Chapter 2 First Meeting

As a Tech startup, while not very fancy, the interior of Lynch looked like something straight out of a futuristic movie. There were display screens on the walls on which various chips and their capabilities were outlined and advertised. One could see how proud a Tech company was of its products by how willing they were to reveal details about its limits.

As they approached a glass-walled conference room, something on the wall caught Gabriel's eye, and he stopped.

Turning to it, he squinted and tilted his eyes slightly. While out in public, he had long learned to hide the peculiarity of his eyes.

"This is the chip?" He asked turning slightly to Andrea without taking his eyes off the display screen.

"It is, yeah," Andrea replied while letting out a heavy breath.

"There are some differences," Gabriel pointed out.

Andrea glanced at Gabriel and then back at the display screen. Was he hessistating? Was this one last attempt at mercy?

If the products were different, then a patent dispute would be pointless. They'd just have to prove the product was different.

A smile appeared on her face, rather than a sign of weakness, she saw this as a sign of humanity.

"Are there?" She asked turning again to Gabriel, her gaze fixed on him intently as she watched his expressions.

Gabriel's facial muscles eased and he slowly turned away from the display screen and back to the conference room a few feet ahead.

Through the glass wall, he could see a woman in a cream dress watching them. He maintained the gaze for a moment without moving then continued onwards with any more hesitation.

Ahead of them, Aika entered the conference room and pointed at three seats directly across from where Zina stood with her lawyer.

"Good morning, Mr Auralis, your reputation precedes you," Zina greeted as Gabriel drew a chair back for Andrea.

Confused, Gabriel frowned and glanced briefly at Zina as he walked around the chair to sit beside Andrea.

"Your generous charity donations? I work closely with most charity organizations in the city, and your name keeps coming up," Zina explained.

"Oh, that's mainly the doings of my partner, she was raised in an orphanage, so she does her best to improve the lives of the children in those homes," Gabriel explained, gesturing at Andrea as he slowly sat.

"You have a good heart, Miss Zade," Zina replied with a flattering smile as she turned to Andrea for the first time. Suddenly, she squinted and looked down at the file she had on the desk before her.

"Andrea Zade" she muttered.

"Good morning Mrs Lynch."

For a moment there was an awkward silence around the table as Zina stared at Andrea. Her expression slowly turning frosty.

"I was wondering how my husband's research work got into the hands of a start-up. I always respected you, Miss Zade. You played your cards right. Clever, too clever." Zina relaxed on her chair, a frown on her face as she glared at Andrea.

"I'm sorry, am I missing something?" Gabriel couldn't resist asking as the situation had taken an unexpected turn.

"Miss Zade was my husband's secretary. Suddenly I find her working with you, a new startup from out of town and here we are today for a patent dispute over one of my husband's principal technologies"

Hearing her inference, Gabriel could only stare blankly at the woman for a minute. Everything she explained was logical and anyone would argue the same, but there was one slight problem with that reasoning.

Himself.

"Are you accusing me of espionage, Mrs Freeman?" Gabriel asked, his tone cut, turning frosty.

"If you have any other explanation to make sense of this, I'd love to hear it." Zina folded her hands and stared back at Gabriel, her back relaxed on the chair as if she was watching a show.

"If I may," Tony, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up.

Feeling all the intense gazes on him, he gulped hard. Despite being a lawyer, it was different when everyone stared at him in court, and now. Especially as Gabriel's was among those stares.

"The reason we are here is because you, Mrs Freeman, infringed on our Patent rights, not the other way around. You can't turn this around by accusing us. Of course, you can claim patent invalidity but then you would have to prove that this was originally your husband's design"

Gabriel's gaze faltered, and he stole a sharp glance at Andrea, who was already squinting at Tony. The design was indeed originally Adam Freeman's, and Gabriel insisted on starting his company with it as a way to honor Adam's legacy.

But there should be no way for Zina to prove the Tech was originally Adam's, in fact, she shouldn't have the Tech at all!

Thinking this, Gabriel placed his hand on Andrea's under the table and turned to Zina with a calm gaze waiting to hear what explanation she would come up with.

Beside him, Andrea felt peace wash over her as his warm hand gently squeezed hers. She turned to glance at Gabriel, eyes wide and her gaze tender as she stared at his side profile. The accusation from Zina and the tension in the room faded into distant memories as she felt her pulse hammering against her tongue.

Zina noticed the change in the atmosphere. She didn't notice Andrea's tender gaze on Gabriel but Gabriel's calmness unsettled her. She was certain that the chip was designed by her husband, although he never built it. However, she couldn't prove this because of what she had done to recover some of her husband's work. The people she'd found herself involved with could never see the light.

Just then, as if to save her, the door opened and a young man in a fancy suit walked in confidently as if he owned the place. His suit was fancy but like Gabriel's, very formal, and yet he walked with a certain wild gait, contrasting sharply with the noble air in the room.

"How did you get in here?" Zina rose from her chair and asked, her eyes spitting fire as she asked.