He didn’t know that the venture firm he had begged for capital six months ago was a shell wholly owned by Helix Frame—the software startup Maris had pitched at Thanksgiving three years ago. The very startup Franklin had cut off mid-sentence to talk about Colton’s entry-level real estate commercial lease.
“This… this is a fake,” Franklin choked out, his face suddenly losing all its sun-bronzed color, leaving behind an ash-gray pallor. “Mountain Tech was bought out by an institutional investor out of Seattle. The board confirmed it last Tuesday!”
“Helix Frame is headquartered in Seattle, Dad,” Maris replied, her arms resting loosely at her sides. “And I am the board.”
“You?” Colton sputtered, dropping his bottle onto the grass. “You run a little app company! You do data entry!”
“I build enterprise workflow automation software,” Maris said, turning her cool, steady gaze toward Colton. “And last month, Helix Frame was valued at four hundred and twenty million dollars. When Mountain Tech was three days away from missed payroll and insolvency, your dad’s CEO came to me on his knees. I bought eighty-one percent of the debt and equity for pennies on the dollar.”
