Page 57 of Cocky Tech God
Hansen and I turned to face each other. His eyebrows furrowed. With a casual lift of his shoulders, he said, “Let her see. Then let them all see us. They all will eventually, right?”
“Hansen…” I turned my face. Was he being too flippant about this? Was I being too uptight? Too worried? There had to be a balance.
“Okay, baby, I’ll talk to her and I’ll tell her about us. She already suspected anyway.”
Baby? I closed my eyes for a moment. The sound of that pet name on his lips comforted me, and I liked it.
“Okay. I guess since she’s your friend, that’s appropriate.” I had mixed feelings, but it might have been because I was trying to get her business. This seemed too personal, though. As if we were crossing a line.
Hansen rubbed the length of my arm, soothing me. “Don’t worry, Luci. It’ll be okay.”
I wanted to push this to the back of my mind. First, I needed to reflect on our day and how everything happened. It seemed too good to be true, and I didn’t want to believe the saying that people so strongly touted. If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.
Why couldn’t it be true?
With those words on my mind, I took my cell phone from the console and turned it on once the valet finally took the SUV, leaving us standing at the entrance.
“Well…” Hansen began. I could tell he wanted to touch me.
My cell phone vibrated in my hand, giving me a notification. “Hold on.” My eyes glided over the words from Mia.
Mia: Hello?! Where are you? The fix didn’t work. The team is back together working on it. Don’t know what happened. Please respond to this asap.
My heart stopped, and so did my breath. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Another message from Mia came up.
Mia: NuvaTech found out about the breach and they passed. See the email I sent.
I switched applications to my email platform, and there was Mia’s email. I opened it.
Mia Delgado, LMS Sales Leader,
Thank you for your interest in working with NuvaTech. We reviewed your services with interest. Unfortunately, we’ve become aware of a complication using your software that brings a halt to our consideration of your Adapti-secure technology. Please accept our appreciation of your interest to work with us.
Sincerely,
Garrett Hamm
Proposals Division
No. NO. NO. This was a joke, right? My eyes watered immediately, and I cursed myself for not wearing sunglasses. And for leaving my team for my own selfish needs.
“Fuck. Fuck.” I quivered the words. How could two things have gone so wrong in literally a single day?
Hansen stepped closer to me. “What is it?”
I stepped away. “The fix failed. We still have a breach.” I stared at Mia’s messages, reading them over and over. I didn’t realize a tear had fallen until the salty drop slipped between my lips. No, I couldn’t fall apart. I wiped the tear, feeling anger instead of sadness. “And to put a fucking cherry on top, NuvaTech responded. Someone in the Proposals Division. They’ve passed on LMS.”
“Wait, what? The breach wasn’t fixed?” He tried to read my screen, but I backed up again. He said, “What’s going on, Lucia?”
I shook my head. “No, it didn’t work. And this…Mia forwarded me a message from NuvaTech. They’ve declined our proposal because of a complication they’ve become aware of—the breach we can’t fix. Everyone knows now. They’re talking about us.”
“Shit,” he said.
“Yeah. Exactly.” I glanced through the glass rotating doors. Calista was nowhere in sight. Calista couldn’t have known about our proposal. Could she have?
I wasn’t sure about anything.
“Did Calista know you had a proposal in review with NuvaTech?”