Chapter 7 - The Contract
The moment the town car disappeared, Clara broke down. She covered her face, her shoulders shaking violently. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “Julian, I’m so sorry. If the university board investigates me, I’ll lose my funding. I’ll lose everything.”
“Stop,” I said, maneuvering my chair closer to her. I grabbed her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face. “Look at me.”
She met my eyes, terrified and heartbroken.
“Eleanor plays checkers. I play chess,” I told her fiercely. “You are not losing your degree. You are not leaving this house.”
I hit the intercom button on my chair. “Connect me to Harrison.”
Harrison was my lead corporate bulldog, an attorney who billed a thousand dollars an hour and never lost. When he answered, I didn't waste time on pleasantries.
“Harrison. I need an ironclad employment contract drafted immediately. Backdate it to six weeks ago. Clara Hayes is no longer a nanny. She is the newly appointed Director of Biomedical Research and Ergonomic Integration for Vance Cybernetics. Her salary is one million dollars a year. She is officially an executive consultant on our payroll, testing proprietary bio-mechanical equipment under corporate oversight.”
Silence hung on the line for a second. “Julian, that’s highly irregular.”
“Do it. And Harrison? Draft a counter-suit against Eleanor Vance for corporate espionage, defamation, and emotional distress to a minor. Freeze her assets until it goes to trial. I want her drowning in legal paperwork by sundown.”
“Consider it done, boss.”
I cut the line and looked at Clara. She was staring at me in absolute shock.
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“A million dollars?” she whispered, stunned. “Director of Biomedical Research?”
“You are formally under the protection of Vance Cybernetics now,” I said, my jaw set. “The university won't dare expel an executive partner of the largest tech firm in Seattle. You belong here, Clara. And no one is going to take you away from me.”
