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“We did,” I answered before Sawyer could sarcastically add anything. “We’re going to meet Bianca so we can find out what’s going on.”
“Callie needs help!” Marie declared, utterly oblivious to the tension between all three of us. “Are you coming too?”
Kane lifted his gaze to Sawyer with a silent question in his dark eyes. I held my breath, praying Sawyer wouldn’t let his ego get in the way this time.
“Yes,” Sawyer answered eventually. “Kane is coming too.”
“We can take my care.” Kane suddenly snapped into action and opened the door of the sedan behind him. “Just tell the driver where you want to go.”
I flashed him a small smile as I slipped past him and reeled off the address of Bianca’s veterinary clinic. She’d asked to meet us there and I’d agreed since it wasn’t far away.
The tension in the car was thick like smog, even with Marie humming to herself as she played with the window controls. I kept one eye on her to make sure no tiny fingers got stuck where they shouldn’t.
“Do we know what’s happened?” Kane asked, sitting poker straight with his hands on his knees. There was a nice dark bruise on his jaw from Sawyer’s fist yesterday.
“No,” Sawyer replied. “We have the email, that’s it. In fact I…” Sawyer sighed softly. “I take the blame. I knew she wasn’t telling me the truth but I didn’t push it because I was distracted. I thought that it would last until after we sorted out this patent thing and then I could confront her but I… I was wrong.”
“Did I hear that right?” I scoffed softly. “Sawyer admits he’s wrong?”
Sawyer flashed me a withering look.
“I… think we may all be a little wrong and to blame,” Kane said softly. “I actually came here with two intentions. The first was Callie, of course. And the second was…” Kane paused and glanced at Callie.
“It’s alright,” I assured him, moving one hand to Marie’s leg. “I’ll tell you to shut it if I think this is leaving child-appropriate territory.”
“Well, I did some digging into the countersuit filed by PRISM. I know a lot of information was lost during the initial reactions but after I left yesterday, I went through it all with a fine tooth comb and I noticed something pretty glaring.”
Sawyer watched silently, waiting for Kane to continue.
“PRISM is suing us with the wrong patent.”
My brow shot upwards. “What?”
“PRISM is using the old patent, the one that we ultimately abandoned due to its similarity with something already on the market. So, whoever leaked the patent to PRISM leaked our old files of the abandoned project, not the current ones that we actually filed.”
Sawyer’s brow twitched. “That is… unexpected. Do the lawyers know?”
“Yes.” Kane nodded. “I informed them as soon as I worked it out and before I went to bed, I heard that the case is being thrown out. PRISM is going to look incredibly stupid but not only that, they’ll now face a lawsuit from the original company behind the patent they’re claiming is theirs.”
“So, let me get this straight. PRISM got their hands on a patent they thought was ours, lied and claimed it for themselves, and tried to sue us. They failed because that patent has nothing to do with us. And now they’ll get sued by the original owner of that patent instead?”
“Yes,” Kane snorted softly and a small smile teased at the corner of his mouth. “And while PRISM is caught up in that mess, we’ll be able to get our patent secured and on the market hassle free.”
Sawyer remained silent, his brows pinched together as he was deep in thought. He didn’t react, not even when Kane still called the deal our patent and there was a hopeful note that since it was clear neither of them was the rat, maybe the deal was still on.
“Someone stole the old files,” Sawyer mused. “Isn’t that something?”
Arriving at the vet clinging, I spotted Bianca on the steps. Her face was drawn, and her eyes heavy when she stood up to greet us. Keeping Marie’s hand in mine, I flashed her a smile.
“Marie, this is Callie’s friend Bianca.”
“Hi!” Marie waved energetically and a small smile appeared on Bianca’s face.
“Hiya, it’s nice to meet you. Sorry, I didn’t expect all of you.” She smoothed her hands over her jeans and glanced between all four of us. “Wow.”
“Have you seen Callie this morning?” Sawyer asked, stepping closer to her.
“No. I stayed at her place last night but she was gone when I woke up. She’d left a note for me though, telling me that Kane would get me my job back.”
