Page 33 of Lying Lainey

Angel glanced at Xavier when she mentioned that they’d been the ones to suggest this place, but his brother was no help, still salty about my kiss. “It’s something we dreamed of but never thought would happen. Video games have been around for quite some time, so trying to change the process is a risk. Whenever you have to retrain your users, it’s a gamble. As for our mother, she is beyond proud, but no matter how hard we try, she won’t move out of that original house. Says it’s full of good luck, and it’s risky to throw it away.”

We all smiled at that and, in some ways, understood. Each of us had a good luck charm of sorts that we kept from where we started.

“While it’s no house, I kept the tie I wore when I got the loan I needed to start Enigma, and it was the same one I wore when I got that first defense contract,” Halstead shared. “Some things you just don’t risk getting rid of.”

Our conversation was brought to a halt as the server entered the room. We gave her our drink orders and were informed of the menu. The Forest House didn’t allow you to order, they had a set meal for the night, and unless it was allergy related, they did absolutely no substitutions. This stayed true to the exclusivity of the restaurant, making it an experience each time you came, never getting the same thing twice.

“So we all know why we are here,” Quintin announced once the server left. “Now my biggest question is why should we take you on as a client? You had ample opportunity to prevent this incident from occurring but, in my eyes, you seemed to put the security of your company at the bottom of your list. Now you’ve seen the impact of not having reliable security, you come running to us.”

Damn cutthroat Quin was sexy as fuck, more so because I loved to see him take charge and stand up for us along with himself. He fought every day to better himself, proving to that dark voice in his mind that made Quintin believe he was worthless. In the past three years, he’s made amazing strides and never would have been bold enough to lay down the law like this. Alexis, his therapist, found that viewing certain things as protecting us and our future together allowed him to assert himself better.

“You have every right to question us on that, and our only defense would be to say it was sheer stupidity,” Angel answered. “That being said, I would like to point out that we learn incredibly quickly from our mistakes, and our efforts to correct this problem aren’t simply focused on this one issue but all security issues we might face. In a way, you might say we are also looking for mentors in bringing on your company.”

“So you’re looking to add on consulting as well as security,” Elaine interjected, knowing full well they were looking for us to help them out of the goodness of our hearts. “Just so you know, Mr. Norlund is sought after by hundreds of people looking to pick his brain about things, but there are only so many openings in his schedule to make that happen. You’re looking at an easy five figures just for the ability to reach out to Mr. Norlund alone, but if you’re thinking of having the same opportunity for all three men here, that would be more in the six-figure world.”

Xavier nearly spat out his water at her candor. “That doesn’t come with bringing them on for security? All companies offer a support team.”

“Oh, we most certainly do,” Halstead pointed out. “That would be provided through our IT support team, not from me directly. Enigma has more than one hundred thousand clients worldwide, so there’s no possible way any of the three of us could keep up with that. Not to mention the hours we’d have to keep.”

“I see…” Angel murmured. “Then to you, we’d be just another client.”

Now it was my turn to step in. “It seems there is an expectation here that we’re not understanding. Was there somewhere along the way that you were told we’d be able to offer you specialized services you aren’t paying for?”

“Zimina—”

I raised a hand, cutting him off. “I’m going to stop you right there. Zimina and our company have a complicated relationship, but I will tell you right now that whatever she said it’s a lie. There is no agreement between our company and her to offer extras to her clients. That’s something she’s been saying and doing for years, and we’ve even taken her to court over it. I really can’t believe the bitch is still trying to pull that scam.”

Zimina working with Solarbyte was one of the things that Elaine had uncovered in her search of the company. It wasn’t hard to find information on our lawsuit with Zimina, so I wasn’t shocked that Elaine already knew about it. Halstead hadn’t had time to look into the matter further to ensure this sort of thing wasn’t happening, but it was clear she hadn’t changed her ways.

“She didn’t promise it,” Xavier stated. “All she did was mention that you guys like to mentor younger, up-and-coming people in the tech world, so we assumed you’d want to help.”

“Son,” Halstead started, giving the man a hard look. “In what reality are you considered new or up and coming? You two own one of the biggest video game companies in the world. Do not insult us by believing you thought it was based on age alone. Clearly, you are smarter than that.”

Angel held up both hands as if to stand between the verbal battle playing out between them. “Clearly, we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot somehow, and I’d like us all to take a step back.”

Halstead sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and looking like a grumpy bear who’d gotten his chew toy taken away. “Why don’t you just tell us what you’re looking to get out of hiring us, and I’ll tell you if one, we are interested or two, if we want to take you on. Right now, you’re looking like a lot more work than I think is worth it. Out of respect for what you’ve done in the industry at such a young age, I agreed to take this dinner meeting, which is taking away from other things I’d rather be doing.”

As if the universe knew we needed it, the server returned with our drinks and a light salad to start off the meal.

“If you don’t mind, I think it’s probably safe to put in another round of drinks right away,” I suggested, making Elaine smack my leg playfully as she took a dainty sip out of her gin and tonic.

Damn, is there anything not perfect about this woman?

fourteen

Kerian

The rest of the meal was rather boring as we listened to the brothers tell us their woes about the past week’s events. I noted all the things they’d done wrong and where I’d need to improve things along the way. That is, if they ended up hiring us and if we took on the job, a matter still up for debate. No matter how droll our company was, the food was just outstanding.

The pan-seared scallops with champagne sauce melted in your mouth with how perfectly they were cooked. Then came the duck confit with roasted vegetables that I devoured every single bite of. It was over too quickly, but Elaine took pity on me and gave me her leftover roasted vegetables she didn’t want to eat. It seems our girl wasn’t a fan of peppers or mushrooms, so I guess that means more for me.

“So what do you think?” Xavier asked as our dinner dishes were being collected. “Have we done enough to deserve your help?”

The room fell silent at the flippant words that had just come from that man’s mouth. Angel looked at his brother horrified and tried to quickly fix the damage he’d just done. “I realize that sounded rather antagonistic, but I think what—”

“No,” Xavier snapped, slicing his hand through the air. “From the moment we stepped foot in this room, they’ve done nothing but belittle us by treating us like children. We’ve worked our asses off to get here, building the company from the ground up. I get that Mr. Norlund is one of the most respected people in this tech world, however that doesn’t mean you can treat us like idiots.”

Welp, it looks like we’ll be getting a free dinner out of this, and that’s about it.