“With the greatest of respect, Sir, that wasn’t possible for me due to family circumstances. We didn’t have the money, I still don’t.” It was the God’s honest truth. “I’m keen and I’ve got skills. I regret my time hacking, in fact I’d vowed to stay clear of all of it.”
Again Compton Senior lifted his hand. “I’ve heard this from Lara, all night long. She wants to take the blame, which I wouldn’t allow if you had in any way benefited it from your access to the company’s accounts and software.”
Draco stared across at Lara. She’d been fighting his corner all along. His chest ached with pride. Finally, her eyelids lifted and she looked back at him. Draco was sure then, as sure he could be, she felt something for him the way he did for her.
“Sir, I never would’ve done anything to jeopardize Lara’s relationship with you. We became close.” And I’m in love with her, he silently added. He nearly said it aloud, but the stern look on her father’s face assured him it wasn’t the right time. Did Compton senior suspect there was so much more between them? “I valued the chance to work inside an organization such as yours.”
At some point the car had drawn to a halt.
Compton Senior glanced at his watch. “Go get yourself cleaned up. Come to my office at two this afternoon. We’ll discuss the possibility of extending your student placement in the company.”
Draco reeled.
Compton reached for the door handle and opened the door, gesturing with his hand, indicating Draco should get out.
“Yes, Sir.” Draco undid his seatbelt, but paused.
Lara hadn’t moved. She was staying put. He glanced outside and realized he was being dropped off at the apartment, alone.
He reached across and briefly took Lara’s hand in his own, squeezing it affectionately. It wasn’t much, but he hoped it would mean something to her, the way it did to him.
Once he was outside the door closed behind him and the stretch limousine sped off. Staring after it, Draco tried to organize his thoughts and feelings. Most of all he wanted to hang onto Lara, to keep her by his side, but that was clearly nonnegotiable. She’d known that’s how it would pan out from the moment she stepped into the police station. Had it been a pay off? Fetch him then leave him alone to see if he took off or stuck it out?
The important thing was the door was still ajar.
He needed to get his arse back into Compton Finance before C.S. changed his mind and the door was slammed and bolted.
** *
Lara looked back at Draco standing outside the building. She craned her neck and peered out the rear window until she could no longer see him.
Slumping back into her seat, she quashed down a heartfelt sigh.
“You really think he’s worth it?”
Her dad had been watching her.
She knew, but she couldn’t help herself. “Yes, I think he’s worth it.”
“He’s stood up for you, which I admire. But he’s not who I would’ve chosen for you.”
“I know, but my heart chose him. You can’t choose who you love.”
“There’s truth in that.”
Curious, she glanced sideways at him. He had a glum, resigned expression. It was like something else was bugging him, something outside of this.
“He’s a decent person,” she added quickly, “really, dad. He could have just taken off. There was no reason for him to come clean with you, except he’s a really good guy.”
He nodded. “He stepped up to the plate, and if you’re right about his reasons for being a hacker, it’s in the past.”
She looked at him, willing him to mean what he was saying. “You didn’t have the best start in life. You created your own path, created an empire.”
His expression softened. “I’m glad someone remembers.”
That amazed her. The others didn’t? “Of course I do. I loved hearing those stories. I’ve missed you, Dad.”
He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “I’ve missed you too, Princess.”
The moment was poignant, and she felt horribly guilty about what she’d done.
“He wanted a fair share for you. That’s what made me listen.”
She nodded, sadly. That was her fault too. She looked forlornly at her dad.
“Whatever else you do,” he warned, “please don’t tell me he reminds you of me.”
Lara laughed. “He is rather old-fashioned at times, just like you.”
“What did I say?”
“Hey, you mentioned it. Seriously though, Draco is an intelligent, thoughtful guy. I don’t think he’ll go back in life, only forwards.”
“Time will tell, Lara, time will tell.”
She could do no more than nod in agreement, and hope.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Draco stared at the information screens on the wall in Compton Senior’s office, astonished to find himself back there.
He’d been ushered in by Janice. She’d left him there alone, waiting.
Another test?
Mesmerized by the shifting information on the screens, he stood there and studied it—looking for numeric patterns, finding sense. It fascinated him.
When the door opened and Compton walked in, he quickly straightened his tie. Janice was fast behind him, with a tray containing a pot of tea and fine china. When she set it down on Compton’s desk, Draco stared at in amazement.
“Sit down. Relax.” Compton pointed at the chair in front of his desk. Before he sat down he poured two cups of tea. “Do you take sugar?”
“No, thank you.”
“Very wise. I’m trying to give it up, but it’s hard when you get to my age.”
Draco took the cup and saucer offered to him and tried not to let it rattle as he sat down.
“Feeling better?” Compton raised his eyebrows and studied him over the rim of his teacup.
“Yes, thank you, Sir.”
Compton put up his hand. “Stop with the sir business, please, no one calls me sir. You can call Mr. Compton, for now.”
“Thank you, Mr Compton.” Draco braced himself. “Before anything else is said, I feel I need to give you full disclosure on my background.”
“Your stepbrother is the hacker who managed to access our systems remotely last year, is that it?”
Draco nodded, astonished.
“Lara cleared the decks, it took a long while to get around that particular hurdle, but we did. Mind you, she hunted you down, so it’s just as well you turned out to be a fairly decent sort.”
“Actually, Sir, I mean Mr. Compton, my stepbrother Sean is a pretty decent sort too. It was just a challenge really, trying to see how far we could get.”
Compton stared at him silently for some time.
“Lara meant well, and I was hoping to keep her out of this.”
Compton gave a dry laugh. “An impossible task, given that this was all her doing. A madcap scheme if ever there was one, fraught with problems, and it’s just as well you owned up when you did.”
“That being said…I did underestimate my daughter. I didn’t even think she’d be interested in being part of the company for any great length of time. I took it at face value when she said she needed to do a student placement as part of her degree course.”
“She tried to find a way to impress you, even though she doesn’t have a stake like her brothers do.”
“She has a stake, that’s not an issue.”
“She wasn’t aware of that. The way she described it to me, it sounded like she was disadvantaged because of her gender.”
Compton laughed, and it was a real belly laugh. “Let’s not get into the sociology of it, please. I’m an old-fashioned man. I suppose deep down I wanted Lara to be wooed by a gentleman millionaire.”
A millionaire? Give me time, Draco thought to himself.
“I’m delighted she’s interested in the company.” He put down his teacup. “Now, to business.”
That was just the opener? Draco wondered what was coming next.
&nbs
p; “You were right, I instigated the macro. I did it to see who out of my sons would shake things up, because they badly need to be shaken up. I’m almost ready for retirement. I’ve got competent managers but they don’t often think about the company in the long term. The workers are good, but again I want to find ways to make loyalty a priority.”
He appeared to be thinking aloud, but paused and looked directly at Draco. “You’re sharp, you notice things. Tell me, what did you notice about the working environment?”
“I didn’t get any sense of the managers, not from the shop floor, as it were. Apart from Susanna.”
“That needs to change, for a start. The team managers need to be with their staff, not on the floor above. What did you think of Susanna?”
“Easy to talk to. She’s good with people, which has to be the number one requirement for a Human Resource Manager, but she’s not good on the tech stuff. She needed an assistant to take care of that. The database was a mess, and I understand it was outsourced?”
Compton nodded. “And?”
Did he really want to hear this? “I don’t know your sons very well, but personally I need a solid goal, something to work toward.”
Compton nodded. “My fault. When you get somewhere in life, you don’t want your kids to have the struggle you did. The way it’s turned out, Lara’s been the most challenged and she’s the most motivated.” He was silent a moment, thoughtful. “Jamie’s leaving the company anyway...” He glanced quickly at Draco, but didn’t comment further. “I think Charles needs a change of direction too.”
“I’ve had time management people in who’ve charged thousands of pounds to quote textbook stuff on how paperless offices should work—in an ideal world.” He shook his head.
“From my brief time working here,” Draco ventured, “everyone seems happy, it’s a great environment. You treat your staff well and you have great facilities. But people commute, they have families. They’re desperate to get on the Internet for five minutes to order some groceries. You could make it official, allow shopping online during the lunch break, something like that.”
“Limits on personal use of internet are difficult to instigate.”
“Unless you need a publicly acceptable reason to fire someone.”
Compton laughed. “Given.”
“You allow smokers a smoking break. Why not give them an Internet break so they can order food for their kids, you could make it part of the flexi time lunch break.”
Compton stared at him. “Okay, you’ve got my attention.”
Jeez, it that what it was about? Draco broke into a laugh, he couldn’t help it. “Mr. Compton, what is it I need to do for you to take me seriously?”
Compton smiled. It made him look so much more human. “I have a team meeting tomorrow morning, management level. I want to expose how easy it was for you to access the systems. I’d like you to prepare a short presentation, tell them how you did it so they can work on closing loopholes.”
“I can do that.”
“Work on it remotely. I’d like Lara to stay with us tonight. There are a few family changes we need to discuss.”
Draco nodded, but his mind whirred, an idea—a hope—lighting him up. “Can I bring in a friend to assist with the presentation?”
“A friend?”
“Call him an almost brother-in-law.”
“What sort of fee are we talking about?”
Draco shrugged. “A token, nothing extravagant. Some DIY vouchers would be especially useful.”
Compton’s puzzled expression was too funny.
Draco liked to undermine stereotypical expectations of him and his world. “He’s got house renovations to do. He’s good with code.”
“If you want me to take you seriously why don’t you deliver yourself?”
“I will prepare the information, the only request is Rory present it.”
“I’ve got my top management guys coming in here and you expect them to listen to someone who looks like a painter and decorator?”
“Biker, he looks like a biker.”
Compton rolled his eyes.
“There are two reasons why I suggest this. Rory looks like their expectation of a hacker. I was undercover and very few people knew, nobody figured out. Rory could have been working for you privately.”
“Why don’t you want people to know it was you? The kudos could be good for you. You could make a career out of it.”
“I guess you’re right, but I’d like to continue working for Compton Finance. If my cover is blown, people will never trust me.”
“True enough.” He held Draco’s gaze for a long moment. “You’re serious about wanting to stay on?”
“Yes, I am.”
A flash of admiration showed in his eyes. “I’m glad you like it enough to want to stay.”
“Does that mean you’ll consider it?”
Compton broke into a smile. “It means I’ll give it some thought.”
“Thank you, Mr. Compton.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The first person Draco saw as he approached Halliday’s bike workshop was his sister, Sky. He knew she was going to be there, so he was prepared. It would have made him angry, a few weeks earlier. Today it made him smile.
She was on top of a ladder, washing the sign over the workshop gates. Her hair was tied up in a red scarf. She wore overalls clasped in at the waist with a big belt. The legs on the overalls were rolled up and she had work boots on.
When she saw him she waved and hurriedly climbed down the ladder.
“Wow!” she exclaimed when he reached the ground. “Look at you! Draco, you scrub up well. That suit is gorgeous on you.”
He smiled. “Are you still working at the coffee place as well?”
“Not any more. When Rory asked me to help out, I came here full time instead. He’s snowed under since his boss passed on. The shop was closed for a few days and there’s a backlog. I’m here to answer the phone and other stuff, so he can concentrate on the bikes. I’m cleaning up.”
“You’re not giving up your college plans, are you?”
“No, but I think I’ll do it part time.”
“Great, well, I can help with the fees.”
“You don’t need to do that. We’ve got it sorted.”
Draco frowned. He couldn’t help being doubtful and concerned.
“I know you don’t approve, but please don’t start banging on about it again.”
She put out her arms, offering him a hug.
Accepting her embrace, he returned it. “You’re good together. I’m getting used to it. Just give me time.”
“That means the world to me, to both of us” She squeezed him tightly. “Besides,” she added, brightly, “I love it here. It was hell working at the station.”
“As long as Rory’s looking after you properly.” It wasn’t quite what he meant but it was difficult to say anything concerned without sounding like a tyrant. Lara had given him a bit more perspective on this thing and he was trying to be more reasonable about it. Even so, it was going to take some getting used to.
“I can still make you a barista style coffee,” Sky added. “Rory got a proper machine so we can offer customers a brew if they have to wait.”
“Sure.”
She directed him inside the workshop. “You’ll find Rory in there.”
Draco wove his way in through a row of parked up bikes. Rory was polishing the engine casing on an impressive Harley Davidson.
“Nice Harley.”
Rory straightened up. “It was George’s.”
“Ah, that makes sense. Do you have to sell it?”
“No way. It’s for Sean. George would’ve wanted it to go to a good home, and I can’t think of anyone who’ll appreciate it more.”
Draco nodded. It was good to think about Sean out and enjoying life. He’d taken the rap for the three of them, for a hack that was basically a dare and a prank gone too far.
“I plan to take it up there on a tr
ailer,” Rory continued as he polished the engine casing. “Hand it over when he gets out. Give him the chance to take off for a while.”
“Good plan.”
They silently shared the mutual gap, the missing piece. Sean’s absence had kept them from spending time together that last ten months, but it was changing. As the time for Sean’s freedom drew near, so Draco and Rory gradually drew back together.
“It’ll be good to spend time together again,” Draco added.
Rory nodded, smiling.
“I’m sorry I thumped you, the other night.”
“Forget it.” They stood in silence for a moment then Rory wiped his hands on a rag. “When you’re done with this mystery job of yours, I wondered how you’d feel about building me a website, and maybe a parts database?”
“You haven’t done that already?”
“It wasn’t George’s thing, and I was busy learning from him, so I never got to it. They’re things that’ll help, and I’d like to expand, going forward.”
Draco nodded. “Whatever happens with the current job, we’ll do it. It’ll be fun.”
“This job going longer than you expected?” Rory looked curious, just as he had the first time Draco had mentioned the job.
“Actually, that’s what I need to talk to you about. I need your help.”
Relief spread across Rory’s face. “Sure thing, what do you need?”
He was pleased to be asked a favour. Draco’s conscience pricked him. He’d come down heavy on Rory and Sky for seeing each other, and Lara was right, the only way to find out if they would work out was to let them try. There was no real reason why they shouldn’t be able to give it a shot.
“I can see you’re busy, but what I’m asking won’t take long, and I’ll make sure you get recompense. Plus, I’ll put in some hours here at the weekends, help you with your backlog.”
“You’ve got a deal.”
“You don’t know what I want you to do yet.”
“I trust you.” Rory looked at him intently as he spoke. He was looking for the same in return, regarding Sky.
Draco nodded. “It shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours out of your day, but I need to brief you.”
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