Chapter 10
MATTEO
I guess they need to know, especially since she's going to walk through the door in the next hour.
Alex, Sonny and Joel, my tech leads, walk into my office for a meeting and sit around the big glass table in the corner.
I've never seen a job offer go out so quickly.
What is the fucking rush here? The old man told me over the weekend that Elizabeth Raven is joining us.
I tried to keep my cool. Tried not to get too worked up about it.
I figure he's telling me things as late as possible because he's trying to rile me up.
That's what he does. It's a sport for him. He's gone through most of my brothers. He recently finished with Zach and now he's on my back.
Pretty soon, he'll be on Enzo's.
The man is a psycho.
“What new issues have we discovered?” I ask.
“I was locked out of the development server this morning,” offers Sonny.
Joel sinks back against his chair. “My credentials were revoked overnight.”
“The usual problems,” Alex mutters. “But nothing too devastating,” he adds.
I think about the pattern of behavior over the past month. We’ve had login attempts at odd hours, minor permission mismatches. User settings changing without explanation. Logs altered just enough to make us question ourselves.
Nothing severe. Nothing that would be capable of bringing down a company of this size. More like a thousand papercuts than a knife wound.
But it bothers me all the same.
“We’re missing something. Have we reviewed every authentication log? Every permission change? Every system event?”
Alex folds his arms. He’s my second in command and the person responsible for the day-to-day monitoring of our systems.
“I’ve combed through them all weekend,” he says. “Nothing ties together. No common use. No common device. No obvious attack vector. It’s the same low-level noise we’ve been getting.”
“Noise that keeps happening,” Joel points out.
And that’s what worries me. “People don’t spend a month creating random inconveniences for fun.”
These incidents aren’t catastrophic, but they’re becoming more frequent. A month ago it was one or two strange events a week. Easy enough to dismiss as part of human error. Software bugs. Configuration drift.
Now we’re seeing something almost every day.
“We keep monitoring the logs,” I say, tapping my pen on the table.
“Track every anomaly, no matter how small. Build timelines and look for patterns. Somewhere in all this noise is a signal and I want to know what it is.” I look up, surveying their expressions.
“Don't look so defeated. We'll get to the bottom of this.”
“Yeah,” says Alex. “We're gonna get this. We're gonna fix it.” He's always upbeat. He can fix anything. The tech issues have had us all scratching our heads though. They’ve been minor so far, and we’ve mostly been busy upgrading a lot of the servers, so we haven’t been as focused on it, but now that the old man has hired someone to take care of it, I guess I’ll see how she gets on with it.
I need to tell them. I cough to clear my throat. “There's something else.”
All three pairs of eyes widen.
“Like what?” Sonny asks, a line creasing his forehead.
“We have a new starter.”
“Yeah?” Joel looks pleased. “You kept that quiet. When's he starting?”
“He's not. She is.”
“Wait, what? We're gonna have a woman working here?” Joel asks, his smile slowly widening.
I'd call it a dirty, sleazy smile, and it makes my gut twist. I want to wipe that smile right off his face. “We are.”
I'm now bombarded with questions, mainly from the two young ones, Joel and Sonny.
A woman?
How old is she?
Is she single?
I get up and walk to my desk. For no reason other than to still the way my stomach is churning. It's suddenly dawned on me, given their reaction, that Elizabeth is going to be the only woman working down here.
The only woman who has ever worked here, since I've been here.
Why did this not occur to me before?
“Guys. You can't be talking like that. We must be careful of sexist talk.”
“You've kept this very quiet,” Alex remarks. “I didn't even know we were hiring.”
“We weren't. I wasn't. My father is.” I straighten up and fold my arms. It still pisses me off.
I have to watch what I say, because I don't need to tell them everything.
They know, because they've heard me on the phone, or have heard my comments about him, that I don't see eye to eye with my old man.
He didn't tell me that he'd offered the role to Elizabeth until the last possible moment.
I try to frame this differently. “My father ...” It's fucking hard to say that word. “My father is keen to have an external audit done, and I can't say it's a bad idea to get an outside consultant to carry it out.”
“Tell us about her then, boss.” Joel seems especially interested.
“I don't know much about her. My father took it upon himself to hire her.”
“You don’t know anything?” Alex asks, surprised.
“I saw the presentation she made and it wasn’t bad.”
“Wasn’t bad?” Alex pushes.
“It was … remarkable.”
“How old is she?” Joel asks.
“About mid-twenties, I'd say.” I'm guessing, because I don't know.
“Where's she working at the moment?” Alex asks.
“I don't know.”
Alex quirks a brow in disbelief. “How can you not know? What does her resume say?”
I wince. “Haven't seen it, yet. I just told you. My old man dealt with this.” I need to remind the old man to email me a copy.
Alex assesses me carefully. The other two chuckle among themselves.
I don't like it, their excitement over us hiring a woman.
As if that's all they can think about. I expected better from Sonny.
Joel has always been a flirt and a joker.
I've been on enough team nights out to see how he behaves around women.
I have a sudden urge to remind them that our new hire is a cybersecurity consultant, not a novelty.
“It'll be nice to have some feminine energy for a change.” Sonny sits back, clasping his hands against he back of his head. He looks excited to have her on board, too.
I should have prepared her. Thing is, I've never had to deal with this before. “She's smart,” I tell them. One of the few things I do know about her.
“Are you sure you're still working for us?” he asks. They all laugh.
“Ha ha. I'm still here. I'll always be here,” I say, deadpan.
I sound like I haven't got a clue, and I hate that, because I usually know more than everyone here.
Apart from Alex. But he's in his late thirties and a decade older than me, so he should.
Still, I hate that I sound so unprepared when it comes to Elizabeth.
“When does she start?” Joel is desperate to meet her and it's starting to grate on me.
It shouldn't.
I remind myself that it's all about professionalism and control.
I'm in charge here, not the old man. And yet, trying to think of Elizabeth in purely professional terms is impossible, because all I see is the fear in her big, hazel eyes, and the panic which gripped her body when the elevator got stuck.
And how I managed to soothe away her fears.
How we connected. And bonded. And got closer.
Only for it all to be ripped away moments later when I realized who she was and why she was at the office at all.
“When does she start, boss?” Sonny asks just as Alex asks me if I’m okay.
“Sorry. Yes. All good. Just got a lot going on.” I glance at my watch. “She starts in about thirty minutes.”
“Damn.” Joel smoothes down the crease in his barely ironed shirt. “Wish you'd told me sooner. I could have smartened up a bit.”
He's going to make a beeline for her.
I can fucking feel it, and my temper flares for reasons I can’t explain. I walk over to the table again and wag a finger at Joel and Sonny.
“Listen. You cannot hit on women. No jokes, nothing lewd, no “you look pretty,” comments. I refer you to our handbook. This is a professional environment and I expect you all to treat her with the respect she deserves.”
“Why is she the only woman who's ever worked here?” Alex asks.
That's a good question. I clear my throat, because I'm not sure of how to answer that.
“It's just that we ... uh ... we don't hire based on gender. I've only looked at resumes and how a candidate shows up. Turns out that we've only ever had men apply for a role here, and the two women who did come for an interview, weren't better than the others.”
“And this one?” Joel asks.
I throw my hands up. “I don't know. I've only seen her do one presentation. I don't know how many others my father interviewed. I suggest you go and question him if you need answers.”
Joel rubs his hands together. “I can't wait to see her.”
I huff out an irritated breath. “I'm warning you, Joel. I don't want any reports of sexual harassment on this floor. Is that understood?”
“Chill, boss. I'm not that kinda guy. I just happen to think it's nice having a female down here. I think it'll balance the energy around this place.”
“Balance the energy?” I lift a brow.
“This place is filled with testosterone.”
“I'm looking forward to meeting her if she's as smart as you say,” says Sonny.
They all look at me expectantly.
“What?” I don't know what more information I can give them.
“There's a but,” Alex says.
“What do you mean there's a ‘but?’”
“We can tell, boss. We know that face. There's a ‘but’. What's the ‘but?’” Sonny is insistent.
There is no but.
“You don't like her,” says Alex. I find it unnerving how he's so right, so many times.
I take a few moments, then own up. “It's not that I don't like her. What I don't like is the way my father went behind my back. I feel a little blindsided, if I'm being honest.”
“We get you.” Sonny nods, understanding.
“That's all for now. Her name is Elizabeth Raven and she starts soon. She will report to me. Please make her feel welcome.”
After they leave, I'm left sitting in my office wondering how the hell I’m going to handle working with her.