Page 70 of Boss Level

That didn’t stop me from feeling like I’d failed as I listened to Link’s instructions, then headed back to my office. The same drum beat over and over in my head. The one reminding me that I’d been outside fucking around, during the day, while my game was crashing. That I’d been unavailable when I should’ve been answering a call instantly.

That I was letting my personal life get in the way of what mattered.

This wasn’t me. I didn’t need other people in order to survive. Sure, I adored Xander and Dominic. I wanted them around. I appreciated our friendship.

But I wasn’t a scared little girl who couldn’t survive without her man. Especially her fake man.

As my software was loading, to do the work needed, I grabbed my phone. Sure enough, there were more than a dozen texts about down servers, both automated and from the people here.

Elliot must’ve gotten these same messages, and it had to be killing him the way it was me. I hated what I had to do next, but it was for the greater good. He hadn’t followed the rules, and now if he didn’t, they weren’t going to give him another chance.

I sent him a text telling him we had things under control and to stay away.

And I dove into the kind of coding work I hadn’t done in years. Fortunately, unlike the previous crashes, this one didn’t take long to recover from. We were wrapped up in just a few hours.

But tension hung in the air. Why now? Why so random? Yes, games crashed, especially new ones, but the causes tended to be obvious.

These were seemingly unrelated and a strange combination of new-to-us and repeats of the past.

Everyone got back to their day, and I was left with my mind whirring in a way I wasn’t used to. I didn’t know what to do. About anything.

And that wasn’t me. I always had a plan. My plans had plans. I always knew what came next. Instead, today I felt lost. When it came to the game and Xander and Dominic and Claire and…

Thanks, life, I hated it.

Working didn’t stop my brain from whirring along to other problems. This wasn’t right. I should be able to immerse myself in what needed to be done, rather than fiddling with the ring that hung around my neck.

Link called me a few hours after the game crashed. The background noise made it sound like he was in the car. “Chris is sabotaging our game,” he said.

Fury spilled through me, hot and bright and carried on a bitter wave that was grateful for a place to focus. If this was true, I’d crucify the asshole. And as Link rattled off his theory, it certainly sounded true.

I’d known people who would intentionally sabotage others’ careers to progress their own. Link wasn’t one of them.

Chris…

I could see it. Not that I would’ve said that when I hired him, but over the past year or two… “Are you certain? I have to be positive, one-hundred percent, before we proceed. There are legal repercussions for being wrong.” If Link believed it, I did. I needed him to know what he was making a decision about though.

“I’m certain,” he said after a pause. “And given what he’s put us through… let’s execute the fucker.”

I should tell him to back off and be professional, but I hated finding out one of our own had turned against us. Had been willing to cost us everything for… I didn’t even know what. “Find me in my office when you get back.” I’d start the paperwork now. “You can escort him out for me.”

“Shame Elliot couldn’t be here for this,” Link said.

I clenched my jaw and hung up.

Our Human Resources person wasn’t happy to have me pushing through an immediate termination, but the instant I told her why, her tone changed. “I’ll have you the paperwork in ten minutes,” Dana said. “Hang him up.”

Link arrived a short while later. He showed me his proof, we had Luna kick Chris off the network, and Link and I made the short walk to the Dev room.

“Is anyone else having trouble logging in?” Chris’s question carried into the hallway. “Is the network down?’

I wasn’t letting him harass Luna over this. Link and I strode into the room. When Chris saw us, all the color faded from his face.

“Get up,” I said. I might be shorter than everyone else in this room, but I knew how to carry myself like I wasn’t. “Your employment here is terminated, effective immediately.”

Chris opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“Link will see you to your car,” I talked over him.

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