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I wished. I’d offered her a job on more than one occasion—we weren’t really hiring anyone for my team, because I was picky, but I’d work with her.Not really.
Then I can’t really help. Not this time.She’d always turned down my offers because she made far more money tearing games apart online than she would working here.
A knock drew my attention, and I hid the chat window before I looked up to see Luna and Danny standing in my office doorway.
I didn’t have a problem with Luna—she was a genius, good at her job, and at ten years younger than most of us, basically the company mascot. She was bubbly, cute, and the right kind of weird to fit in here. But for some reason, she had a problem with me.
Or she had. She’d warmed to me recently. I thought?
And I got along just fine with Danny.
The two of them were digital security for the company, and since this was a security hole, they were putting in as many hours as anyone.
Which probably explained why two of the most cheerful people in the office wore scowls today. They stepped into my office, and Danny closed the door behind them before they dropped into chairs across from my desk.
“You got a minute?” Danny asked.
I typed a quickBRBto Fallyn and hid the window again. “Sure.” I didn’t feel like I had a choice, so I might as well go along with it. “What’s up?”
Most of the AcesPlayed team had worked together for decades. We’d started together at Rinslet, which was our intro to the industry. We grew into adulthood together, and when Judith announced she was starting AcesPlayed, we all signed on and bought in. We were a pretty tight-knit group.
Luna and Danny were newer to the team. She had replaced someone who came over with us, but turned out to have self-control issues when it came to building a game that was basically porn. Danny had been hired to help her.
“You know because of the sensitive nature of our game, the proprietary content, etcetera, etcetera, that I have everything locked down that goes in and out of this building through our network,” Luna said.
What was her point?
“I do.” Just then, my messenger pinged with a simpleKfrom Fallyn.
Luna couldn’t mean my chat—I’d set up a tunnel to go around the network tracking.
“Everything.” Luna emphasized the word.
Danny looked sympathetic. “It’s not as though we’re reading your messages.”
“But we know when certain IP addresses are pinged.” Luna finished for him.
I could play dumb as well as the next guy. “Downloading porn on my break is against the rules now?”
Danny looked horrified. “God, I hope not.” Unlike in most companies, pornwasn’tagainst the rules here. Especially during crunch time.
“Are you going to admit it, or do you want to string me along a little longer?” Luna didn’t look amused.
No. Really. What was her problem with me? “Admit I’m downloading porn?” Besides that I could be an antagonistic jackass. Everyone here didthaton occasion.
She gave me a withering look.
“Never admit anything. What if I admit to the wrong thing?” For instance, I hated to admit I’d learned that from my stepfather—or really that I’d learned anything from him.
“Like what?” Danny asked.
I needed to come up with something creative. Nope, not my department. “Like runningI’m a solicitor from the UK and I have your inheritance from a long-lost relativescams from my work email.”
Luna rolled her eyes, but she also almost smiled. “Like keeping an open line of communication with someone at the same IP address as the one Fallyn uses to log into the game.”
“Oh, yeah.” Busted.
“The devs would be pissed,” Danny said.
