CHAPTER 75: A MIDDLE GROUND

The room fell silent as Amelia’s eyes moved quickly across the contract. The faint widening of her gaze did not go unnoticed—neither by her lawyers nor by Lillian.

"These terms..." Amelia finally said in a calm tone, "I don’t think some of these clauses are exactly acceptable."

While speaking, she passed the document to the older lawyer, her gaze still fixed on Lillian.

"I understand your concern, Ms. Rhodes," Lillian said with a small smile, "and that’s why we’re open to negotiations in order to find a middle ground."

The older lawyer adjusted his glasses as he scanned through the pages. His brows furrowed once, then eased as he read further. "Hmph. I admit, when you first presented it, I was expecting something closer to a chokehold." He tapped the margin lightly. "But these clauses... they are strict, yes, though not unreasonable."

The younger British lawyer leaned forward, tone skeptical. "Still, quarterly oversight? And the mandatory adoption of OmniTech’s security protocols for all subsidiaries? That’s no small request. You’re asking Google to alter core infrastructure."

Lillian met his gaze as she responded, "I’m asking Google to protect its infrastructure. You’ve seen what Sentinel can do. If you want it to work seamlessly, it must be integrated cleanly, without conflict from other systems or outdated practices. Otherwise, Sentinel is just a band-aid."

Amelia’s pen tapped against the table, once, twice, before she finally leaned back in her chair. "You’re not wrong. But our board will not accept language that implies OmniTech has authority over Google’s internal operations. Adjust that phrasing, and the clause becomes palatable."

Lillian nodded once, already flipping to the page in question. "Then let’s call it ’compliance verification’ instead of ’oversight.’"

Amelia noticed how Lillian didn’t change the clause, just the wording and as much as she wouldn’t admit out loud...she was impressed.

But the negotiations was far from over as the lawyer pointed to another clause,

"This one right here," their attention was pulled to where his finger lay, "the subscription fee structure."

Amelia’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she sat forward again. "Yes. A yearly subscription at this scale? That isn’t a small number, Ms Hayes. Google does not pay recurring fees of this magnitude to outside vendors—especially not for something tied so deeply into our infrastructure."

Lillian clasped her hands lightly on the table, her demeanor calm, almost relaxed. "That’s precisely why the subscription exists. Sentinel isn’t a product you buy once and shelve. It’s a system capable of constant evolution and adaptation. The threats you’re facing today won’t be the threats you’ll face six months from now. Without continuous updates and support, Sentinel loses its edge."

Ethan, inside his hotel room smiled in satisfaction. With barely any training, she had surpassed his expectations, especially considering that she was currently sitting in front of representatives of Google.

She was a natural.

The older lawyer exhaled through his nose, fingers drumming against the table. "Ms. Hayes, what you’re describing is more akin to a partnership than a license. And partnerships of this scale rarely come cheap."

"Precisely," Lillian answered, "because cheap won’t protect you. You’ve already seen the preliminary reports, the vulnerabilities Sentinel identified in less than a day. Those weren’t obscure edge cases, gentlemen, they were foundational exploits. If we had bad intentions, Google would already be suffering the losses."

The younger lawyer’s lips thinned at her bluntness.

"Still," Amelia said in a measured, "a flat two hundred and fifty million dollars annually is... bold." Her gaze hardened just slightly. "Our board won’t approve it."

Lillian leaned forward a bit. "A breach of your scale would cost more than ten times that in lawsuits, lost trust, and market destabilization. Sentinel doesn’t just save you money, it safeguards your structure. Still, I understand your board’s reservations. So let’s restructure it a bit."

She flipped the page with deliberate calm, almost as if she was prepared for this.... Which she was.

"A base subscription fee of one hundred and fifty million annually. On top of that, performance-linked bonuses. If Sentinel prevents high-severity breaches, adapts faster than your in-house defenses, or maintains compliance metrics above industry standards, those bonuses scale. In a successful year..." she let the words linger for a while, "....you might pay more than the original flat fee. But you will have certainty that Sentinel is always working at maximum capacity for Google’s benefit."

The younger lawyer frowned, muttering under his breath about "incentive manipulation," but Amelia raised a hand to silence him.

She turned to OmniTech’s avatar to see if he had anything to say, but a shrug was all that she was given.

He had stated that he would only be an observer and he wouldn’t interfere in the negotiation, so that was exactly what he was doing.

With a sigh, Amelia looked back at Lillian and her team before responding, "Ms. Hayes, you’re good. Very good."

Lillian gave her a small smile as she responded, "thank you for the praise, Ms. Rhodes."

"I’ll have to take this proposal to the board and see what their decision will be," Amelia said, "so we’ll have to put this meeting on hold until after."

This definitely wasn’t how she had planned for this meeting to go. Amelia and the rest of the board had planned a generous amount as the licensing fee...at least for a company like OmniTech, but this was way above what they had planned.

Amelia stood up, signaling the close of the meeting. "We’ll be in touch after the board has reviewed this. Until then, Ms. Hayes... well played."

Lillian rose as well, extending her hand without hesitation. "I look forward to hearing from you, Ms. Rhodes."

The two women exchanged a hand shake, a small smile on both their faces before Lillian extended her hand towards Mrs. Patel who had been silent for a majority of the meeting.

She, like Ethan, was only here to observe as a representative of the board. A role that would’ve been filled by Nathaniel but he was busy dealing with some issues so she came instead.

There was a genuine smile on the Indian’s face as she shook Lillian’s had.

The moment Lillian and her team stepped out, the meeting room became quieter. The lawyers turning to Amelia, waiting for her to say something, since she was the CEO’s representative.

"She’s smart," was the first thing Amelia said, her eyes still fixed on the door through which Lillian had left.

The older lawyer gave a grunt of agreement, removing his glasses and polishing them slowly. "Sharp. Too sharp for someone of that age. She handled every pushback as if she knew our objections beforehand."

The younger lawyer leaned forward, brows drawn. "And perhaps she did. That entire subscription fee counter-offer felt rehearsed—like she was waiting for us to object just so she could unveil a more ’reasonable’ option."

Mrs. Patel, silent until now, spoke at last. "Or perhaps she simply understands the value of what she holds. I’ve seen many vendors come through this room over the years, all of them desperate to cling to Google’s coattails. She wasn’t that desperate."

"And she’s right not to be desperate," Amelia nodded in agreement, "with the hype Sentinel has built up, I imagine them to have other options apart from us."

This was only the half truth, because as much as OmniTech Corp had other options, none were at the level of Google.

Others like Apple were seemingly waiting for Sentinel to actually prove itself capable of what it did during the launch announcement and a deal with Google would be all the validation they needed.

Every other company with the slightest bit of hesitation would quickly throw that away as they rushed towards the pie that a giant like Google had but into.

But they didn’t have to know all that.

Lillian’s plan was to make them think that OmniTech had other options and it seemed to be working as intended.

"Let’s see what the board thinks," she continued, "I hope the results won’t be the same as when he first contacted us."

_______

Lillian, Mark and the rest of the team walk out of Google’s head office and waited for the escort that was supposed to send them back to the hotel.

"You did great in there, ma’am" Mark said.

To be honest, he felt like just a decorative addition to the meeting. But Lillian didn’t seem to mind, as she just smiled and responded, "thank you."

She paused for a moment before facing him, "do you think they’ll accept the deal?"

"It seems a bit too strict."

Mark was silent for a moment, considering her question.

"The licensing fee is a bit high for a new company like ours," he started, "but considering the product’s capabilities, I’d say the fee just right or maybe even a bit lower."

He paused again before adding, "and considering the way they looked and their body language, I’d say there’s a higher chance that they’ll accept."

"I see," Lillian nodded, relieved.

Though her biggest worry wasn’t if they accepted or not, it was whether Ethan was impressed or not.

But she would find out soon enough.