Chapter 26
JACKSON
For the first time all day, I’m able to smile.
After Dakota’s stream ends, she leaves the chat feed live.
I’m on an anonymous account, watching as her loyal viewers rally around her message.
The trolls pop their heads up like Whack-a-Moles, but the fans she cultivated have the ammo of her message now.
She was so self-assured, so confident, leaving no room for argument.
I could see the tension in her eyes, the telltale signs. But I’m certain few others would have. If anybody.
Dakota: Thank you. I was so nervous.
Jack: I’m sure no one could tell.
Dakota: Could you?
Jack: Yes. But you didn’t come across as nervous at all, beautiful. You looked like you had the whole world at your feet.
Dakota: What’s your plan?
Jack: I’m about to fire somebody. We found the person responsible for the leak.
One of my own employees, someone who worked on the first version of the Cove.
She’s on her way to my office now to answer for her actions.
We’re taking legal action against the trucker too.
Defamation of character. We probably won’t win in court, but I’m going to make that perverted bastard fight us until he has nothing left.
Dakota: That’s… a lot.
I reply in disbelief.
Jack: You don’t think he deserves it? If you were alone, he would’ve taken it further. Then he had the gall to play the victim. Let the prick rot.
Dakota: I agree. That’s not what I meant. It’s just crazy how fast this is all happening.
Jack: Quicker is better. I don’t have to tell you that. You did the right thing, getting ahead of this. I’m looking at your chat now. Your fans are beating the trolls down like DakkyDuck smashing through a dungeon.
Dakota:
Dakota: Are you going to make a public statement?
Jack: Hey—what happened to you do you, and I’ll do me?
Dakota: You’re right. Sorry.
Jack: I was joking! Maybe it was in poor taste. The way I see it, we’re in this together.
Dakota: I meant what I said, Jack. Don’t sacrifice yourself for me. Protect your company. Do what you need to do.
Jack: That’s not happening. I’ve already fired the PR firm.
Dakota: What! Why?!
Jack: They suggested I brand you as a power-hungry, ladder-climbing temptress who seduced the techy, socially awkward CEO.
They wanted me to use screenshots from your past streams, you in those mouthwatering booty shorts you sometimes wear, as if that’s proof of anything.
I told them they were lucky they were just getting fired.
Dakota: Wow. That’s cold.
Jack: That’s PR.
Dakota: Thank you. Other CEOs would’ve jumped on that chance.
Jack: If salvaging this situation means burning you, baby, I refuse. Full stop. Let it all come crumbling down.
Dakota: You’re talking about billions in revenue. Thousands of salaries. An entire empire, Jack.
Jack: Empire’s fall, beautiful. It’s what they do.
A knock at the door.
Jack: I have to go. Speak soon. I love you.
I blink, staring at the message. Where did that come from? It feels so natural, like everything with us, like it’s been from the start. Easy, like we were built for this.
But it’s a complication we don’t need right now. I remove the last sentence and send the text.
“Come in,” I call.
Pete enters, with Janine and Shaniqua from legal. Elena Voss walks behind them, head bowed, with her lawyer, a man in his mid-fifties, standing beside her. Samantha from HR walks in finally, closing the door behind her.
I stand, trembling with anger, wishing Elena were a man, and she didn’t have some justification—a morsel—for what she did. Wishing I hadn’t run out of goddamned tennis balls.
“Take a seat, everyone,” I growl. As they all do so, I remain standing. Elena won’t even look at me. “Nothing to say for yourself, Elena?”
“My client will make a statement in due course,” the lawyer says. “We’re here to hear you out, Mr. Cross.”
I don’t look at him. Glare at Elena instead. “You must’ve known that Reed would get to the bottom of this. You’ve committed gross misconduct, meaning we can terminate you immediately, no pay, no severance. Which we will be doing. But it’s more than that, Elena.”
She looks up at me, tears in her eyes, my logistics specialist who has been so loyal up until now.
“More?” she whimpers.
I grind my teeth, striding across my office and standing at the window with my arms behind my back. This is tougher than I thought.
“Because of you, an innocent woman’s image is being ruthlessly dissected online,” I snarl.
“Legions of assholes with nothing better to do, dissecting…” My woman.
“A woman who only ever wanted to entertain and spread positivity. That POS trucker has openly admitted he only uploaded the video because he saw a post about me and Dakota. He didn’t even know who I was before that. ”
I turn. “Elena, you shared messages that were written inside a non-public version of the game. Those messages contained metadata that a skilled programmer could use to glean information about our code. Our lawyers have assured us we can pursue corporate espionage and sabotage charges. That’s prison time, Elena. ”
She gasps, shaking her head slowly. “I just… I wanted what was promised.”
“It wasn’t fair,” I say. “You worked hard on the Cove, and you weren’t even the creative director. You helped bring our vision to life. You didn’t deserve to be punished for its failure. But I told you, promised you—just wait. I’d make it right. I meant what I said. When have I ever lied to you?”
She lowers her gaze.
“Well?” I demand.
“Never,” she admits.
“And this is how you repay us,” I growl. “The twisted thing is, if this only affected me, I might’ve been able to go easy on you. But you tossed Dakota into the internet whirlpool like chum for sharks. And for what? What was your plan here? Or did you just want to hurt us?”
When she doesn’t reply, I’ve got all the answers I need.
“You were passed over,” I say. “That wasn’t fair.
But there wasn’t any legally binding promise that you’d be promoted.
And I was going to promote you. I swear on my mother, as soon as this was done, you were going to receive a thirty-percent pay bump.
But you couldn’t wait. You used Dakota’s name, her livelihood, her body as pathetic, petty revenge.
You chose that, Elena. You did that. Not me. ”
I sigh. “You’re fired, effective immediately. You’ll be leaving the office now and never returning. If you have things, inform security, and they’ll collect them for you. Otherwise, I never want to see you again. Our lawyers will handle everything.”
I turn back to the window, the sun setting over the city. What a day. What a month. And I’ve still got to spend the rest of the evening catching up on the programming work I missed today.
But first, I’ve got one final task.
I wait for them to file out of the office. A minute later, Pete clears his throat from behind me. “I know that was hard, Jack. But you did the right thing. Now, we need to decide on a statement.”
“I’ve already decided,” I say, going to my desk and picking up my phone.
“Jack…”
“Remember how this started, brother. You and me, two kids with big dreams and shallow pockets, two kids who wanted to show the big dogs we could play in their world. We did it—but look what it made me. Cold. Corporate. I’m done with that shit. Dakota’s shown me a better way.”
I turn on my selfie cam and start recording.