Christmas Secret Baby (Holiday Romances #4) - Annie J. Rose Page 0,1
never lived up to expectations, had mediocre performance reviews, and was cited several times for being late to work or leaving early without explanation. His attitude was terrible. He was never a team player and was an all-around poor sport no one wanted to work with.”
“Is that why you fired him?” Jenkins asked.
“Meyer was on my radar for a long time, but I made the final decision to fire him after finding out he was trying to steal company secrets and sell them to rivals.”
Jenkins nodded a few times like he was thinking through what I said and expecting me to do the same. The look in his eyes was the same kind of look that a school principal gave when a kid had a locker full of spray paint cans but acted like he had no idea about the vulgar cartoon splashed across the end of the football field.
“I have to be honest with you, Mr. Cooper,” he said. “This is a very serious situation. It isn’t about the fact that he was fired, or even the reasons you cited.”
“Alright,” I said, my eyes sliding back and forth from him to the investors.
“Jax, he says you stole his app,” Valerie, another of the investors, blurted out.
“He what?” I asked, dumbfounded by the revelation.
It was definitely not what I thought they were going to say.
“Mr. Meyer hasn’t just lodged a complaint with the company,” Jenkins said. “He has filed a lawsuit. He’s claiming he came up with the idea for the Treasure Chest app.”
I let out a strangled laugh. It was an impulsive reaction, but clearly not the one the investors or Jenkins wanted to see. They glared at me, and I shook my head.
“You can’t be serious,” I said. “Treasure Chest is my most successful app to date. It’s the company’s biggest moneymaker and has created a lot of opportunities.”
“So, you can see why this is a problem,” Anthony said.
“What exactly is he saying?” I asked.
“Before we talk about that, I think we should bring in his counsel,” Jenkins said.
“His lawyers are here?” I asked, my voice lifting in shock. “What the hell is going on?”
Jenkins stepped outside the conference room for a few moments and came back with a man and a woman in stark navy suits. They looked alike in a strange, robotic kind of way. That didn’t strike any sort of hopefulness in me.
“Good morning, Mr. Cooper,” one said.
“Maybe for you,” I said.
They looked at each other, then back at me. The woman stepped forward and extended her hand.
“Mallorie VanBuren.”
I shook her hand, and the man replaced it with his almost as soon as the gesture ended.
“Dave Masterston,” he said.
Two of the investors got up and moved down the table to give their seats to the lawyers. I didn’t particularly like the idea of them sitting that close to me, but I had to deal with it. Maybe they would know their client was full of shit and save us all a lot of frustration.
“Let’s cut right to the chase, Mr. Cooper,” Ms. VanBuren said. She opened her briefcase and pulled out a manila folder she flipped open on the table in front of her. “Your company is currently marketing an app referred to as Treasure Chest. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Can you please describe that particular app to me?” she asked.
I really wanted to ask her why I needed to describe it to her considering she very obviously already knew what was going on. But this was only going to get worse if I didn’t nip it in the bud as soon as possible.
“The app is designed to promote personal savings as well as investments. People sign up for particular savings goals or let the app know what type of investments they want to make. Then they connect their financial information. Their bank account. Peer-to-peer payment systems. Online banking. Digital wallets. Everything that they use to make payments or receive money is connected to the app. The app then automatically rounds up every purchase and saves or invests the change. Among other features,” I said.
“One of these features is the personal spending schedule, correct?” the lawyer asked.
“Yes.”
“Can you explain that feature to me?” she asked.
I took a second to encourage the tightness in my jaw to dissipate before launching into the explanation.
“And what’s the purpose behind this?” she asked.
“To save money and to increase investments,” I said. “The entire purpose of the app.”
“I mean in the context of that particular feature.”