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“Why is this game so important? We have other fires to put out right now. Couldn’t this wait?”
“No, Stefan, it can’t wait. Nate needs a working beta by the 10X Games Convention.”
“That’s not possible,” he counters. “Do you have any idea how long it takes to code a video game?”
“Nate has done it before,” I point out. “And if he wants me back, he will find a way to do it again.”
“Shit,” he sighs. “Well, I guess I don’t have much of a choice then. Get him to call me, and then I’ll take care of the rest. You’ll have your beta in time for the convention.”
After we hang up, my heart is beating so fast it feels like someone shoved their hand into my chest and ripped it out. I have to message Nate. If his team can’t get ahold of him, then the already disastrous launch of Ashborn will only get worse. Nate’s coders need him as much as he needs them to finish Project X on time.
I open the QTK Messenger app and see that Nate is signed on. Why even bother staying logged into the system if he’s going to ignore everyone’s messages?
Harley King: Call Stefan. Your team needs you.
A chat bubble appears on the screen almost instantaneously.
Nathan King: I’m busy with Project X.
Harley King: A knight doesn’t run away from his responsibilities.
Nathan King: I miss you. How are you?
Harley King: Good. Please call him. For me. This is important.
Nathan King: Anything for my Queen.
Harley King has logged off flashes on the screen before he can send another message.
Chapter Thirty
Nate
As the weeks pass by, my apartment feels colder, my life empty without Harley in it. Sitting in front of the computer, I stare at our wedding picture on my desk. That was a good day. We were happy. Everything was perfect. I felt like the luckiest man in the world with Harley by my side.
She was always the best part of my life. The years we spent apart were some of my darkest days. Since Harley left, I can’t stop myself from checking the company logs to see when she’s online. I look at least a dozen times every day, like a ritual I can’t break. Seeing her name on my screen brings me some comfort. Any chance I have of getting her back will go out the window if I don’t follow the rules. This is all I have to feel connected to Harley—a green circle next to her name when she’s on our company server.
I flip between screens to the final piece of code I wrote for A King’s Quest. Harley doesn’t know I named the game. But the title won’t matter if I can’t get the last board to work. Every time I compile and run the program, it returns an error.
Annoyed, I call Stefan. I especially hate asking my younger brother for help when I’m the one who taught him how to code, but I need a fresh pair of eyes. Plus, he’s always been there to lend a hand when I get stuck. He wants me to finish this game almost as much as Harley.
“Hey, bro,” Stefan says on the second ring. “You still working at home?”
“Yeah. I’m stuck on the final board. I keep getting a logic error. Something is off with… I’m not even sure what… I need you to take a look.”
“Move a copy over to the shared server.”
I duplicate the file and move a copy to the server I use to share projects with my team.
“I have to make the deadline.”
Stefan sighs into the receiver. “We’ll get it to work. Don’t worry. The game will be ready to demo at 10X.”
“I need a fully functional beta.”
“Harley said a demo. You only need the first storyboard to work.”
“I don’t want to do the bare minimum.”
I hear his fingers are flying across his keyboard. “Got it.” He goes silent for a minute and then says, “Hmmm…”
“What is it?”
“Did you try debugging?”
“Yes. I’ve gone through it like twenty times.”
“What’s supposed to happen after the knight retrieves the sword from the lake?”
“The sword taps him on each shoulder, and then, the current king’s crown will lower onto his head, making him the new King of Aslan.”
Stefan chuckles. “How did you miss this?” His fingers pound the keys as he fixes my mistake. “Dude, you’ve been looking at this for way too long. When was the last time you slept?”
I lean back in my chair, considering his question. “Yesterday morning. I don’t know… I lost track of time after—”
“After Harley left,” he finishes.
I run a hand through my messy hair and sigh. “I have to get her back, Stef.”
“I’ve never seen you this focused,” he says. “You wrote an entire game in a little over a month. If you could work like this all the time, we wouldn’t have had to take money from Titan.”
