Seraphina POV
The legal notice arrived on a Tuesday morning, tucked between a board memo and a supplier contract in the stack Mary brought in with my coffee.
Mary placed it on top with the particular care she used for things she found personally offensive. She didn't say anything. She just set it down and stepped back and waited.
I picked it up and read it.
Then I put it down.
Then I picked it up and read it again, because I wanted to be completely sure I'd understood it correctly the first time.
I had.
Elias Thorne's legal team was claiming partial ownership of the Carter logistics expansion project, the one I'd spent fourteen months developing, the one that had taken three failed versions before the fourth one worked, the one that was now the centrepiece of the company's recovery strategy.
His argument, according to the notice, was collaborative contribution during the period of personal relationship.
Collaborative contribution.
