Cassie wanted to do cartwheels as she made her way across the CEO’s lobby. The receptionist stood up upon seeing them. “Oh my goodness. I’m glad you’re safe.” She smiled at Owen. “And it’s good to see you too, Violet.”
Violet looked at the ground and blushed.
“Ms. Kent.”
“Huh?”
“Even though you don’t have an appointment, you may see Mr. Kensington now, since this is an extraordinary circumstance.”
“Cool, thanks.” Cassie nodded at the secretary before bursting through the doors. Owen and Violet followed.
***
As soon as the trio entered the room, Edric shot up from his seat, the force of which caused his chair to be kicked out from behind him and bounce against the glass wall, then back towards him, hitting him behind the knees. He barely even noticed the sensation, being so wrapped up in seeing his baby brother appear in the room, safe and sound. “Owen!” He exclaimed, betraying the cool, calm, and emotionless exterior that he insisted on portraying in front of strangers.
Once Edric caught note of Cassie standing behind his brother, he quickly regained his composure and sat down in his seat and let out a light, relieved sigh. Owen smiled at his brother sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah…” Owen’s voice trailed off.
I know that tone. He’s hiding something. Edric thought.
“Where were you?” He asked, pointedly.
“Well…” Again, Owen’s voice trailed off. This time he shrugged lightly and put his hands in the pockets of his school uniform.
Edric frowned. That little shit.
“Cassie, what happened with my brother?”
“Come on, Cassie.” Owen pleaded.
“He went on a bender at a college party.”
Owen threw his hands up in the air, defeated.
“For Christ’s sake, you’re twelve.” Edric muttered as he massaged his temples. His tension headache was beginning to morph into a full-on migraine.
“Come on, bro. I’m enjoying life.” Owen shrugged one more time. He began speaking in a rushed tone, trying his very best to talk his way out of the situation. “You always wanted me to have a normal childhood, where I didn’t have to work as hard as you and I could have fun.”
“Owen, that’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“Come on…”
“You’re grounded.”
“Why?”
“Because you snuck away and went on a bender with a bunch of college kids for a day and had me worried sick thinking you were kidnapped again!” Edric snapped.
“Oh, but I was having fun.” Owen decided to bring his plight to his sister. He turned to face Violet and gave her his cutest I’m-just-a-sweet-little-boy face that he could muster. “But … sis.”
Edric finally noticed Violet standing in the corner of the room, smiling to herself as she watched her younger brother try to weasel his way out of this situation.
Violet’s out of the lab? That’s odd. Edric thought.
“I’m going to have to agree with Rick.” Violet added in a sing-song voice.
She’s seems really cheerful too. Violet’s never like that in front of strangers.
“But I’m at the office. You can’t ground me at the office. I’m already out.” Owen retorted triumphantly.
“Well that’s easy to solve. I’m having our driver take you home.” Edric said. “Excuse me!” He called out, his voice boomed through the half-open door. “Can someone call my driver to drop Owen off?”
“Yes, sir.” The voice called back from outside the hallway.
Edric glared at Owen and the boy shrugged. “Go home, you’re grounded.”
Owen dramatically slumped over and frowned for a second just to show the entire world he was unhappy. Once he’d made his point, he straightened up, smiled, and walked out of the door with a slight skip in his step.
“See you later, bro.” Owen called back, leaving the room.
“See you at dinner tonight.” Edric leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on his lap. “Cassie?”
“Yes.”
Edric pulled out his checkbook. She watched him write the check with her mouth slightly agape. Edric handed over the check and she took it gingerly, before staring at it.
“I believe that our business is concluded.”
“Yup.” Cassie mumbled, not even looking up from the check.
“Thank you for locating my brother.”
“Oh, you’re welcome.”
Edric motioned to the door. Cassie headed in the general direction of the exit, barely even looking up from the check she was holding.
“See you later to pick out the car?” Violet asked.
Edric raised an eyebrow. Violet’s making plans?
“Oh, yeah!” Cassie snapped back to attention and looked over at Violet. “I’ll pick you up at the lab in two days?”
“O…okay.”
“Nine?”
“Sure!”
“See you, Violet.”
“Bye, Cassie.” Violet waved as her new friend absentmindedly strolled out of the office. Right after the door was closed, Edric raised an eyebrow.
“So, how was your day?” Edric asked.
“I got a car.”
“What?”
“Since you’re paying Cassie, she’s getting a new car and handing me her old one. It’s going to be quite the challenge to fix but I’ll get it running smoothly.”
Edric chuckled lightly. “Well that’s good. It looks like you made a new friend too.”
“You could say that. Cassie’s cool and very easy to talk to.”
“What happened?”
“She needed someone to guide her to Ryan’s house so I went and we talked about technology and machines. I’m going to help her pick out a car in a few days since she doesn’t know much about them and then we’re getting lunch and some weird stuff.”
“Good for you.” Edric said sincerely. He was glad that Violet had a friend. He knew how painfully shy she could be to those outside the family. She clammed up unless she was talking about her inventions and machines. In that case, she talked animatedly. So much so it scared off most people. Edric was happy that Violet found someone who didn’t shrink away from Violet’s mercurial personality.
“I’m thinking of hiring Cassie to test our products. We need someone who will give us honest feedback on our programming. Would you be okay with that? You’d know best if she would be a good fit.”
“That’s a good idea; she’ll give you good, honest, feedback on your games.”
“Good. I’m glad we found a good tester.”
Edric knew that he could find pretty much anyone to work as a game tester. It’s not like that position was hard to fill but he couldn’t help himself from meddling in his sister’s affairs. At least this way Violet would have a reason to see Cassie. Besides, it got her out of the lab and around other people besides Edric and Owen.
“I’m going to go back to the lab.”
“See you tonight.”
Chapter Three
Cassie spent the greater part of her afternoon sitting on the couch, staring at her bank account balance on her phone. Occasionally she pinched herself, just to check to see if the account balance was real. She actually had fifty thousand dollars sitting in her bank. There was enough to pay rent for a couple of years and enough to get a brand-new car.
I’m like a thousandaire. Don’t spend it all in one place, Cass.
Eventually, the bank account balance sank in and she began peruse the internet looking for new clothes and shoes. She hardly even noticed when three o’clock rolled around and Spots began dashing around the room. He did this every time Ellie was about to come home.
The apartment door creaked open and in she came Eleonore Kent. Ellie was small and frail, standing at just over five feet tall. She had a small, heart-shaped face, sunken-in cheeks, a small, pointed nose, and a small chin. D
ue to her albinism, her hair was white and so was her skin, hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows. She always made a point to cut her bangs low to cover up her white eyebrows—she always hated how they made it look like she had no eyebrows. Her long, pin-straight hair and bangs brought out her light, milky violet eyes that had speckles of pink in them when the light hit them just right. Even though she was only twenty-one and quite petite, she had an air of wisdom about her that made her look a bit older than she was.
As soon as Ellie arrived inside the house, she smiled widely, put her books down on a nearby table, picked up Spots, and cradled him against her chest as if he was a small infant. She kissed the dog on the top of its head. Spots wagged his tail and licked his mistress in the face with his cracked tongue.
“How was school?”
“It was good today.”
“Did you get your test back?”
“Yeah?”
“How did you do?”
Ellie blushed and whenever she did that her cheeks burnished red in comparison to her normally white skin.
“Lemme guess? Top of your class again.” Cassie asked.
She nodded gently.
“That’s nothing to be embarrassed about, Ellie. You should be proud!”
“I don’t like the attention though.”
“I know, but it’s great that you’re doing so well.”
“Anyways, enough about me. How was your day?”
Cassie rocked forward in her chair. “Well, glad you asked.”
“You seem happy about something.”
“Come over here.” Cassie motioned for the young woman to sit down next to her. Ellie obediently complied, folding her beige skirt neatly underneath her. Cassie flipped open her laptop and pulled out her bank account and showed it to her. “Look at this.”
“Oh my word.” Ellie covered her mouth in surprise and her eyes widened.
“Yeah.”
“How did you that?”
“Have you heard of Edric Kensington?”
“The virtual technology CEO?”
“Yeah, him.”
“What about him?”
“His kid brother, Owen, went missing and he hired me to find him!”
“Did you find him? Was he okay?” Ellie leaned forward. Her voice was filled with concern.
Always the humanitarian, Cassie thought, letting out a low chuckle.
“I found him this afternoon. Hence the pay day.”
“Was he all right?”
“Oh, yeah. He snuck out and went to a college party. His brother was pissed. Apparently, he’s been kidnapped a few years ago, so his brother assumed the worst. But, all’s well that ends well.”
Ellie breathed a sigh of relief.
“But, I mean, Look at all this money.”
“I’m glad that you’re happy.” She gently patted her sister on the shoulder.
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Well, I have the soup kitchen from five until seven but I’m free after that.”
“Let’s celebrate.”
“Okay!” Ellie smiled widely and spun around slightly, causing poor Spots to become disoriented. “What do you want to do?”
“Let’s order Chinese and watch movies.”
“Sounds fun to me.”
“Cool!” Cassie smiled at her sister.
“I’m going to study now, so I don’t have any distractions for later.”
“I thought that you didn’t have classes on Thursdays. Besides, this is your last semester of college, you graduate in a couple of weeks. Have fun.”
“I still don’t want to fall behind.”
“Just have fun.”
“I will.”
With that, Ellie put her dog down, picked up her books, and walked into the other room. Spots followed his mistress dutifully.
What a sweet lady…
Cassie’s phone rang. The loud, shrill sound jerked Cassie from her reverie and made her heart race. She silently cursed whoever it was, for giving her such a fright.
She looked at her cell phone but the number was listed as unknown and there was no caller ID listed.
Who the fuck is this? She picked up the phone and placed it to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Good afternoon, Ms. Kent.” A man’s voice said. He sounded calm and composed.
“Who is this?”
“My name is Charlie Logan.”
Charlie Logan? The CEO of Virttek? What the hell does he want from me? Why are all these high-flyers contacting me all of a sudden?
“Yes?”
“I have a business proposition for you that I would like to discuss with you in person.”
“All right.”
“Ms. Kent, could you meet with me at some point?”
“I’m free right now.”
“Come by at your convenience. The company address is 72 Arbor Street.”
“I’ll be there in thirty.” With that, Cassie clicked her phone shut and headed out the door.
***
Cassie walked to the car and plopped down in the driver’s seat, started up the car, and began to drive over into the city. Fortunately for her, she was heading out right before rush hour so the traffic wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
This can’t be a coincidence. The heads of two companies contacting me within days. And both are making goods related to virtual technology … what on earth could this meeting be about?
Cassie’s mind began to wander as she thought of all the reasons why she could possibly be called into this office. The whole thing just seemed off to her. Eventually, she arrived at the building, parked her car, fed the parking meter, and walked up to the building.
Cassie noted that the building’s edifice was quite different than that of the Kensington Group. The Kensington’s building was tall, thin, and made of glass. It had a very modern feel about it. This building, in contrast, was shorter, wider, and made of stone. It had more of an old, stately feel to it.
The interior of the Virttek building lacked the bright, modern architecture of the Kensington group. Instead was decorated with older, wooden furniture and gold-plated trinkets. It looked more like a lavish hotel than a technology business. Cassie made her way to the elevator and clicked the button for the top story where Charlie Logan was. In this building, the highest floor was the thirty-fifth.
When she arrived at the top, a young secretary greeted her. “Hello. You must be Ms. Kent. Mr. Logan is expecting you. Please follow me.”
“Thank you.”
Cassie followed her down the hall, looking at all the paintings on the wall along the way. There were so many things to take in visually—plush red carpets, paintings surrounded by gold frames, large, wooden doors…
Eventually the secretary stopped at one large wooden door and knocked on it.
“Mr. Logan. Ms. Kent has arrived.”
“Thank you.”
The secretary smiled at her, opened the door, and once then wandered back down the hallway.
This office was just as beautiful as the rest of the building. The man, Charlie Logan, stood up from behind his desk and walked over and shook Cassie’s hand.
Charlie was a tall, older man with mostly jet-black hair, save for the greying hair at his temples. He looked like he was in his late forties and wealthy, judging by his finely tailored pinstripe suit and solid gold cufflinks. Even though Charlie was an older, he had a certain charisma about him. He was what people would call a silver fox.
“Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice, Ms. Kent.”
He gestured to two chairs in front of his desk. Cassie took one seat and he the other.
“What can I help you with today?”
“It’s a delicate situation.”
Cassie leaned forward. “Oh?”
“I heard through the grapevine that you located Owen Kensington this afternoon.”
“Yes, I did.”
Let me guess: another missing person?
“And I trust
you met with Edric Kensington?”
“Yes.”
“And you went inside the Kensington Group’s office?”
“Yeah.”
“Well.” Charlie pursed his lip together and cocked his head to the side. “I’m afraid that the Kensington Group has stolen some of Virttek’s software blueprints. I believe they are using and profiting from them. I have no way to prove this, unfortunately.” He took a breath and let out a long, heavy sigh. “What’s done is done though. I just need to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Cassie’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t follow.”
“I need someone on the inside of the Kensington Group, who’ll report to me on their office activities and gaming software.”
“Look, I met the guy twice. Besides, I don’t do office work.”
“If you helped Edric’s brother you should have earned his trust, to a degree. Enough to perhaps be a beta tester for his products.”
“I could test his products. But, like I said, I’m not an office person.”
“Your sister could be.”
Cassie leaned forward and crossed her arms defensively. “How do you—”
“Know your sister?” Charlie finished. “I did my homework. She has one of the sharpest minds in the area, being in the top ten percent of an Ivy League school. She’s due to graduate with her joint degree, a bachelor’s and a master’s—in two weeks.”
“Yeah, but she’s studying social work, not business. Won’t Kensington think it odd that she’s applying to a company?”
“Not necessarily. If she were going to open up a non-profit one day, it would make sense for her to get the experience. With her résumé, I’m confident that she’ll get hired.”
“I don’t know if I like the idea of involving Ellie.”
“If you get all the information I need to design their next product, including when it’s going to be released, I’ll reward you handsomely.”
“But you said earlier you wanted to prevent his plagiarizing your work.”
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