Chapter 69 Adeline
Adeline's POV
"Good morning, gentlemen," I began, my voice steady and projecting clearly across the length of the long table. "Thank you all for being here. If you could direct your attention to the summaries in front of you, so we can begin by outlining the finalized asset integration."
For the next forty-five minutes, I held the room. Even I was impressed by how clearly I spoke. I didn't stutter or hesitate, just spoke about the most important details in the file, breaking the complex parts down in regular terms.
The only person that was more proud than I was was Percy. He leaned back and watched me with a look of profound pride on his face.
I didn't let myself dwell too much on him because I was entirely focused on Vanessa. She sat halfway down the table with her legs crossed as she absently twirled a pen. Every so often, she would offer a small encouraging nod, playing the gracious mentor part so well.
"Which brings us to the core risk assessment," I said and paused to take a sip of water. "The Intellectual Property Indemnification."
Vanessa sat up in interest. This was what she had been waiting for. Before I could continue, Vanessa leaned forward and held a hand up.
"Actually, Adeline, if you don't mind. I think it would be best if Mr. Harrison read this specific section himself. Given how large the scale of the potential liability involved, we want absolute transparency on how the transfer is being handled."
Mr. Harrison, the CEO, adjusted his glasses. "Of course. Which page, Vanessa?"
"Page 142, sir." Vanessa smiled and shot me a small smile. "Section 8, Paragraph C. Adeline drafted this clause specifically for you. I think you'll find it... very illuminating."
Percy frowned slightly, probably sensing the subtle shift, but he didn't intervene.
"Please, Mr. Harrison. Go ahead." He flipped the paper just as Vanessa leaned back in her chair with a smug expectant look on her face. She was waiting for the shoe to drop.
"Ah, here it is," Mr. Harrison said. He cleared his throat and began to read aloud. "In the event of pre-existing copyright infringement claims discovered post-acquisition, the Seller shall assume full financial liability and hold the Buyer entirely harmless." The room went silent, but I was completely focused on Vanessa. I saw the exact moment that smug smile on her face dropped. She went so pale that we thought she was going to be sick.
"Well," Mr. Harrison chuckled, looking up at me with genuine admiration. "I have to say, Miss Volkov, that is one of the most aggressive ironclad liability shields I have ever seen in all my years in this industry. Brilliant work."
"Thank you, Mr. Harrison," I said politely, offering a modest nod. "Protecting your assets is our top priority."
I looked at Vanessa. She was frantically flipping through her own booklet to page 142. She stared at the slight word change as if it were written in a foreign language. Not only did her trap fail, it was nowhere to be found.
"If there are no further questions," Percy said, his voice cutting through the silence. "I believe we have some contracts to sign."
The rest of the meeting was a blur. I was just happy to have beaten Vanessa at her own game. Combined with the fact that I had just closed a fifty-million dollar deal, I couldn't stop smiling.
Soon, the TechStar team left, and it was just the four of us. Me, Percy, Vanessa’s uncle Richard Sterling, and Vanessa herself.
"Excellent work, Adeline," Richard Sterling said, and he looked genuinely impressed. "A flawless presentation."
"Wait," Vanessa said as she stood up so abruptly that the chair she was sitting on toppled over.
Percy turned back to look at her. "Is there a problem, Vanessa?"
"Yes, there is a problem," she snapped, glaring at me. "Adeline made unauthorized alterations to a finalized document. I conducted a compliance review on Friday night and signed off on that master file. The document presented today was altered without my oversight."
And to think that I wasn't going to say anything. I thought she would get the message that I wasn't to be messed with, but here she was, still trying to flex her power.
.
"Altered?" Percy frowned in my direction. "Adeline, did you change the contract after the compliance review?"
"I did," I said calmly. I reached into my leather portfolio. "Because the version Vanessa approved on Friday night contained a catastrophic legal error that would have cost TechStar millions."
"That is a lie!" Vanessa hissed, slamming her hand on the table. "I reviewed it personally! If there was an error, it was yours, and I am formally citing you for..."
"I didn't say you missed the error, Vanessa," I cut her off in a bored tone. "I said you created it."
I pulled the pages out of my portfolio and slid them across the table to where Percy and her uncle stood.
"What is this?" Richard asked, his brow furrowing as he picked up the pages.
"Those are the audit logs for the TechStar files." I stated, not breaking eye contact with her. "You will see that I uploaded the presented contract at 8:12 PM on Friday. At 1:18 AM on Saturday morning, Vanessa downloaded the file, swapped the liability from the Seller to the Buyer, re-uploaded the poisoned document, and permanently deleted my original draft."
Richard’s eyes darted rapidly over the green text of the audit logs. There was no way she could spin this.
"Vanessa," Richard breathed, looking up at his niece in absolute disbelief. "What did you do?"
"It’s a mistake," Vanessa stammered, taking a step back. "The system must have glitched or someone hacked my network."
"You logged in from your personal IP address," I countered smoothly, pointing to the final column on the log. "And you tried to use it to humiliate me and sabotage a deal that would have hurt our reputation as a firm. Luckily, I caught the alteration this morning and manually swapped page 142 in the printed booklets before the clients arrived."
Percy, too, was staring at the logs coldly. When he looked back at Vanessa, it was with such chill that I'm sure she would have preferred he yell at her instead. He stared at her like a traitor, and I quickly sent a prayer up that I never witnessed that side of him.
"Percy, please," Vanessa begged. "She’s manipulating the logs and trying to push me out because she’s threatened by me!"
"You altered a client contract to settle a petty score you have with her. You put my firm, my clients, and most importantly, you put my fiancée at risk."
"Percy..."
"You are suspended, effective immediately pending a formal termination hearing with the board," Percy commanded. "Your keycard is deactivated. Your server access is revoked. Pack up your shit and get out of my building before I decide to press criminal charges for corporate espionage."
"Percy, look, let's talk about this." Her uncle stepped in.
"Unless you want to join her, Richard. If not, stay out of my way or I'll assume you both planned this."