Still you, still me still falling

Chapter 9: A Name in the Headlines

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By noon, the story had spread across every major business and entertainment site in the city.

Some articles focused on the Halley Group investment. Others focused on Sheila.

Photographs from three years earlier surfaced within hours.

There she was beside Edmond at charity dinners, private events, and one summer gala where she had looked at him as though the rest of the room did not exist.

Commentators called her ambitious, calculating, mysterious, and opportunistic.

No one called her what she was.

A scientist trying to keep her laboratory alive.

Simon slammed his tablet onto the break-room table.

"They found my university photos."

Sheila looked up from the press statement she was editing. "Why?"

"Because apparently I am the jealous replacement boyfriend caught in a billionaire love triangle."

Despite everything, she laughed.

Simon stared at her. "I'm glad one of us is enjoying this."

"You always wanted public recognition."

"For my work, not for being punched by your emotionally constipated ex."

The laughter faded, but some of the pressure left the room.

York entered carrying printed documents. "The National Science Institute has issued a statement distancing itself from Vale."

"Any mention of the patent claim?" Sheila asked.

"Only that ownership will be reviewed."

"So they are keeping the accusation alive."

"Yes."

Her phone vibrated with another unknown number.

She ignored it.

It rang again.

Simon glanced at the screen. "That is the sixth call in ten minutes."

"Reporters."

"Or someone more interesting."

She answered before he could continue.

"Dr. Jensen?" a woman asked. "This is Clara Voss, Martin's daughter."

Sheila straightened.

"Is your father all right?"

"He is stable. He asked me to contact you."

"Why?"

"He has something that belongs to Professor Preston."

Sheila looked toward York.

"What is it?"

"A recording. He says it proves Vale planned the theft months ago."

"Where is it?"

"In a safe-deposit box. My father will release it only if you agree to protect him from prosecution."

Sheila's expression hardened. "He participated in the threats against me three years ago."

"I know."

Clara's voice trembled.

"He says he regrets it."

"Regret is not immunity."

"Then Vale walks away from part of what he did."

The line went silent.

Sheila understood the trap.

Voss was offering evidence in exchange for mercy.

"Send the location and the access instructions to my attorney," she said.

"Will you help him?"

"I will make sure the truth is delivered to investigators. Nothing more."

She ended the call.

York had heard enough to understand.

"Voss kept evidence," he said.

"Apparently."

"Why?"

"Insurance."

Edmond arrived twenty minutes later with legal counsel and three members of his security team.

He entered the break room without ceremony, dismissing everyone except Sheila, York, and Simon.

"We should retrieve the recording under police supervision," he said.

"Agreed," Sheila replied.

His eyes narrowed slightly, as if he had expected resistance.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"You look surprised."

"I am adjusting to cooperation."

Simon muttered, "Enjoy it while it lasts."

The safe-deposit box was held at a private bank across town.

Police secured the room while Clara Voss provided the authorization code remotely.

Inside the box lay a flash drive, a handwritten ledger, and a sealed envelope addressed to York.

The drive contained audio recorded three months earlier.

Vale's voice was unmistakable.

He discussed copying York's administrative key, bribing a maintenance contractor, and triggering a controlled failure in the prototype.

The plan had not been intended to destroy the laboratory.

It had been meant to create doubt about the technology before Vale presented a competing model to the National Science Institute board.

Then another voice entered the recording.

Eleanor Halley.

She did not discuss sabotage directly.

She warned Vale that Edmond's investment was "emotionally compromised" and suggested that the project would be easier to challenge if Sheila's credibility collapsed.

She had not ordered the attack.

But she had given Vale information.

Edmond listened without moving.

When the recording ended, York opened the sealed envelope.

Inside was a copy of an old research agreement bearing both his signature and Vale's.

A handwritten amendment assigned the disputed stabilization theory to York after Vale withdrew from the project.

"This proves ownership," Sheila said.

York stared at the page. "I thought the original was destroyed."

"Voss kept a copy," Simon said.

"He kept everything," Edmond replied.

His voice had become dangerously quiet.

Sheila watched him. "You didn't know Eleanor was speaking to Vale."

"No."

"She may not have understood what he intended."

Edmond looked at her. "Do not defend her for my sake."

"I'm not. I'm separating what we know from what we assume."

He absorbed that in silence.

The evidence was turned over to investigators.

By evening, the National Science Institute withdrew its ownership challenge and placed several officials on administrative leave.

For the first time since the sabotage, the institute had room to breathe.

The media did not.

A reporter waited outside Sheila's apartment building.

"Dr. Jensen, did Mr. Halley fund your research because you resumed a romantic relationship?"

"No comment."

"Were you involved while he was dating someone else?"

Sheila stopped.

"He was dating someone?"

The reporter smiled as though she had been given exactly what she wanted.

"Mr. Halley was publicly linked to Celeste Arden last year."

Sheila had never heard the name.

She continued toward the entrance, but the question followed her inside.

An hour later, someone knocked on her apartment door.

She expected security.

Edmond stood in the hallway.

"Before you ask," he said, "Celeste and I attended three business functions together. We were never in a relationship."

Sheila folded her arms. "You came here to explain a rumor?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because three years ago, other people controlled what we knew about each other. I will not allow that again."

The answer disarmed her.

He looked tired, not polished. Human, not untouchable.

"Come in," she said.

Edmond stepped inside.

It was the first time he had entered her home.

He looked around without judgment: the books stacked beside the sofa, the unfinished circuit diagrams on the dining table, the single framed photograph of Sheila and York at an awards ceremony.

"You live like you expect to leave at any moment," he said.

"I travel often."

"That isn't what I meant."

She knew.

He noticed a small wooden box on the shelf.

Sheila moved too late.

Edmond opened it.

Inside lay the silver watch he had given her on their first anniversary.

His face changed.

"You kept it."

"I forgot it was there."

He looked at the carefully wrapped watch, then at her.