Chapter 49
Lara
When you’re under attack in the woods, press R to roll and dodge.
Luca has refused to tell me anything about his conversation with Sophia, so I all but bowl my boss over when she walks into our booth, her laptop and a folder in her hands.
Much like Luca earlier, her mood seems to have improved suddenly.
She gives the crowd in the booth a cheerful little nod and comes to a spirited stop in front of me.
“What did Luca tell you?” I assail her before she gets a chance to open her mouth. “And why are you smiling?”
Her smile widens some more, and her eyes flash. Nat joins us, the same inquiring frown on her face. “Because I have good reason to smile. Thanks to Luca.” Sophia glances at her wristwatch. “I’ll tell you everything later, but there’s no time to lose. Nat, can you take over the booth for a minute?”
“I already have, unofficially, because you two seem to bunk off every chance you get. Never mind that they can’t kick us out for being a group of three anymore. Yay.”
“Thanks,” Sophia tells her without acknowledging her jab. “Lara, come along, please. I could use some backup.”
“OK,” I say slowly, shrugging at Nat’s suspicious stare. I have no clue what the hell is going on, but Sophia’s euphoria is contagious and in such stark contrast to her empty gaze earlier that a tingling sense of excitement starts to well up inside me.
“All right then, let’s go!”
Sophia rushes past us and out of the book nook, ahead of me.
“What on earth did Luca tell her?” Nat asks.
“No idea, but whatever it was must’ve been important.” I turn to face her. “Do you really not mind staying here?”
“It’s fine. My curiosity is probably going to kill me, but let’s be honest—I’m the most charming out of the three of us, and I’ll force everyone to write us glowing reviews.”
“Force, eh? Very charming.”
Nat’s only reply is a wink, and then she shoves me in the direction of Sophia, who is already bouncing on the balls of her feet impatiently out front.
“Will you tell me now why you’ve got ants in your pants?” I ask when I reach her, but she only shakes her head.
“You’ll hear in a moment.” Sophia jogs down the aisles so quickly that I have trouble keeping up with her. Some of the exhibitors we pass start to whisper among themselves at the sight of us, but while I throw them poisonous glances, Sophia doesn’t seem to care.
“I’d be better prepared if you told me,” I say, though I have an awful sense I know where Sophia is going, because she turns left. Onto the aisle where Luca’s booth is.
She slows down at my words, and a shadow passes over her face.
“Maybe, but I won’t feel prepared either way.
What you’re about to hear . . .” Now she stops, turning to face me.
The Bytes it’s implied by the designs of the city and the character in the video.
Hank’s smile falters, and he braces his arms on the table, leaning closer to the screen with a stunned expression on his face.
“What . . .”
With each passing second, the color of his face blends more with the white wall behind him. I look back at the screen in confusion, but I can’t see what’s throwing him off.
“Where did you get that?” Hank’s voice is strained. Angry. Sophia returns his gaze, and there’s an unfamiliar coldness in it.
When I turn back to the laptop, I realize why. I sharply suck in a breath of air. “No,” I gasp. My heart is beating in my throat as I try to understand what I’m seeing. My eyes see it, but my brain can’t follow.
“Oh yes.” Sophia’s voice sounds angry too. No wonder.
The NPC there on the screen, the one the main character is interacting with, is her.
Sophia. My boss. She has her build, her face.
The same green eyes, the same shoulder-length, coppery hair.
Her forehead, her nose, and her smile are identical.
Even her clothing style and the way she walks looks like Sophia.
But that’s not the worst of it. I’ve never played Lawless myself, but I’ve seen some Let’s Plays from streamers, and even if I hadn’t, what’s unfolding on the screen in front of me right now is unmistakable.
Hank didn’t put Sophia’s face on any old character. He put it on a prostitute.
As the in-game MC tears the clothes off her body in a graphic, almost hyperrealistic cutscene, I look away. Sophia stops the video.
“I suppose that’s telling enough, no? Not that the rest of it isn’t worth watching.
” Sophia makes a fist under the table with her free hand.
I put my hand on it and squeeze. I can’t even imagine what’s going on inside her right now.
The TikTok of my performance was enough to break me, so how awful must it be to watch yourself get used in a video game?
To have someone you once trusted and had a relationship with, someone you loved, expose you—literally and figuratively.
Aghast, I look over at Hank, who’s obviously struggling for words.
“You can’t exclude similarities in these kinds of games, you know,” Hank says, but his voice sounds nowhere near as steady as it was.
“Oh, right. Happens to the best of us.” Sophia opens another file, a screenshot this time. “But does that explain why my name is recorded in the code for this character? Doesn’t really look like a coincidence to me. What do you think?”
By now, all the blood has drained from Hank’s face. “Where did you get that?”
“That’s beside the point,” Sophia says.
But right then, I know. It was Luca.
That’s why he wanted to talk to Sophia. It must have been him, though I have no idea how he did it.
Despite the disturbing images, my heart glows with gratitude.
Luca must have known the risk he was taking.
He must realize that Hank is going to find out sooner or later that he had something to do with it.
And still, he helped us. When I notice the tears stinging my eyes, I blink them away quickly.
“The character didn’t even make it into the final version of the game. I’m not stupid,” Hank replies.
“That, too, is beside the point. Don’t you think I know?
These logs are old.” Sophia shrugs. “But do you think anyone’s going to care?
Once I send this to the press, it’s going to be the ax for you, Hank.
They’re going to tear you apart. A powerful man’s tiny ego taking revenge on a young developer by allowing players the world over to have sex with her, to hit her, to shove her in front of a car.
Like she’s nothing but a piece of meat.” Sophia’s words are sharp.
“But I’ll tell them who she is: a former intern, one he should never have started a relationship with in the first place.
His competition, whom he’s still trying to sabotage.
And then, if you please, we’ll have another sexism scandal in the industry, because yet another man couldn’t take no for an answer.
And not just some man, but the one and only Hank Bayford.
Right now, we’ve got the attention of the papers and several big YouTube channels on us.
They’re going to jump at all of this. Maybe it’ll even make me enough money that I won’t need the funding.
” Sophia smiles up at the ceiling like she’s lost in thought.
“I wonder, will you be able to release part two of Lawless? I imagine it’ll be tricky, what with all the negative press.
Investors are certainly going to keep their distance from you.
Didn’t you just win Game of the Year for Havoc City?
What a shame; I reckon they’re going to revoke that too. ”
Hank looks deflated, like Sophia’s speech has aged him several years. But inside my chest, there’s a raging storm of every emotion imaginable. My heart is beating so loud that you can probably hear it from outside. I thought this convention was going to be our end. But it’s Hank’s.
“What do you want?”
Sophia leans over the table like they’re in a regular negotiation meeting. Her smile sends a shiver down my spine.