Ten Years to Win Her, Two Weeks to Leave Her novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: The First Notebook

"Read it out," Leland said, holding the sheet toward the lens. "Mr. Ridley, if you would."

Nolan took the page.

It was a one-page summer intern release on Institute letterhead, and his signature at the bottom was neat and young.

"Any work produced during the term of this internship belongs to the Institute," he read aloud, and the field went quiet.

"There," Leland said, turning to the cameras. "Ten years ago Mr. Ridley signed away his work. The filter is Institute property, developed under my programme. I'm sorry to do this in public, but he forced it."

A few people in the crowd made a low sound.

Nolan looked at the dates.

He looked at them for a long moment, and then he looked up, and he was almost relieved.

"The term of the internship ended on the thirty-first of August," he said. "I was twenty-one. I built the filter in my fourth year. Different contract, different job title. This doesn't cover it."

"Convenient," Leland said.

"It's dated."

"So is everything, Mr. Ridley. Your word against the Institute's."

"Not only his," Lydia said.

She had a black notebook in her hand.

Nolan had not seen her take it from anywhere.

It was the first one, the oldest, the cover soft and bent from being carried in a coat pocket.

"I kept this one back from the Board," she said. "I wanted it with me."

She stepped in front of the lens, and she did not look at the camera operator, or at Leland.

She looked at the crowd.

"My name is Lydia Wexford. My father is the director of this Institute. For ten years I stood in rooms and heard him call this man a hire, and I let it go. I'm not letting it go tonight."

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