Page 27 of Crazy in Love

I look through Anika’s presentation as she talks about what she can do for the apps. It’s been a while since someone has sat in front of me with passion for this world, wanting to prove that they can do this.

My eyes move to my phone as it lights up with a message from Lee, then it starts ringing from a business that wants to work with me. Why are they calling me? All that goes through David. They have to kiss his arse before they can get to me.

“Anika, you have two weeks to have both apps ready to go out,” I cut her off from what she was saying. My eyes move over to my phone again as I see Saylor’s name. “If you can pull this off, then well done, and you will be the first member to join the team.” I give David a nod, letting him know that he can take over as I look through my messages.

Saylor - Sorry, have to cancel.

As I look out at the staff working, I stop at the two girls arguing as they go through a file. One thing I’ve learned sitting in my office and looking out at them all work, is how to lip read. Now I’m not amazing at it, and most of the time I get it wrong, but I can get the odd word here and there.

I walk over to the door, sending Saylor a message, I tell her that’s fine and that I will pick her up tomorrow. I would have loved to spend time with her tonight, but I know that she also has a life, and she wakes up as early as me, spending her whole day doing yoga. She needs time for herself, and I can understand that.

“You two,” I shout, and every person’s face spins round to see if it’s them I’m talking to or not. David pops out of his office to see what is happening. “My office. Now,” I tell them, eyeing the two girls, then walk back into the office.

I hear the door behind me, but I know that’s David, as the footsteps are of confidence, not fear. As I turn around, I look at them both looking at each other.

“You two seem to have something you need to share.” They both look between each other again, then their gazes drop to the floor. “Beth, Emily, you can both stand there all day, I will continue to do my work, and you can stand there until you want to tell me what it is you’ve found.”

David takes the file from them and hands it over to me, which I place on the side of my desk.

“Are you not looking through that?” David yells.

“It seems important enough for these two to be arguing over for an hour, so one of them can tell me.” I open a new window on the desktop.

Now I’m itching to see what they’ve found, but I need my staff to be able to talk to me, be able to come knock on my door anytime and say what’s happening. I’ve always told the staff, if they don’t talk to me, I can’t help them.

“If... if...”

“Spit it out.” I can't help but let out a chuckle as David gets annoyed and grabs the file off the table and starts looking through it, but I keep my eyes on the girls.

“No one from the team put the apps on sale,” Beth spits out in one fast sentence. Now that has got my attention. I look at David shaking his head, which makes me walk over to him and take the file from him.

I read through the file, and my body tenses up. There is no way this information is right.

“Have you checked?” I ask, as I get back to my desk.

“Yes, sir, we’ve been looking at this all week,” Emily tells me.

How the fuck did this happen?

“That sale for the apps never came from any IP address in the building, or from any user that works here,” Beth whispers.

I throw the file on the table in anger and walk to the door. “Someone get me on with the fraud team. Now!” I shout at the staff and turn to David. “Find out how the fuck someone hacked into my system!”

David quickly walks out of the office, with Beth and Emily following, and he shouts at the staff to log off the system.

Enraged, I throw my mug against the wall, running my hand through my hair and tugging at the roots. Someone is trying to fuck with me through my own system.

Welcome to another long fucking night.

David power walks back into the office with the fraud team. “Someone hacked my system. I want to know who and how. Now!”

The fraud team walks around, making sure that everyone is logging off, and plugs are disconnected. I stop one of the members as he goes to move to the next employee. “Check my office.”

The rage is burning through me right now. Someone is throwing poison onto my life, and I plan on making them pay.

Digging my phones out of my pockets, I hand them to him. “Make sure these are clean.” I say, walking away from them and standing next to David.

“Who do-”

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