AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I wasn’t too far away, and just before he returned to his seat, he found my eyes and sent me the sweetest, most subtle smile.
I lowered my head then, unable to help but blush. I hoped no one saw it, yet at the same time, I hoped everyone did. I hoped the whole world did and knew that I was having the time of my life.
Sighing, I reviewed the report once again and wondered why I hadn’t sent it yet, and that was when I recalled that it was taking forever to upload. The file was too heavy, but the internet here was abysmal. But it needed to get to New York, and I was slowly growing frustrated.
Sighing, I decided then to try sending it via email rather than uploading it to our server. Maybe that would be better.
I found the emails of relevant addresses and added them all to the send-to list. Afterward, I wrote a quick note, attached the document, and the email was sent off in minutes. Afterwards, I put my laptop away and couldn’t wait for our lunch break. We had decided to have it in one of the most critically acclaimed restaurants in the city. We were going for authentic Thai dishes this time around and not fusion foods, since our time here was coming to an end, and we couldn’t leave without properly exploring the country’s cuisines.
Chapter Forty
Hunter
Iwas more than ready to take my seat after the presentation. Public speaking wasn't hard for me, but I always felt a huge sense of relief afterward and couldn't quite enjoy it no matter how hard I tried. I did wish, though, that she was beside me, but the way they did their conference arrangements here was different. Instead of my party, I was surrounded by other officials and guest speakers in order to facilitate networking opportunities.
Just then, there was a message on my phone, and looking for a reason to be distracted as the next speaker started his own presentation, I glanced down to see whom it was from. I had expected it to be from her, but when I saw instead that it was from our CTO, I wondered why.
“Sir, have you seen the report just sent out by Miss Parish?” she asked.
This was a strange question, and I wondered why she was inquiring about it. I forwarded the message to Madison and returned my focus to the speaker. She replied a few minutes later.
“The report is completed, Sir,” she said, and I nodded. A few seconds later, another message came.
“Sir, there's been a mistake made. I can't seem to reach Miss Parish. Please let her know that she needs to speak to the IT department urgently because a ghastly error has been made.”
I was instantly alarmed because she never just used the term “ghastly” casually. Unless the building was on fire, and the building was never on fire.
“What’s happening?” I asked, hating that rather than call her to handle this over the phone, I was stuck texting.
“She included some external email recipients accidentally in the email she sent out, and now all the wrong people are aware of the breach that we've been working so hard to solve and cover up. IT is trying to hack into Levi's company’s email now to see if we can retract it before he can do anything with it or even see it. He hasn’t contacted us yet, so I hope he's completely oblivious. I'm so sorry to ask this, but I hope she can respond to me.”
Shocked at all I was hearing, I turned around and met her gaze. At my frown, she instantly understood that something was wrong, so she lowered her head, and a few minutes later, she sent me a message.
“Is there something wrong, Sir?” she asked. “Do you need something?”
“Why can't New York reach you??” I asked.
“I, uh... I forgot to charge my phone last night, so I'm trying to conserve the battery until after the conference or until I can find a charger.”
“You made a mistake,” I sent my response back. I was quite irritated, although I tried to calm myself.
“A mistake?”
“Yes! Somehow, Levi Boone from the City Post got the comprehensive report on the breach update you just sent out. That is a disaster. If we didn’t want to be in the news in a few hours, then we better find a way right now to ensure that he didn’t see either email, and if he did, then you have to make him forget that he saw it.”
After typing this, I glanced back, and just as I had expected, I saw that her face had turned completely white. She didn't look at me any further. Instead, she rose to her feet with her entire frame crouched down and all but ran out of the hall.
I shook my head because, in order to resolve this, she was going to have a terrible day. Maybe Boone truly hadn't seen it yet, but hacking into a major publication server so suddenly was incredibly dangerous, and if we were caught, it was going to be all the worse and more newsworthy.
Such a silly mistake she made. I understood it was because the email list of the actual parties she was supposed to send the report to must have been abysmal. But it was so easy not to check. So easy to confuse one name for the other. But she was never this careless before, so I couldn't help but feel confused.
I had truly wanted all of this to be over without incident and had felt so lucky that it had been a tech case. But I should have seen this pile of shit coming my way, and now my foot was in it.
Furious, I put the phone away and for the sake of appearances tried my best to keep my attention on the speaker.
Chapter Forty-One
Madison
