Come Home Again (The Donovans) (25 page)

“Those emails you got—when I asked you if everything was okay and you snapped?”

“Trent.”

“And you deliberately didn't tell me?”

“I’m sorry.” He could admit he was a total asshole. “I thought I was doing the best thing.”

Delilah sighed, and her shoulders slumped. When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. “You don’t have to do everything alone.”

He intertwined his fingers with hers. “Neither do you.”

She ducked her head. “Point taken. So, what are you going to do about Trent?”

Nate worked his jaw. “When I find him, I’m going to annihilate him. But first things first—we have the vote tomorrow.”

“I think you’ve done everything you can.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God, I totally forgot to ask who won.”

That was one bright spot in all of this. The kid who won was exactly the kind of person Nate had been hoping to help. Whip smart but with little access to the kinds of programs that could really help him learn. “The kid’s name is Jeremy Bixler. He’s from the Bronx. Family doesn’t have a computer at home, but the library at the community college where his mom teaches does. And that’s the one he learned how to code on. Single mom, no money. I’m stoked that I get to help someone like him.”

“That’s fantastic. Really great. I’m sorry I didn’t stick around to the end. I was pretty much ushered out since I wasn’t staff or press.

“Jake is such a little shit.”

“Tell me about it, but it’s okay. I knew this would happen if I quit. All access pass revoked. At least the celebration is all me. We’re all set for tomorrow night.”

“Are you going to tell me who’s doing the interview?”

She bounced a little. “Rolling Freakin’ Stone Magazine.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I totally pitched you as the hell raising, motorcycle riding CEO. And then of course I pitched
you
the game coder. And it was a lock. The features editor loves your Immortals games.”

He grinned. “You’re amazing, you know that?” Normally, he wasn’t enthusiastic about interviews but
Rolling Stone
...Yeah, that was cool.

She winked. “I know.” Then with a laugh, she added, “I can’t believe it’s already been a month.”

He nodded. “Chase will be out in a couple of weeks.”

Delilah pulled back and studied him carefully. “How do you feel about turning the reins back over?”

Nate hesitated, unsure of why he even had to think about it. “Mostly, I feel relieved. But a small part of me will miss it. Maybe in another life I would have been a CEO of a company like this. Running my own shop is fine, but let’s face it—it’s just me. This has been a good change of pace.”

“I think it’s going to go our way.”

She’d always had so much faith in him. “And if tomorrow is not a celebration?”

“Then I’ll have to find some way to take your mind off of it all.”

His body tingled in anticipation. “How about a preview?”

###

S
everal hours later, Delilah stretched languorously. But no matter how good she felt, the niggling doubt prickled at the back of her mind. When he faced stress, his first instinct would never be to share it.
Ever
. Could she be with someone like that long term? And as good as the sex was, she wanted more than that. She loved him. She didn't want to always have to worry if he was keeping things from her or if he was about to run.

Despite his blond hair, thick dark lashes fluttered on his cheeks. He looked so peaceful. “Are you going to stare at me all morning, or are you going to kiss me?” The vibration of his chest tickled her breasts.

“Uh, how long have you been awake?”

His eyelids fluttered open, and his piercing blue eyes met hers. “Since you started wiggling that ass of yours on my dick about an hour ago.”

“All this time, I thought you were sleeping.”

His erection kicked and nudged her thigh. “Does that feel like I'm sleeping?”

She laughed. “Down boy. Why didn’t you say you were awake?”

He shrugged even as he rolled onto his back. “You needed the rest. I figured you might be sore, so I didn’t want to push my good fortune.” He tugged her close against him, and his fingers toyed with a lock of her hair. “So tell me again about the look on Jake’s and Ross’s faces when you quit.”

Delilah chuckled. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“I would have paid money to see that little shit’s face.”

Delilah snuggled in deeper. “Let’s just say he wasn’t pleased.”

“Do you think there will be any retaliation?”

“What can he do to me now? Besides, he’ll get his in the end.”

“My Lila, forever an optimist.” He pulled her in and kissed her forehead. “You’ll have a new job in no time.”

“Yeah, well, I might take some time off to figure out my next move. I’m thinking of selling this place. Use the proceeds to pay my grad school loan and give me some breathing room. Willow is convinced we can do our own thing, but I’m not sure.”

He frowned. “I thought your biological father left you this loft?”

She nodded. “He did. And I love it. But I don’t have a lot of options right now.”

“It’ll work out. I have faith.”

“I’m glad you do. This is the first time in a long time I don’t have a plan for how to fix something.” And it terrified her.

T
he morning of the vote, Nate had one more thing to do before the board decided his fate. He spotted his quarry lounging against the wall of Synth, laptop in hand. His ace in the hole had arrived. This had better work, because he was out of options. Thanks to him, Chase was about to lose everything if he didn't do something to fix it. But if he pulled this off, he could actually be the hero.
For once
.

“Spyder,” he said in greeting.

The kid barely moved. The only indication he gave that he'd heard his name was the shift of his eyes. Cautious kid.

Nate approached slowly. “I'm Nate Williams.” The kid still didn't budge. Though Nate did notice his knuckles were white. He was ready to bolt at any sign of trouble.

Fair enough. “I'm Deathstar.”

That got his attention. His voice was lower than Nate would have thought. “You don’t look like Deathstar. You look like a suit.”

“Yeah well, you can blame corporate America for that.”

Spyder narrowed his eyes at him. “How do I know it's really you and not some Fed trying to draw me out?”

Nate rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. Level nine of the Immortals has a treasure chest buried three levels deep in the code. Only another coder would be able to find it.”

They kid's eyes rounded. “Holy shit, it is you.”

Nate nodded. “Yeah, well keep it to yourself. We had a deal. I won't out you. You won’t out me. The board members think I'm only a game designer.”

The kid’s eyes rounded. His mouth opened and closed several times as he did his best guppy out of water impression. “Man, this is so cool. I mean, you're in. Like undercover and shit.”

No, this was not cool. If the Feds got a hold of this kid, he was going to be in a deep dark hole for a long time, and Nate didn't want to see that happen. “Look, we'll keep you out of sight. I know Taraby is locked in with his supporters putting together their evidence of what makes me a bad choice. I'm sure they're monitoring the cameras to make sure I don’t interrupt them. I have to keep you off the cameras so he doesn’t catch wind of you.”

Spyder smiled. “What? I look like a rookie to you? There's a reason the FBI has been looking for me for years. Cameras are already out. I’m sure your guys inside think it's another worm attack.”

“And you have the proof that the work originated from Steven?”

Spyder tapped his laptop case. “Yep. Got the encoded emails and everything. I never did like that guy. But he paid well.”

Nate chuckled as he shook his head. “You come prepared.” He re-buttoned his cuff. “And I pay well too.”

“Just call me a Boy Scout.” The kid shuffled his feet. “You're sure you can get the Feds off my back?”

“I promised you a conversation with someone who will be amenable.”

“You trust this guy?”

“More than my own brother.” Now that was the understatement of the year.

Nate led the kid though the lobby but to the service elevator. Once they were in the conference room, they sat down, Spyder looked around then whistled. “Not bad for a hacker's digs. Usually we prefer the underground.”

Nate smiled. “
Reformed
hacker.”

Spyder grinned. “You’re reformed, and I'm Peter Parker.”

Nate grinned back. “Exactly.”

Before heading into the meeting room, he stashed Spyder in the office next to the conference room. He didn't want to tip his hand too quickly.

One by one, the board members filed in. Some looked askance that Nate was already in the room. Lach took the seat closest to him. Steven, of course, walked in last.
Douchebag
.

As everyone took their seats, Nate stood. “Before we get on with the vote, I'd like to say a few words first.”

Steven was quick to counter. “This is a vote. Anything you have to say, you should have said before you walked into this room.”

Nate narrowed his eyes, but he kept his voice cool. The politics he would not miss. “I'd like to remind you that until we vote, I am still acting CEO of this company. And last I remember, the CEO opens the board meetings, so Mr. Taraby, I'll be saying my piece.”

Steven flushed a deep red, and for a moment, Nate thought this brain might explode. One could only wish.

Steven mumbled under his breath loud enough for Nate to hear. “Talk all you want now. You’ll be out on your ass in an hour.”

He smiled down at Steven. “Don’t count on it.” Turning his attention back to the board, he drew in a deep breath. “I would first and foremost like to extend my thanks for this opportunity. In the last thirty days, I believe we've been able to do some great things.”

He ran through the speech Delilah had prepared for him. Her words were his, merely more smoothed out. He had the vocabulary, but lacked the patience. Effortlessly, he went through Coder’s Day and the future of the company and how they could grow. Then he discussed their charitable works and how, over the course of the month, he’d helped turn the tide of their reputation. And the stock price was up. Well, it was
still
up.

And on to the finale. “And finally, I would like to draw the board's attention to the recent attacks we faced on our security system.”

Delilah had been clear, give credit to the group, take full responsibility, then nail Taraby's ass to the wall. He smirked. “I take responsibility for what happened to us over that week. After all, I was at the helm. No doubt somebody out there thought we were weak and that they'd take a shot at us. But our teams are strong and fended off the attacks. Additional teams strengthened our firewalls. And I’m happy to say, we've discovered the source of the worm attacks on our systems.”

Lach chimed in. “But wasn’t it one of our marketing team members opening an unsafe email?”

Nate aimed for the kill shot with a smile. “Yes, that was what we were led to believe. But in the rush, we missed evidence that her system was accessed remotely. She never opened that email.”

Hushed whispers.

Steven squirmed next to him, but his face remained impassive.
You’re not untouchable asshole
. “As a matter of fact, if you'll allow me some leeway, I'd like to show you how something like this can happen.”

The vote forgotten for the moment, several board members nodded. After all, all most of them cared about was the bottom line.They might not like him, but they sure liked their money.

Nate pressed the call button on the phone, and the executive assistant showed Sypder in. He shuffled in and went straight for the projector. While he connected, Steven made another feeble attempt to stop the show.

“I have to say this is a waste of our time. Clearly, Mr. Williams is trying to stall the vote. If we could take a preliminary—”

Nate clamped a hand on the other man's shoulder hard enough to shut him up. “I only ask for a little more indulgence.” He let go, then straightened his cuffs as he gave Steven his best adios-motherfucker smile.

“When I started here, the first task I undertook was reviewing our code base. I wanted to be as familiar with it as possible. As you all know, my background is in building games. Synth has paid me handsomely for those games. So I have the expertise to know what I'm looking at. But I'm not sure if you know that every coder has a signature. Little clues he leaves behind. It's like handwriting. Looking at the code base for Synth Games, I knew I’d seen that signature before. In my early days of programming.”

Nate took a deep breath and surveyed the board members, many of whom were leaning forward in their seats. “It wasn’t until I worked with Mr. Taraby that I realized he wasn’t the one who built the framework this company uses. The framework was actually built by this young man here.” He indicated the kid. “He goes by the name of Spyder.”

Steven stood. “This is bullshit. You can’t—”

Nate glared at him. “Sit down, Mr. Taraby, we're not done.” Nate let some of the menace he'd tried so hard to hide seep into his voice.

Steven sat.

“I figured he had contracted out for the work. Dishonest of course; unethical to count the work as his own, surely; but not catastrophic.” He leveled a gaze at Steven. “But the signature of Mr. Taraby’s work to stop the worms also matched the signature of the worms themselves.”

At that moment, Spyder started the show and tell portion of Nate's go-fuck- yourself plan. Slowly, he walked the board members through how they figured out the signatures and how Steven had tried to lie, cheat, and steal his way into the CEO position.

When Sypder was done, Nate stood again. “We all know Mr. Manning will be out for another few weeks. I maintain that I am still the best CEO for the job.” He smiled at Steven. “As for Mr. Taraby here. I've already called the FBI's white-collar crimes division. I think they'll be here shortly to collect him.”

At the word FBI, Steven stood, looking like he was ready to bolt. Nate shook his head. “They were in the building before you even sat down.” He'd have to thank Dylan for that later. “You won’t make it far.”