12. Twelve

Val

Chase has been working nights for the past few days. He goes in around midnight and doesn’t get home until eight o’clock the next morning.

It’s only me in the bed, alone. It’s amazing how quickly I’ve become used to having Chase in bed with me. Not just the great sex. I also miss his warm body and snuggling up against him during the night. Waking up in his strong arms.

I sigh as I think about the last time we had sex. I woke him up by tracing his tattoos with my lips. I shiver as I remember the intense look in his blue eyes. The man just has to look at me to turn me on, so I’m glad I can make him feel that same level of desire.

I blink as I come out of my sensual daydream. It’s around eight-thirty now. I was going to work from home this morning, hoping to spend more time with Chase, but he’s running late.

My cell phone starts to ring.

“Val? Hi, it’s Ellen. Listen, I wanted to know if you could stop by the office today. We’ve found a problem with the new software.”

“Of course. I can be there in about thirty minutes.”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll let the team know.”

When I walk into the ground floor reception area, I look around with pride. My parents were responsible for acquiring this building before they died. They chose well. It’s located on the Southbank of the St. Johns River. Carlucci Software takes up the entire top floor, and we rent out office space on the remaining floors.

The minute you enter the beautiful building, your first impression is of marble floors, lush greenery, and the sound of a discrete indoor fountain. It feels cool even during the hot days of our Florida summers.

“Hi, Val.”

“Hey Sue, how’s everything going with your new boyfriend?”

“Very well— thank you. How are things with your new hubby?” Sue wiggles her eyebrows at me. She’s the receptionist. She’s a pretty blonde with mid-length hair and friendly blue eyes. We like to get together over lunch to discuss her boyfriends. Until now, my only love life was living vicariously through Sue’s sexual escapades. And she has many.

“Very, very well!” I wink, and we both start to giggle when my uncle exits the elevator.

“Good morning, Mr. Carlucci.”

“Miss Farr.”

“Valentina, I’ve heard there’s a problem with the new software. Is this true?”

“I’m not sure. I came into the office to check on the progress. I can let you know after I’ve gone over everything with my team.”

His eyes narrow on me in suspicion. “Please give me an update before you leave today.”

After he turns and goes, Sue wrinkles her nose and says, “He doesn’t seem to share everyone else’s opinion of the new imaging software. I’ve heard rumors it has a lot of potential. And Val, we heard that he’s the reason you haven’t received the stock shares yet.”

“Thanks, Sue. The transfer has just been delayed. We’ll have to do lunch one day this week so you can tell me details about your new guy. We can, um... compare notes.”

With a smile on my face and a lighter step, I get into the elevator and hit the top floor.

I swipe my badge to enter my team’s department. Some of the team are very concerned about the recent update to the code. I listen as they describe the problem, and then I briefly go over the updated code and their notes. Ellen follows me back to my small office.

“So, Val, what do you think? Do we need to pause our current progress to find out what’s causing this glitch?”

“I’m not sure, Ellen. I want to take an in-depth look at this updated code. The issue appears to be with only one camera angle. If that’s the case, we can have two people dedicated to resolving this issue and keep the rest of the team working on meeting their deadlines.”

“I’ll let everybody know. Thanks, Val.”

“Ellen, how did my Uncle Victor learn about this glitch? No one outside of our team should have known.”

I watch Ellen’s face take on a frown. She has short, spiky black hair, and her nose is pierced. She looks more like a teenager than someone in her early thirties. She’s been a God-sent on this project, and there’s no one else I would want more than her to spearhead this project when I’m not around. I trust her totally.

“I honestly don’t know, Val. I don’t know of anyone on our team who would run to your uncle with this. We all know that he’s not a fan of this project.”

“Yes, that’s an understatement. He’d much rather go the gaming route, which is why I was surprised that he already knew about this problem. Now he wants all the details before I leave today.”

“Damn it. Who would have mentioned this? I didn’t even notice the glitch during the testing. It took going over each individual image before I caught the discrepancy.”

“Did you tell everyone on the team?”

“Yes, sorry. Everyone knows not to share information outside of this team.”

“It’s not your fault, Ellen. I would have told the team as well. Going forward, though, we may need to limit knowledge of glitches to just you and me.”

“Understood. Who do you want to work on resolving this?”

“Just Dave and me for now. I need you to continue spearheading the rest of the team and keep everybody on track.”

“Alright. I’ll let Dave know. Thanks for coming in so quickly, Val.”

Dave is the exact opposite of Ellen; he’s a hyper person who likes to stay busy. He has sandy-colored hair and wears glasses. He’s thin, pale, and not athletic at all. I’ve always thought he would only need a pocket protector on his shirt to look like the stereotypical computer nerd that he is.

Dave and I discuss the glitch, and we work diligently on the problem for the rest of the day but make little progress in locating the root cause. We finally call it quits a little before five o’clock, as I need to report to my uncle.

When I get to Uncle Victor’s office, his secretary (who he doesn’t call his administrative assistant because he’s old-fashioned) guides me inside.

“Valentina, has the problem with the software been resolved?”

“Not yet, Uncle Victor, but I’m positive we’ll find the root cause soon. We only just discovered the issue this morning.”

“This could delay things. You have quite a few resources working on this project when they could assist with our new gaming software. We need to make our deadline and could use the extra programmers working on something we know will be successful instead of gambling on new technology. There are too many unknowns with this type of new software.”

“Uncle Victor, we’ve already been over this. My project and the resources were already approved. This isn’t even a temporary setback. It’s just a glitch that we need to resolve. It happens in every software launch.”

My uncle frowns, his lips thin as he steeples his fingers in front of him. “Valentina, as you pointed out, the resources for this project have already been approved, at least for now. You better hope that this is not a setback; it could completely derail the launch of this software. I hope you know what you’re doing. You wouldn’t want a project that you recommended to be labeled as a failure.”

I stiffen at my uncle’s harsh words, “Of course, Uncle Victor. Is there anything else?”

“How is your marriage coming along? Have you heard from your lawyer?”

“It’s fine, Uncle Victor. Thank you for asking. As for my lawyer, I was advised of your dispute. My lawyer assured me it would only delay my getting the stock shares.”

“We’ll have to wait and see, Valentina. Won’t we?”

I’m practically shaking with my emotions as I leave his office.

I need to find out who on my team has been leaking information to my uncle. They are not only betraying me; they are betraying the entire team, and their actions could sabotage the entire project.