“Because I called him and asked him if he’d ever met you. I was doing my due diligence in advance of our meeting. I asked him what you were like.”
“Which professor?”
He speared another lobster dumpling. “Alexander Viejo. He’s engaged to my mother. They’re getting married later this year. He said you were brilliant, by the way. One of the brightest students he’s ever had.”
I looked at him, surprised. Alexander Viejo was a famous biochemist. I’d audited one of his senior-level classes my sophomore year and found him fascinating. “He’s marrying your mom?”
Gabriel nodded. “She lives up in Boston—that’s where I’m from, originally. My father passed away when I was ten. I’m happy that she finally met someone great…who can also consult for my business.”
Damn. I would have loved to have Professor Viejo consult with Paragon. I cursed myself for not getting to him first.
The waiter appeared and refilled our glasses. Despite my protests, I’d managed to finish all my wine. Gabriel had the decency not to tease me.
“I’m sorry to hear about your father.” Dead parents were the last things I wanted to talk about, so I quickly maneuvered the conversation back to business. “What exactly is it that you find interesting about Paragon?”
He laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
I shook my head, confused.
He leaned over the table toward me. “Everyone’s interested in Paragon. You have the whole industry on pins and needles, just waiting to see what you come up with. Because my business is entwined with lab technology, I have, of course, been paying attention to what you’re up to. I know that with a board of directors like yours, you’ve got to be developing something good.”
I smiled at him. “We are. I’m not going to tell you the specifics because they involve trade secrets, but your instincts are correct.”
“They usually are.” There was that dimple again, and I sucked in a breath. “I was hoping you’d be willing to discuss a partnership opportunity with me. That’s why I wanted to meet with you. I knew a little bit about your background, which, as we’ve discussed, is similar to mine. I’ve watched you from afar for a few years now. Even though you’re very private, Lauren, people still talk. People in the industry admire your work ethic, and they admire how you keep your technology close. I admire those things too. You’re one of a very elite group of female CEOs in the biomedical industry. You’re building your empire on your own, and you have a great shot at success because you’re extremely intelligent and extremely driven.”
I swallowed. “Thank you.” I didn’t know what else to say. I’d been so wrapped up in my research and testing for the past few years, I hadn’t really paid attention to the outside world. I still found it baffling that the outside world knew anything about me at all, or cared.
“Even though I don’t know specifically what you’re working on at Paragon, I do know that it’s something great. Otherwise you wouldn’t have kept it completely secret for so long—not with the list of investors that you’ve got. I can help you. We can help each other.”
“How’s that?”
The waiter brought more food, grilled salmon and ahi tuna, but my appetite had gone. He was offering me a partnership with Dynamica, and I didn’t do partnerships. I needed to break it to him.
I motioned to the waiter for the check. “I’m sorry, but Paragon isn’t taking on partners. Not now, not in the foreseeable future.”
The muscles in Gabriel’s square jaw clenched. I wondered vaguely what it would be like to run my fingertips over the small amount of stubble on his chin—but the thought was ridiculous. I needed to get away from him and back to the safety of my lab.
“My company has the international business contacts that you’ll need when you take your technology public. If you partner with me, you’ll have access to my entire network. The reach of your invention will be global almost immediately. Think about it.”
I would think about it, even if I didn’t want to. I’d started building a list of international distributors, but it was nothing as established as what Gabriel was offering. I sat back and studied his face—handsome, strong, and utterly convinced of what he was saying.
“What’s in it for Dynamica? What’s in it for you, Gabriel?”
“Money. Power. Influence.” A slow grin spread across his face. “And by all means, please call me Gabe.”
Chapter 3
I stalked around my office for the rest of the afternoon, feeling off-kilter. Gabe’s offer was unexpected and unwelcome. It was also, however, a great offer. If Paragon partnered with Dynamica before we launched, we could offer our technology to labs and third-party providers all over the world.
I could curate similar contacts over time, but the partnership would make those avenues immediately accessible. The alliance’s attraction was undeniable. The financial compensation Gabe outlined at the end of our meeting was fair. It seemed like an offer I couldn’t refuse.
The problem was, I had to say no. I didn’t do partnerships.
I’d built Paragon by myself, from the ground up. After I’d quit MIT, I moved to northern California and used some of the money my parents had left me to secure a tiny lab space. Then I used more of it to build my first prototype. At the time, I slept at the lab on a futon. I worked sixteen-hour days, alone, fleshing out the idea for the technology. I’d known then that I would one day be successful, but I’d also known it wouldn’t be easy.
I’d been correct—years of trial and error were ahead of me and Paragon. I’d continued my work with the prototype, but I’d finally reached the point where I needed funding to expand my research. I’d made some friends at MIT, and from time to time, they checked in on me. Some of those friends were wildly successful, some of them had family money, and all of them believed in me. They knew my single-minded determination to make my ideas work. They’d become my first investors, and they were all still with me today. With their initial investment, I’d moved into a larger lab space. I formed Paragon Laboratories, hired more staff, started the FDA approval process, and began the technical trials on my prototype.
My mother had no taste for luxury, but she’d always loved diamonds. She admired their strength, their clarity, and their beauty. I’d named my company Paragon after the perfect diamond of one hundred or more carats. If you included all the microbes, the human body contained over one hundred trillion cells, and I planned to use my technology to help analyze them.
But I’d always been very clear that it was my technology.
I’d gained more investors as I’d grown, but I’d never shared the exact results of my research or the nature of my technology with anyone. Instead of filing for patent protection for the patch, which would have released some of the technology publicly, I protected it as a trade secret. Trade secrets were only secure while they were confidential—so I guarded the information fiercely. Only a core group of employees had knowledge of the most up-to-date specs, and even then, they only knew the portion that directly impacted their day-to-day functions. My investors, and later my board of directors, only had a general sense of what I worked on and how I achieved my results. That was okay with everyone because they believed in me, my commitment to the company and to the research.