“Those patents are mine,” I said.
My voice sounded different now, fuller somehow, like it had found the shape it was supposed to have years ago.
“I built the system myself. I spent two years refining it. I’m not signing anything.”
Kate’s smile sharpened. “Don’t be dramatic.”
“I’m not.”
“You don’t even know how to monetize it properly.”
I looked at her. “That seems like a strange criticism from you.”
Emma would’ve called it a surgical line. In my family, it landed like a slap.
My father snatched up the diploma case before I could move. The speed of it made the silverware tremble. He pulled out the certificate, glanced at the seal like it offended him, and then, with a violence that seemed to shock him even as he did it, he tore it in half.
The sound was small, papery, obscene.
