Two days ago, I found out that he broke up with Laura and apparently he found out that she was planning to get pregnant. She tried to smooth over the situation with words that would convince him that she was not the animal that he saw. He wasn’t biting and before long, she was storming out and threatening to ruin him. She tried, but he was one step ahead of her, because of me. We both were able to stop her from taking anything that belonged to him. They were not married, so she had no rights and even if she tried, she would not get one red cent.
“I’m just gonna have to bite the bullet and do what needs to be done and let the chips fall where they may.” This was the time that I thought that Nicholas was going to chastise me for my behavior, but instead he hugged me. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes.
I found him waiting for me and I closed the door and he put everything aside. “I’m guessing that you want to talk about what has been bothering you and before you do, let me assure you that anything you say is not going to make me change my mind about you. I’ve been wondering if you want to go out and I know that might seem impulsive, considering that my relationship with Laura blew up in my face. I just think that we have a whole lot more in common than I did with her and I would like to explore that further.” I’d broken ties with the Trident, after giving them the two million dollars that I had squirreled away. It was enough to appease them, but they weren’t happy by any means.
“Before I begin, I guess I should tell you that I’ve had a crush on you from the moment that we began talking. That interview a couple of weeks ago had me thinking that there could be more between us than just employer and employee. I should’ve told you out right that I had these feelings, but I was scared that you wouldn’t feel the same way. I can see now that my fears were unfounded and that I should’ve been more confident and taken the bull by the horns.”
“That’s an interesting metaphor, Gina and not one that I thought would be coming out of your mouth. I guess I have been rubbing off on you. Forgive me, I didn’t mean to stop you in midsentence. It just made me curious to see where your mind was going these days. I’ve often thought that we can be free of all of this business and just leave it all behind and go off into the sunset. I know how dramatic that might sound, but I would really like my happy ending. Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound crass and that really did come out the wrong way.”
“I understood what you meant; Branson and I guess I’ve been thinking about the same thing. I want to leave all of this behind and not think about how I got here. I have a past and it’s not one that you’re going to be happy with.”
“I know all about your past, as a hacker, Gina, or should I say… wild card. I know this because I have my own hacker and it might be somebody that you know very well. I was told to hire you and she was quite adamant that you would make a great addition to the family. She works in one of my offices overseas and I believe a reunion is in order. You see, I’ve been keeping a secret from you and your sister Gabrielle has found a home in my employ. I figured that the dynamic of sisters would make you feed off of each other.” I couldn’t believe that this was happening and I had been searching for my sister and all along, she was underneath my nose and I didn’t even know it.
“I guess I can forgive you, but why didn’t you say something?”
“Gina, let’s just call it a test of your moral fiber. Gabrielle told me that you were a growing force within a Trident of hackers. I was a little hesitant to hire you, because I thought for sure that you were going to take me for everything that I was worth. Imagine my pleasant surprise that you only took two million dollars. That’s petty cash to somebody of my status in life. I also know that you only did that to buy your freedom and that money was instrumental in making it happen.” I would say that my sister and I were in need of a very long overdue conversation.
“I’m pregnant with your child.” This made him stop in his tracks and he sat down with his hands on top of the desk. I had sex with you when you were too drugged out to know what you were doing. I found out that I was with child and I don’t have any intention of giving it up. I know that this is a mouthful, but I thought that you deserved to know. I’m not asking for anything and if you decide you want nothing to do with a child, I will leave and we can go our separate ways. I feel very bad about what I did, but I can’t take it back.” There was silence in the air and you could cut the tension with a knife.
It was several minutes before he even narrowed his gaze towards me. He was muttering something and I didn’t know what he was trying to say, but it couldn’t be good. “I have a bit of a confession to make and I did know it was you. Unfortunately, I did pass out before the ending and I had no idea that I had actually given you a child. I certainly wasn’t expecting this, but I think it worked out in the end. I do want something to do with the child and I want both of us to be his parents and for your sister and you to be reunited.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, Branson and I guess I was just worried that you wouldn’t see me, as somebody that you would want to make a long-term commitment to.”
“I’m not saying that I’m going to marry you, because of the child, but I would like to get to know you. I might have known it was you taking advantage of me and I should have said something, but it was just too delicious. You believed that you were getting one over on me and I was a little drugged to really care one way or the other. I still want my happily ever after and I want you to ride into the sunset with me to a future that awaits you and your sister.”
Chapter six
Finding out my sister was alive and out there somewhere was just about the best thing I’ve ever heard. I might’ve been pregnant with Branson’s child, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t have work to do. I had a feeling that the Trident wasn’t exactly going to lie down and take this and I was going to have to be vigilant to see what kind of reaction I was going to get from my so called betrayal. Two million dollars was not nearly enough to get them to back off and they were most likely going to send somebody else in get the job done.
“I don’t know what you’re looking for, but I guess I can understand your paranoia. Being in the business of hacking can’t be easy on the constitution. You’re always constantly looking over your shoulder and wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. I just don’t want you to over exert yourself and the first few months are critical to your well being and to the child.” I’ve watched him for the last couple of days go through various books on being a father and I thought that it was endearing. The only problem was that he really didn’t know what he was getting into and no books were going to show him how to be a good father.
I knew that my sister Gabrielle was going to be here later on today and I wanted to make sure that her arrival was not affected by anything that the Trident was going to do.
“What I’m doing is perusing these files and I’m trying to find that one personnel that has been recently hired. I got it down to at least five people and I’m just doing a conscientious search on their resume to see if anything fell through the cracks.” I was taking my prenatal vitamins and I certainly had the mood swings that came from the fact that I was about to become a mother. “I believe that this guy or this girl is the one that we’re looking for. I’ve gone ahead and made security known of their possible intentions. I’ve even made sure that I can mirror everything that they’re doing on any computer.”
“I’m glad that you’re on my side. I guess your sister knew what she was talking about. She just didn’t know that we were going to become more than just employer and employee. When we discuss things on the phone the other night, her reaction was not what I expected. She was actually glad for us and was tickled pink about becoming an aunt.” I was in his bed and he was naked, as the day that he was born. It was a bit of a distraction and even, as I looked at these files with a careful eye, I was also stroking his member without even knowing that I was doing it.
“I haven’t seen her in so long and I don’t even know what to expect
when we finally come face to face.” I heard a small ding on my computer and I realized that somebody was in his building after hours. At first, I thought it might be somebody from the cleaning crew, but then it became painfully clear that there was a hack about to happen. It took my hand off his Johnson, concentrated on the task at hand and watched, as this person tried to do exactly what I had done.
To find out who it was, I turned on the camera on the computer itself and just hoped that he wouldn’t or she wouldn’t see the light. Sitting in Branson’s chair was one of the ones that I had suspected to be there for nefarious purposes. I called for security and they rushed into capture him in the act. He didn’t put up any fight.
“Branson, I think I’m going to have to go into the office and have a little discussion with this hacker.” He was already way ahead of me and was putting on his pants and throwing on a black sweater that molded to his body like a second skin. Just looking at him again made me remember all the marathon sex sessions that we’ve had lately. We couldn’t go more than a day without jumping each other’s bones and we found out through necessity that it wasn’t going to harm the child.
We went downstairs and his car was at the door. We were driven to the office and then we took the elevator, while I was drumming my fingers incessantly against the wall with nervous energy.
I went in to confront the one responsible and he certainly didn’t look like any hacker that I would know. He was clean-shaven, looked put together and had this air of superiority. He would be considered a pretty boy and not an introvert like most hackers are.
“I know who you are and I never thought in a million years that I would be caught by the wildcard. You should be ashamed of yourself and you left a lot of people with egg on their face. We trusted you to get the job done and then you betray us. I don’t know why you thought you were going to get away with that. Speed racer was quite angry and his words were mostly capitalized and had this font that made him look vengeful. They call me Vanguard.” I knew the name and I had a face to go along with it. He was notorious and then it dawned on me that him getting caught was not by accident.
He was grinning like he’d gotten one over on all of us and I flashed on the young lady that I had suspected, as one of the hackers. I just clued in that there was two of them.
I didn’t get a chance to speak to him further, because I ran out and went to one of the computers. I logged on with Branson looking over my shoulder and I could feel his hot breath on my neck and I thought for sure that I was going to lose my focus. I actually closed my eyes and listened to his heartbeat and was tempted just turn around and strip away my defenses.
I knew that this was important and that I couldn’t allow even the love of my life to distract me from what I needed to do. I checked his accounts and found that one of them was completely siphoned of another five million dollars. There would be no way to get that back and he was just going to have to take the loss. I did notice that another one of his accounts had just been opened. It was time to see what kind of skills this person really had.
First, I had to put up five different firewalls and that was only going to slow them down. It would be more than enough to access their thumbprint on the Internet. I was doing two things at the same time and watching each firewall break down was not my most shining moment.
“I don’t know how you’re doing this, Gina. You’re trying to stay one step ahead and at the same time track the culprit back to where they’re using the computer. You must have to have eyes in the back of your head. Is it wrong to tell you that this makes me hot for you?”
“You and me both and I get all fired up doing this stuff. I then need to release that excess energy somewhere.” Three of my firewalls had gone down and I only had two more, but they were the most complex of all five. They had constant changing codes and each time that this person tried to break through, they found themselves on the receiving end of another firewall within the firewall. It was my crowning achievement and something that I only use on special occasions. I just didn’t pull it out any time, because it made my heart race.
“It looks like I’ve gotten here just in time.” I glanced up to see an almost carbon copy of myself. We looked at each other and it was almost like we were talking telepathically. “I don’t think that you’re gonna be able to do that all by yourself for long, sister. Let me get on one of the other workstations and we can tag team. “I didn’t have the chance to reunite in the right way, but we played off each other and it really was like we were working with one mind. She concentrated on the search for where this person once originated and I dealt with the attack up close and personal.
“I knew that I was right about the two of you and together you are an unstoppable force. Being my personal assistant must have felt like a step down and I apologize for making you feel like that, Gina.” He had nothing to apologize for and I was the one that was going to have to make it up to him. He had lost five million dollars and it was my fault, but at the very least, I could bring these people down to their knees.
I opened up a new window and found the Tridents hideout and began to systematically knock them off one at a time. They would find their Internet connection severed and any file that they had on their computer wiped clean. Their system would take a beating and they might not find themselves with authorities knocking on their door, but they would have to start over from scratch.
“I got them. I’m sending the information to security and hopefully they can get there before they do any more permanent damage.” Gabrielle brought up two videos of the area and they were blacked out with what looked like spray paint. I logged onto the computer and found that there was something obstructing my vision. If I were them, I would’ve taped a piece of black tape over top of the camera lens on the laptop that they were using.
I was in a losing battle and my sister was right there to help me. I did my best to keep up with her, but she was definitely in a league of her own. I thought that I was good, but she surpassed me by leaps and bounds.
“I just got word that they caught her, Gina. They have taken both her and Vanguard into custody. They don’t have identification and with their skills with a computer, I don’t think that’s gonna be very easy for them to find out who they really are.”
“Branson, you don’t have to worry about that anymore and I’ve instituted a program to alert you or your tech people that they are under attack. Once speed racer realizes that he can’t come after you anymore, he’ll turn his attention to somebody else.” I had not seen anybody’s hands move that quickly across the keyboard in some time. My sister Gabrielle was one of the best and I could definitely learn a few things from her.
“Gina, I’ve made sure that the portals of each of those computers that are owned by Trident are now unable to do much more than play video games. They’ll find any time that they try to access the Internet that they will have a complete failure.” I looked at her work and I was quite impressed. I hugged her and it was nice to have her back in my life, even if it meant that I was going to have to feel like she was better than me. It would give me the opportunity to learn and that was something that I had not had to do in a long time. I felt the hands of Branson around me from behind and then his fingers circled my waist and held me close. We were having a group hug and then I decided that a welcome home dinner was in order.
She was going to stay with us and help me track down speed racer, although I don’t think that was going to be very easy. It might’ve been better to let sleeping dogs lie, because if we antagonized him further, he would exact some sort of revenge against us for our interference. This way, he would slink off into the night and be somebody else’s problem. I had my happiness and an instant family that included my own sister that had been lost for two long, as it is.
It turned out that his girlfriend Laura was one of them and she was waiting to be called into action. She didn’t have a real name and I doubt that anyone was going to get it out of her. At least we shut them down, but not wi
thout the casualty of all that money. Gabrielle and I would work together to make sure that this didn’t happen again.
--The END --
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Prospecting for White Hats
…Synopsis…
Mary Lou Carpenter has always been a little different from other girls. She works hard and really doesn’t party a whole lot. In fact a lot of people have described her as being boring, but she didn’t care. At least she didn’t think that it mattered that much in the grand scheme of things. She had watched too many women suffer the consequences of bad relationships and was pretty sure that she didn’t want to get back into any relationship. Her last one had ended badly anyway. Then she won that contest and lets herself get convinced to go to that dude ranch in the south. That’s where Devin comes strolling into her life like a man who stepped right out of a western. With his dusty jeans and scuffed boots she can easily see how a woman would love to get lost with him, but she’s on a mission to stay single.
Still what happens in the desert stays in the desert, and when the pair gets caught up in trouble with a group of criminals trying to mine on government property they have to figure out a way to get to safety. It isn’t going to be easy, but somehow they have to figure out their burning passions and find a way out of trouble. How are Mary Lou and Devin going to figure out how they feel about each other when they have to deal with the creatures in the desert and a group of criminals?
Baby For The Boss Page 3