Chapter Eighteen #3
There was no way to retrieve it.
Good.
Perhaps she needed to see it.
Piper placed the remaining granola bar on the bench.
“I started the bet because of the scholarship.”
“I know.”
“I continued because ending it would have let Owen control the story.”
“I know.”
“I kissed you because I wanted to.”
Emmett stopped breathing.
“I asked for real dates because I want them,” she continued. “I am sitting in a penalty box eating emergency granola because I wanted ten minutes with you that did not belong to Vantage.”
His chest tightened.
Piper moved closer.
“I do not know what happens after twenty-three days.”
“Neither do I.”
“I do not know what Quinn Events looks like after the showcase.”
“I know.”
“I do not know whether hockey takes you somewhere else.”
“Yes.”
“But I am not staying because of client files.”
Emmett held her gaze.
“Why are you staying?”
Piper touched his hand.
“Because I am falling in love with you.”
Every sound inside the rink disappeared.
Emmett had imagined the words.
Not like this.
No lanterns.
No camera he could see.
Half a granola bar between them.
Piper looked suddenly alarmed by her own honesty.
“Say something.”
Emmett considered every available word.
“You lost.”
Her mouth fell open.
Then she shoved his shoulder.
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
The sound echoed off the empty stands.
Piper stared at him.
“You are terrible.”
“You wrote the rule.”
“You were already in love with me. You lost first.”
“I lost quietly.”
“That is still losing.”
“Then it is a tie.”
“The agreement does not allow ties.”
“It does now.”
Her smile appeared.
Emmett touched her face again.
He did not kiss her.
He wanted to.
Wanting and choosing were allowed to remain separate.
“I love you,” he said.
Piper’s eyes filled.
“Still?” she asked.
The question hurt more than it should have.
“More accurately now.”
Her breath went shallow.
Emmett continued.
“I loved the version I noticed. I love the version that argues with me. The version that plans evidence. The version that is scared and goes anyway. The version that does not need me to fix her.”
Piper looked down.
“And the version that occasionally needs you?”
“That one too.”
She leaned against him.
Emmett put one arm around her shoulders.
They remained in the penalty box until Daniel opened the gate twenty minutes later.
“The counterproposal is ready.”
Piper sat upright.
“Did Vantage respond?”
“Not yet.”
Daniel handed her the printed terms.
A forty-eight-hour standstill.
Independent encrypted escrow.
Complete file inventory.
One supervised public appearance at the Summer Wedding Showcase.
No ownership of Piper and Emmett’s relationship.
No private filming.
No derivative rights beyond footage intentionally captured in designated public areas.
No use of hidden recordings.
Emmett read the final clause.
“If they violate any term, the appearance ends immediately.”
“And the escrow releases proof of their possession to law enforcement,” Daniel said.
Piper signed the counterproposal.
Then she handed the pen to Emmett.
He looked at her.
“Still your choice,” she said.
Emmett signed.
Daniel sent the document through a secure legal relay at 1:14 a.m.
Vantage replied at 1:17.
Too quickly.
Daniel opened the response.
Counterproposal accepted in principle. Formal agreement to follow by 8:00 a.m.
Piper breathed out.
Emmett did not.
“What?” she asked.
“They agreed too easily.”
Daniel looked at the message again.
“They want the showcase.”
“Why?” Griffin asked.
Piper’s face changed.
She crossed to the event schedule and opened the Summer Wedding Showcase vendor list.
More than eighty companies.
Five hundred invited guests.
Three hundred prospective clients.
Local press.
National wedding publications.
And one featured technology sponsor added six weeks earlier at Owen’s recommendation.
Piper found the name.
VANTAGE MOMENTS, IMMERSIVE EVENT CAPTURE
She stared at the listing.
“I approved them before the breakup.”
Daniel moved beside her. “What access does the sponsorship include?”
Piper opened the agreement.
Her face lost color.
“Full installation access beginning forty-eight hours before the event.”
Emmett stood.
“For cameras?”
“Ceiling rigs. Interactive displays. Guest-recognition stations. Editing equipment.”
Sasha looked at the sponsor name.
“That is not a separate company.”
Piper turned toward her.
Sasha’s voice dropped.
“It is Vantage’s field production division.”
The room went silent.
The showcase was not the location Vantage wanted next.
It was the location they already controlled.
Piper looked at the formal sponsorship agreement she had signed six weeks earlier.
At the bottom, beneath the installation terms, one clause had been hidden inside the technical addendum.
All audiovisual material captured within the venue may be retained for system training, promotional demonstration, and future commercial development.
Piper read it twice.
Then she looked at Emmett.
“They do not need us to bring cameras to the showcase.”
His body became alert.
Piper held up the signed agreement.
“They installed them yesterday.”