Page 77

Dakota: You’re right. Sorry.

Jack: I was joking! Maybe it was in poor taste. The way I see it, we’re in this together.

Dakota: I meant what I said, Jack. Don’t sacrifice yourself for me. Protect your company. Do what you need to do.

Jack: That’s not happening. I’ve already fired the PR firm.

Dakota: What! Why?!

Jack: They suggested I brand you as a power-hungry, ladder-climbing temptress who seduced the techy, socially awkward CEO. They wanted me to use screenshots from your past streams, you in those mouthwatering booty shorts you sometimes wear, as if that’s proof of anything. I told them they were lucky they were just getting fired.

Dakota: Wow. That’s cold.

Jack: That’s PR.

Dakota: Thank you. Other CEOs would’ve jumped on that chance.

Jack: If salvaging this situation means burning you, baby, I refuse. Full stop. Let it all come crumbling down.

Dakota: You’re talking about billions in revenue. Thousands of salaries. An entire empire, Jack.

Jack: Empire’s fall, beautiful. It’s what they do.

A knock at the door.

Jack: I have to go. Speak soon. I love you.

I blink, staring at the message. Where did that come from? It feels so natural, like everything with us, like it’s been from the start. Easy, like we were built for this.

But it’s a complication we don’t need right now. I remove the last sentence and send the text.

“Come in,” I call.

Pete enters, with Janine and Shaniqua from legal. Elena Voss walks behind them, head bowed, with her lawyer, a man in his mid-fifties, standing beside her. Samantha from HR walks in finally, closing the door behind her.

I stand, trembling with anger, wishing Elena were a man, and she didn’t have some justification—a morsel—for what she did. Wishing I hadn’t run out of goddamned tennis balls.

“Take a seat, everyone,” I growl. As they all do so, I remain standing. Elena won’t even look at me. “Nothing to say for yourself, Elena?”

“My client will make a statement in due course,” the lawyer says. “We’re here to hear you out, Mr. Cross.”

I don’t look at him. Glare at Elena instead. “You must’ve known that Reed would get to the bottom of this. You’ve committed gross misconduct, meaning we can terminate you immediately,no pay, no severance. Which wewillbe doing. But it’s more than that, Elena.”

She looks up at me, tears in her eyes, my logistics specialist who has been so loyal up until now.

“More?” she whimpers.

I grind my teeth, striding across my office and standing at the window with my arms behind my back. This is tougher than I thought.

“Because of you, an innocent woman’s image is being ruthlessly dissected online,” I snarl. “Legions of assholes with nothing better to do, dissecting…”My woman. “A woman who only ever wanted to entertain and spread positivity. That POS trucker has openly admitted he only uploaded the video because he saw a post about me and Dakota. He didn’t even know who I was before that.”

I turn. “Elena, you shared messages that were written inside a non-public version of the game. Those messages contained metadata that a skilled programmer could use to glean information about our code. Our lawyers have assured us we can pursue corporate espionage and sabotage charges. That’s prison time, Elena.”

She gasps, shaking her head slowly. “I just… I wanted what was promised.”

“It wasn’t fair,” I say. “You worked hard on the Cove, and you weren’t even the creative director. You helped bring our vision to life. You didn’t deserve to be punished for its failure. But I told you, promised you—just wait. I’d make it right. I meant what I said. When have I ever lied to you?”

She lowers her gaze.