“Get up yourself,” he said after I fell in the rain, then pulled his lover closer beneath the umbrella and walked away without looking back. I said nothing, but the resignation letter on his desk—and the client contract missing from his portfolio—gave him an answer he would never forget........

The Grand Ballroom of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle was filled with three hundred senior executives, tech investors, and press representatives for the annual Pacific Northwest Brand Strategy Summit.

The main event of the morning was the competitive pitch for the Apex Tech twelve-million-dollar global master account.

Westbridge Strategy was scheduled to present first at ten o'clock. Lin Strategic Holdings was scheduled to present second at eleven.

I sat in the green room backstage, wearing an immaculate ivory tailored suit, my left cast replaced by a sleek black support splint. Beside me sat Rebecca Harrow and my attorney, David Vance.

On the closed-circuit television monitor mounted in the corner of the green room, we watched the live broadcast from the main stage.

Nolan Pierce walked out to the podium wearing a custom Italian suit, looking poised and immaculate once again. Beside him stood Camille Ward, holding a remote presenter clicker, her smile beaming toward the row of Apex Tech board members seated in the front row.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Apex board," Nolan began, his voice booming effortlessly through the high-end sound system. "Today, Westbridge Strategy is proud to present a revolutionary, proprietary framework designed specifically for your global expansion—a framework created under the direct leadership of our Senior Associate, Camille Ward."

In the backstage green room, David Vance pulled out his tablet and tapped a button.

"The trap is live," David whispered to me.

On the main stage screen behind Nolan and Camille, a massive presentation slide flickered to life.

It showed an intricate, breathtaking three-dimensional diagram detailing Apex Tech's global market positioning, complete with supply chain predictive models and consumer sentiment mapping.

The Apex Tech board members leaned forward, clearly impressed by the depth of the data.

Camille clicked the remote to advance to slide four.

Suddenly, the screen flickered red.

A loud, sharp electronic chime echoed through the entire ballroom.

The main presentation vanished. In its place, a high-resolution, certified digital watermark expanded across the forty-foot screen.

In bold, bright gold lettering, the screen read:

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY NOTICE THIS FILE CONTAINS EMBEDDED DIGITAL FORENSIC STAMPS CREATED BY MAYA LIN. ORIGINAL AUTHOR: MAYA LIN (LIN STRATEGIC HOLDINGS) CREATION DATE: NOVEMBER 14, 2024 UNAUTHORIZED USE DETECTED BY WESTBRIDGE STRATEGY / CAMILLE WARD. AUTOMATIC CEASE-AND-DESIST ISSUED LIVE TO APEX TECH BOARD.

The entire ballroom went dead silent.

Three hundred executives stared at the screen in utter shock.

Camille’s smile shattered instantly. Her eyes went wide as saucers. She clicked the remote frantically, but the screen remained locked on the bold red watermark, displaying a real-time audit log showing that Camille had downloaded the file from a hidden backup folder sixteen hours ago.

Nolan’s face turned the color of ash. He clutched the podium with both hands, his knuckles turning white, staring at the screen as if his worst nightmare had manifested in front of three hundred of his industry peers.

"There... there appears to be a technical glitch with the AV system," Nolan stammered, his voice cracking loudly through the microphone. "If the technician could please reset the display—"

The Chief Marketing Officer of Apex Tech stood up from his seat in the front row.

"There is no technical glitch, Mr. Pierce," the CMO said, his voice amplified by a microphone held by a floor staffer. "That watermark is linked directly to our company's secure IP verification database. Did you just attempt to pitch us stolen intellectual property belonging to Maya Lin?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Camille shrieked into her microphone, completely losing her composure. "Maya planted that file! She hacked our servers! She’s trying to sabotage us because she’s bitter about her resignation!"