Mrs. White was reclining on the leather couch back at home. She was drinking a soup made by her dietitian, saying the soup could make her skin look younger.
Her assistant, Rachel, was sitting by the table, scrolling down the newest reports about the Barnett House.
“The Barnett House is falling tremendously.” The assistant sighed.
Mrs. White stirred her soup with a small silver spoon, “They deserve it.”
Rachel was confused, “Ma’am, you’ve already predicted that Diego’s plan wouldn’t end well. Why didn’t you stop him at that moment?”
Mrs. White rolled her eyes, “Why should I stop him?”
“But you helped them the last time when they were in trouble. I thought…”
“I helped them out of courtesy last time. They just deserve that tragic result after being that stupid. They thought I would babysit them for the rest of their lives just because they knew something about me. The Bradley House is the biggest house in this city, and it has never fallen again. The Barnett House somehow thought they could surpass them using this chance. How ridiculous,” Mrs. White mocked.
“What if they came to beg for your help again?” Rachel asked worriedly, “If you refuse to help them, will they expose your secret?”
“They won’t,” Mrs. White was quite sure, “They’re just a bunch of cowards. They won’t dare to do that.”
****
Meanwhile, Diego’s company.
The company’s stock price had been having a free fall since the game’s bugs were detected. All the stock buyers went broke overnight. Some of them even crowded the gate of Diego’s company, trying to get an explanation.
Journalists had also taken all the exits out of the company, trying to get the latest update on Diego’s situation. Calls from all the major presses were coming in nonstop.
“Are they fucking with us on purpose? Linford Bradley! You son of a bitch!” Sam was furious.
Everything happened too fast, and he only made it to the company in the middle of the night. When he opened the door of the office, all the major leaders of the departments had run away. He was welcomed only by gusts of cold wind.
“Ungrateful bastards!” Sam had held a video meeting before he came to the company, asking all the board members to show up. But the company was almost empty. Sam kicked the door of Diego’s office open, “Diego! Where are you?”
Diego was sitting by his table, fingers hitting the keyboard nonstop. The look on his face was intense, “It’s okay, Dad. I can still fix this problem.”
“Fix this? Are you out of your fucking mind?!” Sam smacked the folder onto the table, “We’ve been sold! Those fuckers lied to us! You need to take that game off right now! I need you to hold the board meeting, too, to calm down those stupid shareholders. We need to make our loss the minimum. Are you listening?”
Diego was thought to be the IT genius of his generation. However, he fell for a trick like this during his competition with Linford’s company. He would never admit defeat.
“I just need more time. I can crack this virus. The game will normally run when I fix
the bugs. There’s still hope.”
“Diego! You need to think straight. We don’t have time for this anymore. You still need hours to crack the virus. Linford’s company is gonna market a new game tomorrow. All the departments of the Daicom Corporation are ready. Our loss will only get bigger if we don’t act right now! I need you to move your ass to the meeting room and summon all the members! We can still save our money!” Sam was so angry as he noticed his son was still holding onto the last hope of saving the game.
Linford wouldn’t give them any chance to bounce back. If they didn’t figure out a way to reduce the loss right now, they could only face bankruptcy in the end.
“It’s okay, Dad. I can add a more effective design to the code. We can still turn the table,” Diego was extremely anxious, but he still refused to give up.
He was the IT genius of his generation. He was an expert. When they set up the demo, he checked out the design by himself. There had been no problem. How could it just have problems suddenly?
That man wanted to break him.
It wouldn’t happen.
It absolutely wouldn’t happen!
He would make an even better version, and he would turn things around. He couldn’t lose.
“Diego! You need to wake up!” Sam threw the table away and grabbed Diego by his collar, hissing, “We don’t have enough time even if you are the best of the best. Linford Bradley’s new game will be launched tomorrow morning. If we don’t solve the problems right now, we will be screwed. Do you want to take the whole company with you? Do you want to ruin everything we have?”
Diego, however, pushed his father and found his laptop again, “I can fix the code before noon.”
Sam had gone blue at this point. His eyes were bloodshot, “That is not the problem! Linford Bradley has controlled those men who sold the software to you. This shit is fake from the beginning. It is a fucking trap! You can’t crack the virus that easily! Do you understand?!”
Diego acted like he didn’t hear anything. He only wanted to crack the code so he could prove himself. He was doing this for his pride.
For years, he had been a genius in public eyes.
He would never admit defeat in his domain.
Sam was so enraged that he didn’t even know how to prevent their coming downfall. He grabbed his files and stomped out of Diego’s office, ordering his assistant, “Just get whoever you can find right now into my office. I don’t care how late it is. I need to see them instantly. Go!”
The assistant seemed hesitant, “Sir, most of them… wouldn’t pick up our phone call.”
These bastards!
“Then just find whoever would pick up the phone! Go!” Sam thundered.
The assistant ran off immediately.
Linford Bradley was a monster.