But the truth needs to come out. Eventually.
Chapter Ten
“This is amazing work, you guys.”
I sit in the new home office of Rekt Competition Games, inside one of only two office buildings in Crescent Lake, on the outskirts, but still inside city limits. Izzy Ross and her Alphas, Matthew, Asher, and Will, created this company from the ground up and started it in the basement of their house.
I’ve been coming here for a couple of weeks now, working closely with them on a secret project. And I have my grubby hands on the alpha build right now.
Since Izzy adopted her two pitbull mixes from Adley’s uncle a couple of years back, I knew coming to them for help with my master plan was the right call. That and their game development business. And Izzy’s illustration prowess.
And boy, did they go above and beyond.
“Anything for the fur babies.” Izzy sits across from me at the table, seat off to the side, her long black hair tied up in a high ponytail, her gray eyes sparkling as she smiles. She scratches the head of her black and white pitbull that has little patches of tan on her face as the dog settles her chin in Izzy’s lap. Izzy gives the dog a look of pure love before turning back at me. “We did play tests, and your servers are running strong. Good job, by the way.”
Like I’d produce anything sub-par? I should be insulted.
“There may still be some bugs with the ads, but we can settle those once we’ve done more testing and have more ads to cycle.” She gestures at me. “And we’re a go on future episodes and add-ons. All you have to do is tell us how you want to expand when you’re ready. Oh!” She takes the tablet from my grasp and taps away, then hands it back. “Check it out.”
The new logo. Wow. I look up at this genius artist. “Adley is going to love it.”
Izzy grins at me.
I return my gaze to the tablet in my grasp, flip back to the test app, at what could be the most amazing plan to bring money into the sanctuary that I could have ever come up with.
Rekt created the most adorable mobile game, featuring all sorts of animals players can collect and care for. Izzy created some of the cutest designs I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of illustrations for cozy games in my day.
People are going to trip over themselves to play this.
We’re going to implement a paid subscription option, where all proceeds will go to Springer's Sanctuary, and the free option will show ads, again, all revenue going to the sanctuary.
Adley is going to freak out. Hopefully in a good way.
I know she’s going to want a hand in how this is marketed.
“When the game goes live, I’ll feature it on my GamerTube channel and keep a rolling promotion going in the future.” Matthew, who’s seated beside Izzy, is one of the most popular GamerTube content creators in the country. He has these enviable mismatched eyes, perfectly styled dark hair, and a well-manicured beard, like he just stepped out of a high-end barber shop. And maybe he did. I heard there’s a new one in town.
“Did you guys load up your ads?”
Since they’d volunteered their time, I’d insisted they put their logo prominently all over the game and that they add their own ads, free of charge.
“None of that,” Matthew says, head shaking. “We’re doing this for the sanctuary.”
“But we do appreciate your offer,” Izzy tells me.
When I leave their office building, my cell phone rings from an unknown number. I answer before getting into my car.
“Hello?”
“Adam Jones?” A gruff male voice asks.
“Who’s calling?” I wasn’t born yesterday. I know never to give an affirmative answer to questions like that over the phone with all the bot scam artists out there.
“This is Hugh Nye from Particle.”
I hurry into my car and shut the door. “Mr. Nye! It’s great to hear from you.”
“The chairs looked over your proposal, and they’re in. Seems most of them are real animal lovers.”
