She opened the page to the announcement section, and there it was, in print in front of her face. Hardwick Trenton, owner of Trenton Andrews Power Plant, was proud to announce the engagement of his daughter, Rachel Trenton, to Vincent Thompson, son of Bosworth Thompson and a recent partner in the business. Vincent had been made partner? Then Rachel realized that was the least of her worries. Her engagement was now public, for all of London to see, and she had not even agreed to it. Anger began rising in her chest, and she made for the door to find her father and tell him exactly what she thought of his—
“Is it what you expected?” Eloise’s voice cut in, and Rachel suddenly remembered the woman, who was all smiles as she sat at the table, looking at her in a way that said she knew exactly what was at play here, that Rachel had no say in this. Yet Eloise seemed somewhat pleased by the entire situation, and it made Rachel’s skin crawl.
“Yes,” said Rachel, pasting a smile on her face and returning to her seat. “It was.” She sipped her tea, biding the time until Eloise left. She would not show the woman an ounce of weakness, but would instead wait until she left to determine her next actions.
Having concluded a productive morning completing the model, Adam leaned back from the worktable with a feeling of satisfaction. Andrews gave him a similar nod of approval as they reviewed the work in front of them.
“Have you spoken with Trenton regarding your compensation?” Andrews asked, looking at him over the tops of his glasses.
“My compensation?” asked Adam. “My partnership, you mean?”
“Partnership?” echoed Andrews, concern wrinkling his forehead. “He never said anything to me regarding a partnership. No, as far as I was aware, he was going to pay you for your work and for the design. In fact, Thompson has recently been made a partner in the business, and I know Trenton was not interested in any further divesting of shares. I’m sorry, son, I thought this was the agreement you had come to with him. It seems I was wrong… or perhaps Trenton mislead one of us.”
The unease that had been simmering in Adam’s gut regarding this arrangement began to slither up his belly and into his throat. So, Trenton meant to keep him out of future profits, did he?
“Excuse me, Andrews, it seems I need to have a word with the man.”
He shoved open the door before making his way to Trenton’s office, entering without knocking. The office was empty, though the cup of coffee steaming on the desk told him the man hadn’t been gone long and should be returning shortly. Adam sat in the chair in front of the desk, arms crossed as he stewed, waiting for Trenton to return. Who did he think he was, cutting him out like that? Although, he realized, he partially had himself to blame. He had known from the beginning what kind of man Trenton was, and he should never have trusted him at all.
As he sat tapping his foot, his eyes wandered around the office, as stark as the man’s home. His gaze fell on the desk, where he saw papers strewn about with… designs and writing that looked intimately familiar. He rose, coming around the desk now to take a closer look at what Trenton was working on. They were patent application papers. He had seen them before, having considered filling them out himself for other inventions. He picked up the first page, seeing the information on the front of it. As his eyes skimmed the script, his ire began to grow, his naivety sickening him. In the application information, not once was his name mentioned. This was not a partnership at all. Rather, Trenton was taking the ideas for himself. Adam felt like he was going to be sick. This had all been a ruse, a ploy for the man to take his idea and use it for his own means.
Adam picked up the papers, clenching them tightly in his fist as he turned to the door when it suddenly burst open.
“What do you think you are doing in here on your own?” Trenton asked, his jowled cheeks vibrating with his words.
“Waiting for you,” Adam answered, not backing down an inch. “What do you think you are doing, stealing my work, presenting it as your own, and not offering me any of the initially agreed upon partnership or profits?”
“Partnership? Ha!” Trenton said, throwing his back and laughing. “Did you honestly ever expect I would partner with a man like you? A Scot from the backward Highlands? Truly, the idea is laughable. And it is not your invention. The plans were made right here in my power plant. I will pay you for your time, as an employee of my business. You will have little means to prove this is anything other than that. I must thank you, however. You have advanced my little company far beyond what I ever thought it could be!”
He rubbed his hands together gleefully as he pushed past Adam to round his desk. He opened the top drawer and pulled out his checkbook and a pen. He scratched something onto it then held it out to Adam.
“Here. A week’s honest work. It is a little more than you would have received leading a hunting group around your woods, no? Anyway, take it, enjoy it, and I hope to never see you again. You should be able to make the evening train. We’re celebrating my daughter’s recent engagement tonight, so there is no need for you to stay.”
At that, Adam froze, turning around to stare at the man.
“Oh, that’s right,
