Arielle moved quickly once the documents were in her hands. By morning, she had already cross-referenced the NDA copies, verified the memo timestamps, and started drafting formal notices to the proxy label’s parent company. She made it clear that we weren’t coming after headlines. We were coming for ownership.

“This won’t go to court if we do it right,” she said, standing at the center of our kitchen two days later. “But if it does, we’re ready.”

Julian sat on the edge of the ...