Chapter 4

On the eighth day, my mother-in-law, Clara, arrived.

Clara walked in and got straight to the point.

"Ethan, Trent told me about the scene you made a while ago."

She sat opposite me at the dining table, hands clasped, her face full of impatience.

"What are you unhappy about? She feeds you, she takes care of you, she never lets you worry about company matters."

"You're just a tech guy; why are you so nosy?"

I paused, a forkful of food midway to my mouth. "Mom, I was just curious; I didn't mean anything else."

"Curious?" Clara sneered. "You signed the papers, you got what you were supposed to get. Don't go overstepping your bounds."

Trent, sitting nearby, tried to smooth things over, smiling. "Mom, that's enough, he gets it now."

Clara glared at me. "Good that he gets it."

She pulled a card from her purse and slapped it on the table.

"This is the new allowance card Trent got you. From now on, it's $1,400 a month. That's $400 more than before, pretty generous, wouldn't you say?"

$1,400.

My patents made $1.2 million a year, and they gave me a raise to $1,400, acting like it was a huge favor.

I picked up the card and smiled. "Thank you, Mom."

Clara nodded, satisfied.

"That's more like it. A man should be grateful for what he has and not make trouble."

After dinner, Trent walked Clara downstairs.

I sat at the dining table, turning the $1,400 card over and over in my hand.

On the tenth day, I received a message from Adriana Hayes.

"Mr. Ethan, I looked into Trent Technologies' corporate registration filings for the past three years."

"I found that three months ago, the company added a new shareholder: Kevin, holding 25%. His capital contribution method was 'technical investment'."

I stared at the screen, a cold laugh escaping my lips.

Technical investment? Using my technology, what kind of investment was he making?

They kicked me out, claimed my technology as their own, and even let my wife's lover use my patents to gain equity.

What a masterful deception.

On the fifteenth day, everything was as usual.

Trent came home on time every day, cooked, cleaned, and occasionally acted sweet with me.

The better she acted, the more disgusted I felt, but I kept it in.

Because there was one last step remaining.

That afternoon, I received a call from Adriana Hayes.

"Mr. Ethan, all the documents are ready. Come over, and we'll do a final review."

I took half a day off and went to the law firm.

On Adriana Hayes's desk, a thick stack of files was spread out.

"Let's go through them."

She pointed to the first document.

"First, the letter of counsel for patent license termination."

"Second, the formal complaint submitted to the court."

"Third, the divorce petition."

I looked at the three documents and took a deep breath.

"And this."

I pulled the voice recorder from my pocket and placed it on the table.

"Over these fifteen days, I recorded more than seventy hours of content."

"This includes Trent's confession about her relationship with Kevin, her admission of concealing patent income, and Kevin's own statements to me."

Adriana Hayes listened to a few key recordings, her eyebrows raising higher and higher.

"Mr. Ethan, these recordings are fully admissible as evidence in court."

She closed the folder and looked at me.

"Are you sure you want to leave no room for retreat?"

I smiled.

"Adriana Hayes, it's been five years."

"They embezzled over $5.5 million from me, stole my technology, slept with my wife, and still think giving me $1,400 for living expenses is a huge favor."

"Even today, they still think I'm just a naive academic who can't stir anything up."

I stood up. "Then let them see how I stir up a storm."