Charlie let out a low, throaty chuckle. “You’re as sharp as you are beautiful. I do want to stop my work from being plagiarized, which is why I need concrete proof that he’s doing it, so I can get the authorities involved.”
Cassie leaned forward and crossed her legs and her arms. She was skeptical, to say the least.
“If you get me the information I need, I’ll give you five million dollars.”
Cassie could have sworn that she felt her heart stop.
Well, he is the wronged party here. I’m helping out the good guys.
Cassie stood up and shook Charlie’s hand.
“I’m glad we could come to an agreement.”
“I’ll get Ellie to apply to the job tonight and see if I can talk to Edric about becoming a game tester.”
“I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Likewise.”
“Perhaps you can update me on your progress over dinner next week.”
Cassie felt blush creep up to her cheeks. “All right.”
“Good.” Charlie Logan flashed Cassie a wide smile. His teeth were a bright white. Cassie smiled back at him. She preferred older men.
***
Cassie and Ellie sat down on the couch next to each other. A romantic comedy was playing in the background and the two women sat in their pajamas, holding Chinese take-out boxes and chopsticks. Cassie had a plate of Lo-mein whereas her younger sister had a side of steamed dumplings.
“I’m glad we can do this. Have a girl’s night, I mean.”
“Me too.” Cassie paused and looked at the small television in front of her. She saw a man and a woman sitting at a restaurant table, holding hands, and looking lovingly into each other’s eyes. Cassie’s mind began to wander, she thought of Charlie Logan and their lunch meeting set for next week. She shook her head and returned her attention to her sister. “How was your homework?”
“Good. I feel better about the material now. How was your afternoon?”
“Interesting.”
“How so?”
“I got a bizarre phone call this afternoon, from Charlie Logan.”
“Of Virttek?” Ellie asked before taking a small bite of her dumpling.
“Yeah.”
“What did he want?”
“Something that involves you, actually.”
“How so?”
“Apparently, Kensington and his company has been plagiarizing Virttek and it’s hurt their business. Logan wants me to investigate the Kensington Group and see if I could find blueprints to their inventions and stuff, to prove plagiarism.”
Ellie looked down at her dumplings. “I don’t see how this has anything to do with me.”
“We need someone inside the office to get the lay of the land.”
“But I’m not a business woman.”
“You could start your own non-profit someday.”
“I don’t want to get involved.”
“But Ellie, he’s going to pay us five million dollars. Besides, he’s the wronged party here so, we’d be helping him.”
“Are you sure he is?”
“That’s what he says. And if we find concrete proof that he’s not the wronged party, then we just won’t go forward and help him.”
“Promise?”
Cassie smiled at her sister. “Promise.”
“I still don’t know about this…”
“You can give your huge paycheck over to charity.”
Ellie paused and stared into her take-out container. Cassie could tell that her sister was seriously considering the offer. The gears were turning in the young woman’s head. After a moment of silence, Ellie spoke up.
“I’ll help you on two conditions.”
Cassie chuckled. “What are they?”
“The first,” Ellie held a chopstick up in the air. “Is that we don’t turn over any information for three months. At least. We need to know for sure that the Kensington Group is taking Virttek’s intellectual property before we ruin a lot of people’s lives.”
“That works.”
“My second condition is that we donate half the money to charity. You can keep the rest of it.”
Cassie laughed. “Yay!” She reached over and hugged Ellie by her narrow shoulders. “This is perfect. Besides, this job will open up way more doors for you than your job at the homeless shelter.”
“I like the homeless shelter though...”
“Think of all the good you’ll do from donating over two-and-a-half million to charity. That and you’ll probably donate a good ten grand this summer, just from your paycheck alone.”
Ellie smiled. “That’s true.” Her smile then vanished. Her violet eyes were suddenly filled with sadness and she poked her one remaining dumpling back-and-forth in its container.
“What’s wrong?”
“What if I don’t get hired? I’m terrible with interviews.” Her cheeks burned.
“You’re top of your class. They’d be a fool not to hire you.”
“What position should I apply for?”
“You should get as close to the CEO’s office as you can to get the most information. Maybe you can apply to be Edric Kensington’s assistant? I saw that he had an empty assistant’s desk when I was there this morning.”
Ellie sighed. “I’ll try. But I still don’t feel too good about this whole situation.”
“Yay!” Cassie clung to her sister’s arm. “Thank you thank you thank you! You’re going to do great on your interview. I know you’ll get it.”
“I’ll try my best.”
Chapter Four
“So, your sister has an interview with my brother today?” Violet stated, taking a sip of the strawberry milkshake she had in front of her. “I hope he hires her.”
“Me too.” Cassie took a bite of her cheeseburger. They were sat in a small, dimly-lit restaurant inside of a large mall, surrounded by bags filled with clothing.
The two women spent most of their day shopping. Cassie already knew exactly what car that she wanted to get and asking Violet to come was merely a formality to spend some time with her. Purchasing the car took all of an hour, most of which was spent filling out paperwork for the car and negotiating a price. Violet spent that hour looking at the various vehicle components and inundating the poor car salesmen with technical questions that they didn’t know the answers to.
After buying the car, the two women went to the mall. Violet admitted to Cassie that it wasn’t the type of activity she usually enjoyed but she considered it to be a fun social experiment; she was partaking in the activities of a normal thirty-five-year-old. Eventually, the urge to eat food overwhelmed the two women and they decided to take a break to get cheeseburgers and shakes.
“What’s your sister like?” Violet asked.
Cassie laughed. “I call her Saint Ellie sometimes.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s a good person. Always thinks of others and how she can help them. She’s smart too, insanely so. She’s only twenty-one and she’s probably going to have a master’s degree in two weeks, assuming she passes her exams, which she will. She’s painfully shy though. You remind me of her, actually.”
“I do?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“Both of you are very smart and a little shy at first but very likable people.”
Violet blushed, smiled and looked down at her cheeseburger. “Can I meet her?” She asked as she tucked her brown hair behind her ears.
“Of course. I think that you two would be friends.”
Violet smiled.
“Maybe the three of us can have a girl’s night sometime next week.” Cassie offered.
“Girls night?”
“You know, when women get together and eat junk food and chit-chat. It’s fun.”
“I’ve never had one before.”
“You’ll love it.”
“All right.” Violet clapped her hands together. “Let’s do it.”
The tw
o women sat in silence for a few minutes before Violet spoke up.
“I hope that Rick is nice to your sister.” She said in a severe tone, which alarmed Cassie. Violet never sounded that serious. She was either shrill, boisterous, or lackadaisical.
“What do you mean?”
“Rick’s a great brother to Owen and I and very kind to us, but he’s brutal to those outside of the family.”
Cassie felt a twinge of guilt. Look at me, putting my sister in a shitty situation for my own gain. I’m no better than her parents.
“Your facial expression indicates that you’re upset.”
Cassie snapped out of her daze. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”
“I’m sure that your sister will be okay. I mean, Rick has been a good brother to me.”
“How?”
Violet put down her milkshake. “Well he got me my laboratory and twenty percent of the company shares.”
“Oh, well that’s good.”
“I try to assist him when I can. I hate to be the only one to benefit.”
“I feel that. How do you help him?” Cassie asked.
“I’m very good with technology, so I upgrade the software and design hardware.”
“So, are you and Edric both engineers?”
“Oh, no.” Violet shook her head. “Rick used to build these sorts of computer programs, but then once he got into the business side he never went back. It suits him better to run things than to make things anyways.”
“I take it that you would prefer to create.”
Violet laughed. “Yes. For sure. I’m glad that someone else is running the office. I just want to invent things. I hate being the person in charge. Hate it. I’d rather fix a car than drive one.”
“Why aren’t you a mechanic?” Cassie asked. It was a genuine question, and it seemed weird that Violet was working for a company. Being a mechanic would suit her better. If there’s one thing that Cassie knew about Violet, it was that she loved fixing cars and machines.
“I like having artistic control over my projects. Besides, I don’t want to just repair cars. I want to fix other things too. For one, I like building and repairing helicopters and I don’t know if I could do that as a mechanic.”
“You probably can.”
“Then I’d have to deal with people.”
“But you’d only talk to people about cars and shit and you like talking about that stuff.”
Violet looked up at the sky. “That’s true. I never considered that.”
Cassie playfully nudged Violet from across the table. “Come on, be a mechanic.”
The eldest Kensington clapped her hands together and then raised one finger to the sky, a show that she making a dramatic degree. “From this day forth, I shall be a part-time mechanic.”
“Good for you.”
“I’ll buy a shop and work in it three hours each morning and then in the lab in the afternoon.”
It must be nice having so much money that you can just make a decree and get a new job without a moment’s notice.
Cassie raised her milkshake up and gestured for Violet to do the same. The two women clanked glasses.
“Cheers!”
Violet smiled and took a giant sip of her shake. After a moment of silence, she spoke up again.
“You must be a good sister to Ellie.”
I hope so.
***
Ellie Kent sat nervously in the top floor of the Kensington group building. She wrung her hands and then fidgeted with the second copy of her résumé.
Am I qualified for this? I hope I’m good enough. I don’t want to let Cassie down.
She made herself as small as possible as she sat in the waiting room chair. Ellie smiled warmly at the nearby workers, turned bright-red, and then looked back down at her resume, avoiding all eye-contact with them once more.
They probably think I’m weird looking, or too scrawny. Ellie frowned. Her heart was racing a mile a minute.
“Mr. Kensington is ready for your interview.”
“Thank you.” She stood up and then followed the secretary over to the doors. The young woman went to pull the door open, realized that it could only be open by being pushed, blushed, and then pushed it open.
Oh God. I can’t even open a door right.
Ellie walked inside the room and saw Edric Kensington sitting behind his desk. He appeared to be quite bored and unamused. She was surprised by how young he looked, she guessed he was in his early-to-mid thirties. Surprisingly handsome too—he was tall and slightly muscular with strong and symmetrical facial features and unblemished, olive skin. The pictures in the paper didn’t do him justice.
Edric wore a crisp navy-blue suit and had silver cufflinks. His chestnut-brown hair was combed neatly and seemed to frame his face well. Everything about him seemed put together. Ellie immediately felt embarrassed by her own appearance. She wore a light grey skirt suit that she got from the thrift store, which was just slightly too big for her.
The CEO stood up from behind his mahogany desk and walked over to Ellie. She immediately felt intimidated by his height and somewhat muscular stature—it made her feel small and scrawny. And she hated feeling small and scrawny. Suddenly she wished that Cassie were there with her. Someone strong that she could draw strength from.
He reached over and extended his hand to her. “Edric Kensington.”
Ellie reached over to accept the handshake. It was strong and firm. Almost a little too much so, it hurt her small hand.
Oh no, I gave him a weak, limp handshake. I’m not supposed to do that. He probably won’t want to hire me because of it.
“Eleonore Kent.” Ellie’s pale cheeks were flushed red. She averted her eyes to the floor.
“Take a seat.” Edric pointed to the chair opposite his desk. He slowly walked away from the young woman and sat behind his desk—she noticed that he had a confident gait about him.
Ellie knew that she looked flustered. She was never good at faking confidence. Her violet eyes were wide and her cheeks were bright-red. She had a ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look about her. When she sat down she made herself as small as possible—hunched over, with her hands curled up underneath her chin. In contrast, Edric sat behind his desk poised confidently.
Ellie took a copy of her résumé —the copy that she didn’t crumple nervously in the waiting room—and quickly handed it to Edric. He held his hand up in a ‘stop’ sign.
“I already have a copy, Eleonore.”
Ellie returned the paper to her lap and begun to wring this extra copy of her résumé, since she already tore the other copy to shreds.
“Your résumé is strong—I see that you’re probably going to graduate in a few weeks at the top of your class at an Ivy League university, with a master’s degree, no less. Excellent references. I see lots and lots of community service.” Ellie’s blush deepened. “I have one question. Why would you want to work here as my assistant?”
“I-I…” The young woman swallowed deeply. “I’m thinking of starting up a non-profit one day.” She blurted out and then looked at the floor.
“I see.”
He probably thinks my reasons are stupid and that I’m not cut out to run a non-profit or to run anything.
“What do you have to offer this office?”
The way that Edric said the word ‘you’ made Ellie feel even worse.
“I...” Her hands started to shake.
Don’t cry, Ellie.
“I’m organized. I work hard. I. Um. I’ll do the job.” Ellie stammered.
Edric scoffed at Ellie and shook his head. She blushed and ran her fingers through her silky white hair. “You’ll start now. If you can make it through the end of the day, you can keep it. You will work nineteen hours a week for the next two weeks until you graduate. Then you will work full-time. Understood?”
Ellie nodded her head. “Yes.”
Edric pointed to a wooden desk in the corner of the room. It was made of mahogany, like Edric’s desk, except it
was smaller and less ornate.
“The computer is up to date and you’ll find whatever supplies you need in your desk. The computer has an email installed on it for you to use.” He handed her a large notebook and then began to pace back and forth. “This is my copy of my schedule for the week. You will take over managing it, since my incompetent secretary clearly can’t. Send out an email to my sales department to find out what our sales have been for the past four months then make a spreadsheet detailing these sales to me. Book a room for my four o’clock meeting and write me a report detailing all the people who are attending this meeting.” Edric paused. “Oh, and if you fail, you’re fired.”
Ellie nodded her head. She looked over at the clock.
It’s one o’clock. Ellie, you can do this. Just get to work.
She scurried over to her new desk and turned on the computer and flipped through the calendar as she waited for her computer to turn on. Once the computer turned on, she frantically started working. Surprisingly, once she started to work she felt slightly calmer, the work distracted her from her inner monologue of self-doubt. She just thought of one thing: the task at hand.
About thirty minutes into work, Ellie noticed something in the schedule. Edric had a meeting at two-thirty with a potential investor.
Does he know about this meeting?
“Mr. Kensington?”
Edric didn’t seem to hear her the first time.
“Mr. Kensington?” She asked louder.
Edric looked over his shoulder and glared at Ellie. She quickly averted her gaze to the ground. He waited for her to speak but she continued to stare at the ground, blushing.
“Yes?” He asked in an irritated tone.
“You have a meeting with an investor at two-thirty.”
He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shit.”
“I’m doing research on Ms. Yates right now. I’ll have a report for you in fifteen minutes.”
“All right, thanks.”
Ellie did as much research as she possibly could within that fifteen minutes allotted to her. She typed as frantically as she could. Her small fingers slammed down on the keyboard and her mind was running a mile-a-minute. Finally, she composed a one-page report on Laura Yates, printed it, and scurried over to her boss’s desk and handed it over to him. Per usual, her cheeks were as red as a tomato.
A Sibling's Dilemma Page 4