3. Troy

"These numbers are looking great,Troy. Any bugs in the system?" Marco, my best friend and business partner, asked.

I raised a brow, and he laughed. "Hey, dude, don't get twitchy. Even Google has issues from time to time."

"We're not quite on the same level as Google," I said, "but there's nothing wrong with the system. I've run a few reports, and it's almost too good."

"No such thing, man. I'm happy with perfection. It helps me sleep at night."

"Every program is bound to have glitches when there are multiple users. We keep a small team, so anything of concern is easy to fix, but apart from general maintenance, we've just carried out a few updates to the system."

"Let's keep it that way."

I scratched my failed attempt at a short scruff.

"This really worries you?" he asked.

"No. Every programmer's dream is the perfect low-maintenance software."

"And still, you're worried."

"No, it's just…I have a client. A big one, and I don't know anything about them. I'm worried about that. For the safety of our employees. How can we send someone out there to meet someone they know nothing about?"

He leaned back in the leather chair. We used to work from our apartment kitchen when we started out. Now, we were renting a whole floor in the building where his dad ran his own multi-billion-dollar company.

"We've made provisions for that though. Someone in this office always knows the client's identity and has conducted extensive research. Why are you taking a client anyway? I know I haven't got time to take a shit between running Elite and taking classes."

I laughed. "TMI, man. It seems I'm a victim of our own success. Everyone local to us was already busy, so Veronika sent me the case."

"I guess it pays to sleep with the client relations manager. She didn't give me the case."

I scrunched my face. "Please, I don't want to know about your relations. She owes me big time."

"I'll make sure to put you down as her dude of honor."

I did a double-take. "You what?"

Marco opened a drawer on his desk and took out a small velvet box.

"You're not." I gasped.

"I certainly am. We're graduating in a few months, and once we're free, I'm going out there and enjoying life with my girl."

I got up and rounded the desk to give him a congratulatory hug.

"I'm happy for you, man. If anyone deserves to ride off into the sunset together, it's you and Veronika."

He put the box away and locked the drawer. "It's been a hell of a ride, huh?" he asked wistfully.

I went over to the window and looked down at the street outside and the people going about their days, ignorant to what was happening in the offices they walked past. Some of them could even be current or former clients. They'd never know. "It's going to be the end of an era. Sometimes, I'm not sure I'm ready for it."

"I know what you mean. Our plan was always to build Elite, sell, and take the money, but some days I wonder if we could stay."

"Elite is not compatible with our dreams, Marco."

He let out a sigh. "Do you remember when we first met?" he asked.

"Yeah. I thought you were just another spoiled rich kid whose dad was teaching a life lesson by making you slum with the rest of us in the dorms."

"I was trying to fit in while you stood out just because you didn't care what other people thought. It takes guts being like that when you don't have daddy's money to fall back on."

"Don't knock daddy's money. I'm glad we paid the start-up loan back, and some, but I certainly couldn't have started Elite from an idea and some computer code."

We'd never wanted to take this beyond graduating. Marco had wanted to find someone, get married, and start a family, but he'd wanted to do it with his own money. He wanted to be a present father like his hadn't been, no matter how much he'd supported our business.

"What are you going to do at the end, Troy?"

I shrugged. "All I wanted was to return home with enough money to help my parents retire."

"How about you? What do you want for yourself?"

I smiled as the image of Alexi lying on the grass of the gardens at the royal palace came to mind.

"What I want can't be bought with money."

Marco's phone ringing put an end to the conversation.

"Thanks, Annie. Send him in." He put the phone down, and a moment later, our head of cyber security came into the office.

I turned and leaned against the window ledge.

"We may have a problem," Hassan said, tapping something on his tablet before turning it toward us.

"What's this?" Marco asked.

"Rumors are going around about a secret company helping millionaires get hookups, fake marriages, escorts, you name it."

Marco looked at me, and I shook my head.

"Everyone we employ signs an iron-clad NDA. Could this come from a client?" I asked.

"We're investigating. It could be nothing. These things come up all the time, but I wanted you both to know, in case it's not just smoke."

"Thanks, Hassan. Keep us updated," I said.

I fell back in the chair in front of Marco's desk as Hassan left the room.

"Fuck, Marco. This could destroy us if it comes out."

"Let's not panic. Why don't we order some food and start making a list of potential leaks?"

I started nodding, but then I remembered. "Sorry, I have to meet my client. This really isn't the time to waste with?—"

"Hey, all clients are important, and you know that. I'll get started on this. We can meet tomorrow."

"Fine." At least Veronika had picked a coffee shop close to the office, knowing I usually met with Marco on Wednesday afternoons since neither of us had class.

I rushed out of the office and toward the coffee shop, my mind already distracted by the possible danger of information about Elite coming out and the consequences for both of us. Money or no money, the way the stuff in that forum was written, it didn't paint us in a good light.

Who would ever employ two college graduates who, by all accounts, were running a sex-work business for billionaires?

"Hi, Troy. Same as usual?" the barista asked.

"Yes, please."

"Are you going or staying?"

"Staying."

I paid for my drink and sat at the bar-style table facing the window. The business district wasn't usually overrun with students from the university, so I checked the time and prepared for whatever this client had to throw at me.

Twenty minutes later, my client still hadn't arrived, but Marco's words had struck a note with me. I'd been so focused on my degree and building Elite that I hadn't thought much about what I wanted.

Now, with Alexi so close, I was getting distracted. Not from the end goal with Elite or my degree, but I'd certainly spent more time thinking about him than was probably healthy.

I checked the time on my phone. I hoped Veronika didn't threaten murder if I told her to reassign the client to someone else. We never canceled on clients. Ever. It was part of our promise that no challenge was too big for Elite. No promise was left unfulfilled. But I certainly had too much on my hands to deal with this.

When I looked out to the street, I saw a familiar head of red hair behind a row of parked cars.

His cheeks were flushed and he ran his hand through his hair a few times as he looked at his phone and then the buildings.

What do you want for yourself?

I knew what I wanted, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to wait. And wait for what? To graduate and have the financial security to pursue something with Alexi?

I already had one of those, and the other was within reach, so what was stopping me?

The distance that had broken the bond we'd forged as friends when we first met? Sure, I'd always thought my feelings for Alexi weren't totally unreciprocated, but we'd been young, and I'd been about to leave for college. Alexi had still been adjusting to having two parents who loved him so much but also came with the most important titles in their country, making him an overnight literal prince.

It was a lot then.

But was it still a lot now?

I dropped a quick message to Veronika and turned my phone to silent to avoid her wrath before walking out of the coffee shop.