Chapter 7 - The Master Key"You claim that you developed this software," Claire said, her voice echoing with absolute authority. "And you claim that I stole it from your firm."
"Yes," Daniel said, crossing his arms. "The patent drafts are registered under my name. I uploaded them to the federal database at 3:00 a.m. this morning to protect my company's assets."
"And how did you acquire those files, Daniel?" Claire asked, taking a step out from behind the podium.
"They were on my local server! You copied them!"
"Dr. Vance," Claire said, turning to her advisor. "Could you please initiate the secondary verification protocol on the flash drive I gave you?"
Evelyn Vance’s fingers flew across her keyboard.
The screen behind Claire shifted. The technical diagrams vanished, replaced by a massive, high-definition system log.
"Every file in the Veritas framework is watermarked with an encrypted, blockchain-verified time stamp," Claire explained, her voice ringing out like a bell. "My father’s firm, Sterling Venture Capital, funded the initial research parameters six years ago. The base code was registered and stamped on October 14th, 2021—long before I even met you, Daniel."
The screen highlighted the dates in brilliant, undeniable green:
Original Registration: October 14, 2021
Author: Claire Sterling
First Derivative Draft (Daniel's Upload): July 15, 2026, 3:12 a.m.
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"The patent you filed this morning," Claire said, "is a direct copy of a five-year-old draft, complete with a deliberate programming error I left in the metadata as a signature. You didn't just steal my work, Daniel. You stole a trap."
Daniel’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. Lorraine’s face turned a violent, mottled red.
