Epilogue #3
Xavier doesn't bother with hello.
“Pres, why is my almost-six-year-old hacking Lakeview Prep for your love life?”
Silence.
Then:
“He told you?”
Pierre looks offended.
“I did not tell. They discovered.”
Preston's voice comes through the speaker.
“Traitor.”
“I am not a traitor.”
“You got caught.”
“I am five.”
“Almost six,” Pierre snaps.
Xavier rubs his forehead.
I bite the inside of my cheek.
This is already better than television.
“Preston.”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you using my son?”
“I wasn't using him.”
Pierre leans toward the phone.
“He paid me.”
Xavier goes completely still.
I turn toward our child.
“He what?”
Preston says quickly, “It wasn't real money.”
Pierre looks personally wounded.
“You said equity.”
I cover my mouth.
Xavier stares at the phone.
“Equity in what?”
“Future venture.”
“What future venture?”
A pause.
“Still structuring that.”
I begin laughing.
Xavier shoots me a look.
I can't help it.
“You gave a five-year-old equity for hacking a girl's school records?”
“I asked for publicly available intelligence.”
Pierre says, “Student schedules aren't public.”
Another pause.
“Okay, that part may have evolved.”
Xavier's jaw tightens.
“Who is she?”
“Doesn't matter.”
“It matters now.”
“No.”
“Preston.”
“Xavier.”
They sound disturbingly alike.
I lean against the desk.
“Is she pretty?”
Xavier turns toward me.
“What?”
“What? It matters.”
“No, it doesn't.”
Preston answers anyway.
“Yes.”
Interesting.
“Very?”
“Sabine.”
I wave Xavier away.
“I'm gathering intelligence.”
Pierre nods approvingly.
“Exactly.”
Xavier points toward both of us.
“No.”
I smile.
“What's her name, Preston?”
“Not telling.”
“Why?”
“Because Blackwell will run a background check.”
“I absolutely will,” Xavier says.
“See?”
I laugh.
Preston sounds younger suddenly.
Less cocky.
Which tells me far more than anything else.
This isn't some random girl.
“Oh,” I say.
Silence.
Xavier looks at me.
“What?”
I smile.
“He likes her.”
Preston immediately says, “I didn't say that.”
“You didn't have to.”
Pierre swivels toward the phone.
“You said she was annoying.”
“Thank you, Pierre.”
“And pretty.”
“Pierre.”
“And she hates you.”
I press my lips together.
Xavier looks at the ceiling.
This family.
Preston sighs.
“Can somebody mute the kid?”
Pierre gasps.
“I encrypted your chat.”
“And I appreciate you.”
“No more equity.”
“Fine. Two percent.”
“Five.”
I stare at my son.
Xavier takes the phone off speaker for approximately three seconds, apparently realizes that won't solve anything, and puts it back.
“No equity. No hacking Lakeview. No student records.”
Preston says, “You're no fun.”
“I'm preventing several felonies.”
I look at Xavier.
“Were you this boring at his age?”
“No.”
“Thought so.”
“Sabine.”
Preston laughs.
Then I hear voices somewhere behind him.
A door.
Someone calling his name.
He responds away from the phone, then comes back.
“I gotta go.”
Xavier isn't finished.
“Pres.”
“What?”
“Stay out of the school network.”
“Tell Pierre.”
“I just did.”
“Good luck with that.”
The call ends.
Xavier stares at his phone.
Pierre quietly begins typing again.
Both of us look at him.
He stops.
“What?”
“Out,” Xavier says.
“Of the database?”
“Entirely.”
Pierre sighs.
Clicks several keys.
The Lakeview system disappears.
Then he looks up at his father.
“Can I still talk to Preston?”
“Yes.”
“Encrypted?”
Xavier hesitates.
I nudge him.
“He's going to do it anyway.”
My husband looks at our child.
“Fine. But no illegal access.”
Pierre nods solemnly.
“Understood.”
Xavier turns toward me.
“He's lying.”
“Obviously.”
Pierre gasps.
“I heard that.”
“We know.”
He climbs down from the chair and heads for the door.
Halfway there, he stops.
“Maman?”
“Yes?”
“Preston said the girl has a secret.”
I glance at Xavier.
Xavier glances at me.
“What kind of secret?” I ask.
Pierre shrugs.
“He doesn't know yet.”
Then he smiles.
“But he will.”
And runs from the room.
Silence.
I look at Xavier.
Xavier looks at the empty doorway.
“No.”
I smile.
“No what?”
“We are staying out of it.”
“Absolutely.”
“No searches.”
“Never.”
“No calls.”
“Agreed.”
“No asking Pierre.”
“Xavier, please. We have boundaries.”
He studies me.
I study him.
Three seconds.
Then I reach for my laptop.
Xavier catches my wrist.
“Vesper.”
“What?”
“No.”
“I was checking email.”
“Liar.”
“Strategist.”
He pulls me against him.
I laugh.
“Don't you want to know who she is?”
“No.”
“Not even slightly?”
His silence lasts one second too long.
I grin.
“There he is.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don't.”
He kisses my forehead.
From somewhere upstairs, Pierre yells:
“PAPA?”
Xavier closes his eyes.
“What?”
“DO YOU KNOW HOW TO BYPASS LAKEVIEW'S NEW MULTIFACTOR AUTHENTICATION?”
I bury my face against Xavier's chest.
He exhales slowly.
“No!”
A pause.
Then Pierre shouts back:
“IT'S OKAY. I FIGURED IT OUT.”
Xavier looks down at me.
I start laughing.
And somewhere hundreds of miles away, some poor girl at Lakeview Prep has absolutely no idea a Blackwell cousin has decided she's interesting.
Which, if family history has taught me anything, means she's already in trouble.
Big trouble.