by Roni Loren
His jaw was hard now, his dark eyes flinty. “Are you a reporter?”
“What?” She blinked, thrown off by the question and the dose of disgust in his voice. “No. I’m . . .”
She didn’t finish the sentence, and he stared at her expectantly.
God. She didn’t want to say it. Not to him. Not to anyone.
“You’re what?” he demanded.
If internal organs could cringe, hers did. “I’m a member.”
The tightness in his jaw went slack at that. “Of Hayven?”
She adjusted her glasses and used that as a reason to look away and toward the hall. She’d never told anyone about the game. No one knew that secret shame, the things she did in that world, the fantasies she played out. How she pretended to be someone else entirely. How she had cyber/phone sex with a stranger. Heat burned up her neck. “Could we do this in your office? I’d rather not discuss everything out here.”
He seemed to snap out of his stupor at that. “Oh. Of course. Right this way.”
He turned and his fingertips landed gently on her upper arm to guide her. The move was polite, not at all aggressive, but he may as well have had electrodes taped to his fingers for the current it sent radiating through her. She had to breathe through the reaction.
Must. Focus.
He led her into a spacious corner office, complete with wraparound windows and what looked to be authentic mid-century-modern furniture. His desk was in the center—simple and clean—with only a laptop. But against the left wall was an impressive workstation with three oversized monitors and a number of gadgets. That area wasn’t so Zen. There were sticky notes everywhere and pads of paper stacked haphazardly. On the wall were pinned sheets of papers—drawings. She wanted to step closer and examine them, but she wasn’t here for a tour.
He ushered her into the chair across from his desk and then took a seat on the other side. His gaze met hers, expression focused but impossible to read. “So, let’s start over. You’re not a reporter.”
“No.”
“You’re a member who has somehow figured out that I’m the one in charge, and you’ve had some problem with the game.”
“Yes.”
He leaned forward on his forearms, the little move somehow creating an intimate just-between-me-and-you vibe. “Okay, well, I’m always happy to help a customer. But to be honest, if you’re looking for tech support, I’m not your guy. My skills lie elsewhere.”
He didn’t say the last part in any particular way, but her brain twisted the words and dumped a big sprinkle of sexual innuendo on them. She’d seen some of those skills last night. She’d seen the way those hands he had folded on the desk gripped a woman’s hair in passion. She’d heard how his voice sounded when he commanded a woman to take his cock.
Cora gripped the arm of the chair hard, trying to get ahold of the spiraling thoughts, and took a steadying breath. Just the facts, Cora. Focus on that. “This isn’t a little tech support issue, Mr. Muroya. You’ve had a major security breach, and all of your members are at risk until you fix it.”
The frown was instant, the casual posture gone. “What?”
She straightened in her chair, professional mode kicking in. “I’m not sure what you have in the way of an IT Security department here, but they’re sleeping on the job. The admin address has been hacked, and someone is sending emails out to your members with personal information of other members.”
His entire demeanor shifted. His forehead creased, jaw flexing, and anger flashed in his gaze. “You’re sure of this.”
Not a question, but she answered it anyway. “Yes.”
“How?”
She unzipped her bag and pulled out the email. She’d taken a permanent marker to the places where the name Lenore was mentioned, but she’d left the rest untouched. She set it on his desk. “This was sent from the main email address to someone I’d blocked in the game. My personal information was included and then whoever sent it got creative with the rest. Rape fantasy being a theme.”
Ren picked up the sheet, his eyes scanning it, his expression darkening as he went. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No. And the man they sent the email to was local and took it literally. When I got home from the party last night, he was waiting for me outside my house.”
Ren’s head snapped up.
Cora swallowed, some of the anxiety from last night trying to bubble up again. “He grabbed me, thinking I was up for some kind of force fantasy, but my neighbors heard the scuffle and intervened. He ran off when the cops showed up.”
Ren expression went lax, horrified. “Christ. He— Are you okay?”
She wet her lips. “I’m all right. I got lucky. But I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened if someone hadn’t heard. The safe word he was given wasn’t mine. I wouldn’t have had a way to stop him.”
Ren closed his eyes briefly, like he was honestly pained at the thought.
She didn’t give him a chance to respond. She wasn’t here for sympathy or to talk about her terrifying night. She wanted things fixed. “Until this breach is closed, you’re putting everyone in jeopardy. Not just for what happened to me, but exposure in general. People enter their information into your game, thinking their private details will remain that way. I have no idea how many people received emails like this about me. I didn’t sleep last night because I couldn’t stop thinking about who else could show up.”
Ren shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “God, Cora, I’m so sorry. This is— Obviously, we’ll do whatever we need to do to get this fixed. I can’t imagine how frightening all that must’ve been. If you need a place to stay temporarily to feel safe, we can set you up in a hotel or pay for an alarm system for your place or something.”
“I appreciate that, but I’m not coming here for a handout. I just want you to close the holes, to let members know there’s been a breach, and to warn them that if they receive an email like this, it’s a fake.”
“Of course. I can’t believe someone would do this.” His fist curled against the desk. “What could possibly be their endgame? Can they steal the credit card numbers?”
Cora blew out a breath. “Depends on how good they are. I don’t know how hard it was to break into your system. He could’ve gotten into the email by some simple phishing. One of your employees might’ve clicked on a bad link or went to a dummy log-in page and revealed the password. But if someone just wanted to grab card numbers, they had no reason to go through the trouble of sending out emails like this. Whoever did this wanted to screw with people. I don’t know if it was targeted at me in particular or if it’s more widespread. But whoever it was did their homework. They knew enough to make it realistic.”
“What do you mean?”
She frowned. “The subject of the email said, Tired of being teased? Whoever it was knew that this guy was interested in my character and that I turned him down. So this person either scanned chat transcripts or is already a player in the game.”
Or was watching her chats with Dmitry. You like the idea of being captured? She rubbed chill bumps from her arms.
Ren considered her. “If it’s another player, it could be personal.”
“Sure. It could be as simple as I pissed someone off and he decided to go after me. That’d be easier to pinpoint. But if it’s more than just me . . .” She lifted her hands, palms up. “Then it could be anyone. Someone being a sick asshole. Someone who has an issue with Hayven or the content. One of your competitors. A bored teenager.”
He looked down at the email and a line appeared between his brows again. “And this was the email the hacker sent to the guy about you?”
“Yes.”
He peered up. “And how did you get that? Did the guy give it to you?”
Cora pressed her lips together. She had to be careful. What she’d done last night
hadn’t quite been legal. But Ren, guy who gets blow jobs from other people’s girlfriends at parties, probably wasn’t going to call the ethics police on her. She adjusted her purse in her lap. “I’m an IT security specialist and am certified in white-hat hacking. I needed to know how he got my information.”
His eyebrow arched. “So you broke into his account.”
She shrugged. “Let’s just say he was uncreative with his password choices.”
The corner of Ren’s mouth twitched, a flicker of amusement lightening the serious expression. “I see.”
She crossed her arms. “Good thing since obviously your security department is playing Candy Crush or scrolling through Facebook instead of checking the system.”
The thundercloud expression returned. “We had to contract that work out when the guy we had in that position moved away a few months ago. Believe me, that contract will be terminated as soon as we’re done here. This is beyond unacceptable.”
Cora didn’t like to hear about anyone losing a gig, but she was glad Ren was taking this seriously. “You need to hire someone to hack into the system, find the holes, and close them up. And beef up the security in the game all around. Find someone who can think like a criminal. You’re handling outrageously private information and will lose every last one of your members if they think they’re not protected. Not to mention put yourself at risk for lawsuits.”
“Right. Of course.” Ren leaned back in his chair, squeezed his temples.
She could tell it was sinking in, the utter catastrophe this could be for his customers and company. It sucked. For everyone involved. And she appreciated that he wasn’t giving her some corporate speak, playing the political, what-can-I-say-so-you-don’t-sue-me game. In fact, he’d said enough to take blame that she’d have grounds for a lawsuit herself. But that wasn’t why she was here. This hacker was nasty and dangerous. People needed to be protected.
“You may be able to stop it before it goes widespread,” she said, trying to throw out a seed of hope. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with yet. But the clock is ticking. He’s gone unchecked for a few days at least.”
Ren looked up, his eyes meeting hers. “Any recommendations on who to hire? Someone who could start immediately.”
Her mouth opened then shut again. She’d almost said the obvious—her. But did she really want to put that out there? If he actually was interested in hiring her, she’d be working with this man. This man who’d put a woman on her knees, shoved his dick in her mouth, and let Cora watch. This man who already knew too many of her secrets, who knew she was in the game. She didn’t like people knowing those private things about her. She’d learned growing up that secrets were the most dangerous weapons. If you trusted someone with them it was like handing them a loaded gun and telling them exactly where best to aim. She shifted in her chair. “I may know a few people.”
He tilted his head, like a big, dangerous cat watching prey cross the Serengeti. “Isn’t that what you do?”
“I—”
“Are you working for someone else right now?”
She cleared her throat. “I own my own business. I do contract work.”
“So you don’t think you’re good enough to tackle this breach, then?”
Her teeth clicked together at that, the casual comment digging under her skin. “I’m one of the best at what I do, Mr. Muroya. Maybe I’m worried you can’t afford me.”
There. That last part was a lie, but at least it sounded like a good excuse. And it could be half-believable considering the party he’d seen her at last night.
He flipped the printed email over, grabbed a pen, and then scrawled something on the back. He slid it her way. “Will that hourly rate suffice?”
Cora stared down at the number. Blinked. Forced her jaw not to unhinge.
Fuuuck.
Okay, so it was almost three times what she was charging clients right now. Depending on how long the job was, it could mean actual security for a little while. And no ramen. But was it worth it?
The awkwardness scale was going to be off the charts. She’d seen him in a private moment. But beyond that, she’d revealed a glimpse of herself. There’d been a long few seconds between him looking at her in that hallway and her leaving. He’d stripped away a few layers and had continued to tug at them when he’d sat down at her table.
He’d seen more than she wanted anyone to see. In the safety of her own home, she could be Lenore. But, if he discovered it was her, she’d be seen as that strange girl who was so pitiful she’d had to build a character who looked nothing like her just to get laid in a video game. The thought made her want to fold in on herself. She liked those two spheres of her life not touching. No Venn diagram interaction.
But how the hell was she supposed to walk away from that kind of money? This had to be better than living week to week or having to take some gig at an overnight call center. And it’d look solid on her résumé. Plus, she was good at her job. If she really wanted this fixed, the best way to ensure that was to do it herself.
But even knowing all that, something made her hesitate. A warning bell. She’d been looking for clients for months.
This all felt too easy.
She pushed the paper his way again and sat back in her chair. “Why are you offering this to me? You don’t know me. You don’t even know my last name. I could be terrible at my job.”
He gave her a humorless smile. “Benning.”
“What?”
“Your last name. I checked the guest list last night after you left.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know how to feel about that. He’d probably checked it to make sure she wasn’t going to report him for a lewd act.
“And for the record, I make quick decisions but not haphazard ones. I’m making you the offer for a number of reasons.”
She gave him a skeptical look.
“Don’t believe me? Fine. Here’s what I know about you so far.” He lifted a finger to count off. “You easily broke into this guy’s account and figured out what was going on. You found me and tied me to Restless Games even though I know exactly how many layers you had to go through to get that information, so I know you’ve got skills.” He nodded toward his door. “You’re obviously determined since you got your way back here today and waited. You’re going to be more motivated than most to fix this because you’re personally involved in it. And you’re already part of the game, so I don’t have to worry about your delicate sensibilities being offended by our kinky little universe.”
The air sagged out of Cora.
“And I know that what I just offered to pay you has got you interested at least on that level.”
She looked up.
His lips twitched up at the corner. “Don’t play poker, Cora. Your nostrils flared when you saw the number and your whole body went tense.”
“I—”
“So,” he said, not giving her a chance to protest, “what’s holding you back must be because of the incident last night. So let’s just get that out on the table and clear it. Now that I know you’re kinky, I can stop worrying I freaked you out last night with that little cuckolding scene. It happened. You watched. I didn’t mind. It doesn’t have to be big deal. Just pretend we ran into each other in a club and follow the standard discretion rules. And—”
“I never said I was kinky,” she blurted.
He paused, head tilted. “You’re a member of Hayven and not?”
She cleared her throat. “I just like interesting games. I mostly observe.”
Lie. Total fucking lie. Ever since she’d met Dmitry, she’d done nothing but participate. But she’d rather he think she was some wallflower voyeur than reveal who she was in the game.
He considered her for a long moment, but then nodded. “Fair enough. Either way, there’s no need for what happened last night to affect work. Work is work. Pe
rsonal is personal. I know how to divide the two. I assume you do as well.”
Something about the way he said it gave her pause, but he’d switched to business mode and that soothed her nerves some. “Of course.”
“Excellent. Bottom line is my game has a major problem, and you’re telling me you have the skills to fix it and can start quickly. Because of the sensitive information you’ll have access to, I’ll need a background check. That’s the only time constraint. But assuming that will come through over the weekend and all come back fine, I’m offering to contract you for your services for that hourly rate, starting Monday if you’re available. Are you interested?”
Cora wet her lips, overwhelmed by the turn this conversation had taken. She’d walked in with a complaint and now there was a job offer sitting in her lap. She could pretend to think it over, put up some kind of effort. But her mama didn’t raise no fool, and Cora would be the biggest of them all to turn down a gig that paid this well. She took a breath and put her hand out. “I guess we have a deal, Mr. Muroya.”
His hand closed around hers, firm, warm. “Ren.”
“Excuse me?”
“Call me Ren.” He gave her a half smile. “I only require that kind of formality in very specific situations and work isn’t one of them.”
She coughed, choking on her own spit. Sir. The word from last night whispered through her head.
He laughed, releasing her hand and standing. “Sorry. You’re too easy to shock, Cora Benning. We’re going to have to work on that if you’re going to be hanging around here.”
She shook her head and stood. She couldn’t tell him that she normally wasn’t so easy to shock, that it wasn’t the words, it was him. The man short-circuited her brain.
He stepped around his desk and plucked a business card from the holder on the front of his desk. “I’m going to call Shari from HR. She’ll meet you up front and get everything she needs from you. Unless you hear from me, plan to be here Monday morning to start. In the meantime, I’ll get an alert email sent out and I’ll have the game taken offline until we get this fixed. If you have any questions before then, call me.”
