Champagne Brunch: The Stiletto Sisters Series by Ainsley Claire (easy readers .txt) 📗

sentiments exactly. It was fun while it lasted. But he did call me his girlfriend in front of one of his clients today.”

“That’s positive. Viv fucked this up for you if things go south. Damn that woman!”

“Ryder told us the other night that she used a gigolo for a wedding one time. Maybe that’s what I need for events. A good-looking piece of arm candy who shows up with me and then goes home afterward. No entanglements, no worries.”

“What has Axel said?”

“Nothing much. He’s just been piecing things together on his own. He knew I couldn’t sit in the stands during the game, and he said he wants to talk about what’s going on with me.”

“He’s upset you can’t sit with him?”

“No, I don’t think it’s that. He seems like a great guy. I hope he can handle all this, but I guess I’ll find out.”

“Don’t go hiring any gigolos until you know what he’s thinking.”

I chuckle. “Okay.” I look out the window and notice we’re over the Golden Gate and not too far from the Lancaster home. “I’ll let you know,” I promise. “Send me your new music when it’s ready to be heard.”

“This has four tracks in English, and we’re hoping they’ll translate out to the rest of the world.”

I shake my head. “My sister the megastar. I promise not to sell the tabloids the story of you skipping school to go see what you thought was Mariah Carey, and it was a drag queen doing covers.”

“Please. That would probably ruin me.”

“I miss you,” I tell her.

“Miss you, too. Come visit me soon.”

I say goodbye as we pull into the Lancasters’ estate, and I leave Peter behind and walk into the house.

“Hello?” I call.

“I’m in here.” Lilly stands as I enter the living room, and she pours a pink drink into a martini glass.

“What’s this?” I ask as she hands it to me.

“Pomegranate martini.”

“Oh.” I take a sip, and it’s perfect. “This is fantastic.”

“It’s one of Emerson’s drink creations.”

I see Nate’s older daughter, Katrina. “Hey, why didn’t you go to the game today?”

She gives me a hug and turns her nose up. “It’s baseball.”

“I know. It’s cool math and statistics.”

“It’s sloooooow.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Katrina, I thought you were my math buddy.”

“I love math, but baseball isn’t interesting at all.” She wanders away with her cell phone in hand.

I sit with Lilly and talk for a while about the house they’re renovating in the City and what’s going on with Viviana’s trial.

“The FBI and US Attorney interviewed Nate yesterday,” she says. “What a pain in the ass. They wanted him to come back again today, but he’ll go again tomorrow.”

“I’m being deposed by Viv’s counsel tomorrow with Raven, Marci’s second chair. That’s going to be rough.”

“We saw that your testimony with the US Attorney’s office was leaked. Do you know who did it?”

“I have no idea. I know the US Attorney from Oregon was irate, but it wasn’t Marci or anyone from her office. Walker was with us over lunch, so it was likely someone from the FBI or his staff.”

“At least it makes clear that you were targeted and she didn’t get much information.”

“Wait until they interview Gage Easton from Clear Security,” I tell her. “He found a few things in the system at Diamond Analytics, and he’s nervous about the access Viv may have gotten.” My cell phone pings. “I’m sorry. I need to check this. My sister said Flirt was being rolled out across China.”

Lilly frowns. “That’s great, isn’t it?”

I shake my head. “Wasn’t supposed to have happened yet.” I click the link my sister sent and find myself looking at my exact website, translated into Chinese with a .cn ending. I shut my eyes. “This is just another thing to screw with me.” I turn my phone toward Lilly.

“Oh crap,” she says.

I forward my sister’s email to Mason and Sara over at SHN with a quick explanation.

Almost immediately, my cell phone pings again.

Mason: I’m on my way to Nate’s. Will you be there?

 

Me: I’m already here.

 

A little while later, Mason and Caroline arrive. We make polite conversation for a few minutes until Jim enters and Mason asks me to join him in Nate’s home office.

They close the glass doors behind us.

“How did this happen?” Mason asks.

“I have no clue. My sister is living in Shanghai, and she chastised me for launching Flirt there without coming over. When I asked questions, this is what she sent me.”

Jim steps over to the massive screens on Nate’s desk and bypasses the password. I’m a bit shocked.

“I set the password, and he’s too lazy to change it.” Jim shrugs.

“Why should I?” Nate asks as he joins us. “It’s encrypted with security protocols, and you’re the only one who knows.”

Jim pushes a few buttons and brings up the website.

“Is this a sample website?” Nate’s brow is furrowed.

“No. It looks like Mia’s new software has been pirated,” Mason explains.

I sit down hard. “It’s not like I needed to get rich, but that does have my algorithm, which we use as the basis for Diamond Analytics.”

I see Axel outside the glass doors of the office. We make eye contact, and he waves and walks away.

Jim clicks a few buttons and picks up his phone, making a call on speaker.

“Gage,” he answers after a moment.

That’s pretty succinct, and it makes me smile despite everything.

“I just sent you a website,” Jim says. “Can you go through the backend and see if the technology is the same as Flirt’s?”

There’s a little rustling in the background. “Oh shit,” Gage says. “Those fuckers got ahold of the app. How is that possible?”

“We have about fourteen