Chapter 3
Patrick stepped in behind her a moment later, tie already loosened, the way he did when a client call had gone badly. He looked around at the bare shelves, the pale rectangles on the wall where framed awards used to hang. "Where is everything?"
That was when Jordan appeared in the doorway, holding a single small box, calm in a way neither of them had seen from him in six years. Beside him stood a woman in a charcoal suit neither Sterling had ever met, holding a sealed folder against her chest.
"You suspended me," Jordan said. "I accepted."
Vanessa held up the letter, her hand not quite steady. "This says you're not coming back. You can't just quit over a scheduling disagreement, Jordan, that's insane, we need you for the lakefront project—"
"I'm aware," Jordan said. "That's actually part of what my attorney is here to discuss."
Patrick's face shifted from confusion into something harder. "Attorney. You brought a lawyer into my building."
"This is Ms. Denise Calloway," Jordan said. "She represents Ironframe Structural Solutions, an LLC I formed three years ago. You'll recognize the name of the system it holds the patents for."
Denise stepped forward and set the sealed folder on the desk, precisely where the resignation letter had been sitting a moment earlier. "Mr. Sterling," she said, addressing Patrick, "this is a cease-and-desist notice regarding Sterling Development's continued use of the Echo Frame modular structural system in all active and future projects, effective immediately."
May you like
Patrick actually laughed, short and disbelieving. "Echo Frame is our system. We've used it on eleven projects. It's the reason we got the Anderson account, the reason we won the Midwest Sustainability Award two years running."
"It's the reason Jordan filed for patent protection under his own company in 2023," Denise said, "the same year he developed and fully tested it using personal funds, personal time, and a private research agreement that Sterling Development never signed, because Sterling Development was never asked to." She opened the folder just enough to show the first page, the patent number visible, though the fine print stayed blurred to anyone not standing close enough to read it. "Sterling Development has been operating under an implied license this entire time, based on Jordan's employment and his willingness not to enforce his own intellectual property against his father's company. That willingness ended at 7:15 last night."
