looked at his guests and said, “I apologize for the mistake, Mr. and Mrs. Harper. I should have been more prepared. I will call you when the new deal is delivered.”
The man sputtered, shooting from his seat in shock and outrage. “What kind of treatment is this? You expect me to bring my business back here after this? Not that it’s any of your business, but we’ve gone through the proper avenues for Mar?—”
