Chapter 22
Kate
“I just can’t stand all this, Kate…”
The way he said my name brought even more excitement to my mind and body. I knew I shouldn’t have been having that reaction. But I couldn’t help it. I also couldn’t help how stupid I had been. When I first came in, I had forgotten completely what I had actually wanted to tell him.
His emotional breakdown distracted me so much that I had forgotten it completely, actually. “Do you know the whole story?” I asked, seriously. I was trying to get my head back in the game. I was trying to get to the bottom of it all. I hated seeing him so distressed. The quicker we could figure it all out, the better.
I knew I had just found out a huge chunk of information — information that might make him feel a little better. His dad was on the patent application. He was half owner. There was nothing on there about it belonging to BioResearch. Just John and Dad.
“Because I found something too…” I trailed, mimicking my thoughts.
I could only hope that what it was could give him some clarity; and help at least a little. But I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t sure how he would take it.
“And I think I might have pieced it all together,” I admitted, without trying to toot my own horn. “But don’t take my theory as law… Just let me know what you think…”
I walked over to the sofa and had a seat, gesturing for him to sit beside me.
“What?” he asked, as he sat cautiously beside me. “What did you find?”
“I decided to go home and look at my dad’s office. There were a bunch of letters from your dad to my mom, hidden in a compartment under a drawer.”
“Why the hell did your dad have them? And in a secret drawer?” he asked, cutting me off. I couldn’t blame him for being so curious.
“I have no idea on that part; but I know that the letters were… intense… to say the least…”
“This intense?” he asked, gesturing towards the letter.
“Yes…” I said. “But before we get to the letters… I also found this…” I said as I unfolded the paper and showed it to him.
He took a deep breath. “Both of their names… Both of their fucking names…” He clenched his jaw and nodded slowly. “And the letters?” he asked. “Where are the letters?”
“I didn’t bring them, but I did take a couple of photos…” I sighed.
“That’s fine,” he sighed, almost disappointedly. “Do you remember them?”
I nodded.
I remembered that too well, almost.
“Some were angry — all were really sad — until there was finally a peaceful one.”
He shifted in his chair almost uncomfortably. “He talked about you in that one. He said that you were everything to him. You and your mom.”
I could tell by his glistening eyes and the sudden pull of his lips that he was torn all of a sudden. He took a deep breath, a tear threatening to fall and leaned back against the back of the sofa.
“I also found a recent letter from my mom to my dad, asking him to settle all the idiocy. She had written about MTS suing and how stupid it was, but she was begging him to end it. She said that it should have been water under the bridge at that point. It was something that needed to be let go; and that it should at least be ended for your sake…”
“Mine?” he asked.
I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. “She said she’d always felt bad about what happened with your dad and her. She felt just as bad about it as she did when she left Dad, Ben, Claire and me. She said that John wasn’t a bad person. He was a little messed up, but he wasn’t bad. She told him that he should understand that since they were once friends; and that he should feel terrible for continuing after you’d lost him.”
I sighed.
“And then I thought some more… Ben came to you and agreed not to use your father’s name against him and allow MTS to keep their gold-labeled reputation in exchange for us breaking up, right?”
His face scrunched up, and he looked at me unsure. “Yeah?” he asked, confused. I smirked and took a deep breath. “Well, after reading this letter, I refuse to believe my Dad is that heartless, no matter how you feel about him.” I paused for a second and looked at him. He was looking at me strangely.
“You want to believe there’s more good in people than there is,” he scoffed.
“I’m just saying what if Ben used our relationship as an excuse to drop it all, because Dad felt bad about it, and they decided to do it this way so that they wouldn't seem weak?”
“FUCKING ASSHOLES!” he bellowed, “ALL OF THEM!”
He was losing it. “Just thinking about it all is getting to me. All of this — the fact that both of their names are on the damn paper, it almost makes this worse. I feel like I was duped; like he was just some big fucking con!” Ian stood from the sofa, enraged all over again. Still venting about it all. “Dad furthered the research on something that wasn’t completely his; and sued someone who had just as much right to it as he did. I mean, what the hell?”
I could see where he was coming from. Why he was wondering what the point of was. He went on about how he felt everything he’d done was just wasted time; all of the countless money and resources he had thrown at the lawsuit over the last couple years.
He stopped by the table and picked up the photo of him with his parents then just looked at me and asked the question I still didn’t have an answer to. “What was the point in acting like one another stole it? It wasn’t even BioResearch’s property. If that had been the case, I could have almost understood Dad taking it as his own and furthering the research. It would have been wrong, but I could have accepted that being his logic. I could have accepted it because I know how I would have felt if I had spent years collecting data and research on technology that I was passionate about; only to leave and have no rights to the product whatsoever. I would have been pissed. It wouldn’t have made it right; but I could have at least seen it. I mean, I wouldn’t have sued someone else for it.” He took a breath and plopped down in the chair at the table.
“There has to be more to all of this, Ian, there has to be,” I added. I didn’t want him to shoulder all of the blame for something his father did. That wasn’t fair to him.
“Maybe not, Kate. Maybe he just knew there was no patent in place and didn’t want to be sued first. The shitty thing to me is that the technology was part his and part Michael’s. He was screwing over a person. Not a company. It belonged to both of them! All along! And he just wanted to make sure Michael suffered. The worst part? I almost lost you over it all!” he yelled, standing once more, unable to stay still. “And it’s nothing but a bunch of bullshit! Over nothing!”
“Well,” I sighed. “It’s not really over nothing is it?”
He narrowed his eyes and focused harder on me. “What do you mean? Dad sued someone that had just as much right to it as he did, and tied up my time and all of our resources in the process.”
“I don’t know, Ian,” I sighed, sadly. “I can see how someone could do what your dad did.”
“You’re going to have to explain yourself,” he said, standing firmly in place as he looked down at me still sitting on the sofa.
“I mean think of it like this: your Dad was always interested in research, right?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Right. Well, think about it: he spent all this time developing a technology with someone he considered his best friend, only to have his best friend steal his fiancée. That could make anyone angry. It would sure as hell piss me off.”
“It’s all a bunch of bullshit,” he reiterated. “Right now, I hate this company and honestly, I kind of hate him.”
“Don’t say that. Try to put yourself in his position. Try to think about how you felt when you thought you’d lost me to all of this. He probably didn’t want to risk losing anything else to my dad. He’d already lost his fiancée. He had developed this technology, and spent his best years doing it. Why would he want to give Dad and BioResearch the chance to screw him over? Why not beat him to the punch; because I doubt my dad would have let him get away with selling millions and millions of product that he helped create. So, if your dad hadn’t sued, my dad would have. And we’d still be in the mess that we’re in.” I was almost out of breath. I’d been speaking quickly, in long breaths, as if I had to get it out as quickly as I could. Before I lost my train of thought.
“I feel like a damn therapist,” I laughed. “Thinking about everyone’s point of view, and trying to help you understand them.”
He sighed, once again, and looked to the floor. “I didn’t know what to think or to feel.”
“Guess not everyone can come to those sort of conclusions so quickly,” I laughed, just before smoothing my hair with my hands. I was trying to lighten the tension in the room. “Look, Ian, I don’t blame you for not coming to that conclusion as quickly as it seems like I did.” I smiled. “I have more to read and process than you have. More from your dad’s point of view. I could feel the hurt he felt as I read his letters.”
He nodded, slowly, trying to process everything.
To tell the truth, he had a lot more emotional investment in everything than I did. Obviously he wasn’t going to think clearly. And while it was my relationship that was being screwed with, it was his relationship with me and his company.
And it had been his wasted time and resources.
“I just don’t know,” he stammered as he tried to wrap my head around everything.
“Have you ever done anything stupid and rash?” I asked, my brows cocked up as I tossed him a sideways glance. I knew full well that he had.
He slowly looked back up at me. “Dammit woman, why are you making good points, when all I want is to be angry?”
I smiled a knowing smile.
“I’m guessing you’re referring to my breaking up with you over a text message, because I was trying to get rid of the reputation hit that was likely to tarnish the name of MTS and my dad.”
“I might be,” I winked at him.
“I just wish that he would have agreed to share proceeds — and I wish I knew why the hell your dad kept ahold of the patent for all these years.”
I breathed out deeply. “We can’t hope to understand everything, Ian.”
“So you’re saying that they’re both just dickheads?” he growled, and I nodded, laughing.
“That’s exactly what I’m thinking. I’m not saying we can’t be mad. We can. But we have to remember that people do stupid things when their heart is hurting. Doesn’t make them bad people. Just makes them human.”