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Preston rips the pictures from my hands and throws them in the trashcan next to my desk. “Forget about her, J. She’s a waste of time. The only person Cece cares about is herself.”
“My dad is merging with 10X Games,” I admit. Every instinct in my body wants to fish the pictures from the trash. “They’re absorbing my dad’s company.”
It’s the first time I’ve said it aloud. The news came as a shock, one I still haven’t adjusted to. My dad said it was a good move for our family and his company, but something was off about his explanation.
Preston gasps. “Why? That doesn’t make sense.”
I sink down on the chair and run my finger over the mouse, waking the computer monitors. “I wish I knew. I thought about snooping around to see what he’s hiding, but I don’t want to violate his trust.”
“What about Mike or Grace?” He sits at the edge of my bed, the mattress dipping from his weight. “Can’t you ask them? Or your mom?”
“I already did. Mike wouldn’t even tell me about the announcement until I heard it from my dad’s mouth while he was on stage at 10X Con. All of them have the same rehearsed answers. It’s like my dad coached them.”
“I don’t get it.” Preston tugs at the frayed seam of his shirt and sighs. “Your dad has always taken pride in the fact his company is family owned and run. Why would he sell it to Cece’s dad? He hates him.”
“I know.” I bite the inside of my cheek and pull the keyboard in front of me, hitting each key in anger. “She rubbed it in my face at the convention right before she kissed me. Cece never does anything without a plan. She knew the cameraman was there. It was too convenient that we had our picture taken at the exact moment she kissed me. I have this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach she’s somehow behind all of this.”
I do another Google search, what feels like the hundredth one since my dad made the announcement and scroll through the web pages discussing the merger. Shannon has no idea about the new development. Before Christmas, I was leaning toward working for my dad after graduation. Now, everything has changed. I’ll never work for Kevin Carmichael. My future cannot be tied to Cece.
Preston leans forward resting his elbows on his thighs while staring at me. “How is Cece behind the merger?”
I roll my shoulders against the chair and scan the contents of another new article. “Maybe I’m just paranoid.” For the first time in what feels like days or weeks, I laugh. “I sound like fucking a lunatic.”
Slowly, Preston nods, a mocking expression on his face. “You haven’t been yourself. Ever since The Queen started posting about us you’ve been… I don’t know… different.”
The thought of her alone causes me to grind my teeth together, and then something occurs to me. “A while ago when I was looking for The Queen, she sent me a video game.”
Preston’s eyebrows rise in curiosity. “What was it?” He gets up from the bed and moves toward me. “Let me see.”
“I can’t. As soon as my character died, it disappeared.”
He hovers over me, staring down at me with his hands on his hips, ticking his jaw. “Why would she send you a game?”
I look over my shoulder at the open door and slide my chair over to shut it. Spinning around to face Preston, I lower my voice. “The game looked like a rip-off of Doom, Diablo, and Mage Wars.”
“So?” Preston’s not following my train of thought. “What does that have to do with a blogger who’s keeping tabs on us?”
“I think she wrote the code to imply my dad copied Diablo and Doom. They’re two of the most iconic video games of all time. Diablo was the first real-time combat fantasy game. It also had randomized opponents, weapons, and dungeons which personalized it to the point that no user ever had the same experience. And Doom is one of the best first-person shooter games ever made. People still love it after all these years.”
“What does that have to do with The Queen?” Preston asks, taking his place on the bed again. “She likes old school video games? So what?”
“No, I think she’s trying to tell me that my dad stole some of his ideas from Doom and Diablo.”
“Ohhh…” Preston’s mouth widens in shock. “You don’t think…” he pauses. “No, he wouldn’t.”
“I mean if you really look for them, the similarities are there. Mage Wars is nothing like either of those games, but some of the older versions of The Fallen Universe have a lot of the same features, like the randomized-user experience.”
“Shit,” he mutters, biting his bottom lip. “Do you think that’s why your dad is selling his company?”
