Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
He shakes his head. “I’m not.”
I slap his buff-as-hell arm and insist again, “No. No way this is real.”
He grins. “I can text the offer over to you tomorrow morning if you want. You can look it over with your lawyer, see if there are any modifications you’d like to make before you sign on the dotted line. Just between the two of us, there is still some room to bargain if you see a need that isn’t being met by the current package.”
I snort. “Like what? A pony to ride to work? A formal welcome to the country from the Queen of England? I mean, don’t tell your bosses, obviously, but that’s way more than I was getting at Brain Chill. Like…so much more it isn’t funny.” An unexpected wave of emotion floods through me, making my voice shake as I add, “Honestly, just being treated with respect would have been enough of a raise. I’m so sick of working twice as hard and being three times as good, only to be treated like I’m on perpetual probation as the token girl in leadership.”
“You’re one of the best designers in the world, Jess,” he says in a warm, no-bullshit voice that makes my throat even tighter. “Especially for the kind of immersive, story-driven games Paradisus wants to focus on in the next five to ten years. You don’t just create games; you create whole worlds—happy ones, where people can go and escape their problems and the violence and sadness in their lives for a little while. You’re going to do great things, Cho. No doubt in my mind.”
I pull in a ragged breath and will my brain to get all the emotional shit under control. As lovely as all this is to hear, I need to keep my head on my shoulders. Because something about this still doesn’t make sense.
A lot of things, actually, but most importantly, I’m left wondering, “How do you know? You haven’t played any of my designs since high school, only one of my college games is up on Indie Gamer Galaxy, and the project I was working on for Brain Chill is still in development.”
“Doug, my head on this project, got his hands on your reel,” he says with a bob of his shoulder, like that’s no big deal.
I shake my head. “What? How? I’ve only shared that with Brain Chill, when I first applied for an internship my junior year of college, and I don’t have it uploaded online anywhere. They told me I couldn’t, or I’d be in violation of my contract.”
He shrugs again. “Doug has his ways. Paradisus is an ethical company, for the most part, but they don’t mind bending the rules now and then in the name of the common good.”
“And hiring me to design games is in the common good?” Something about this still seems…sketchy, even though I’ve never read anything but positive articles about Paradisus and its corporate culture.
Aside from the fact that their CEO and founder is a mysterious billionaire who lives out in the middle of the woods somewhere in England and never shows his face or reveals his name to the press, they’re one of the most refreshingly boring companies around. They work hard, treat their employees right, and give back to the community.
And now they want me badly enough to hack into Brain Chill’s database—or my laptop, I suppose, ugh what a horrible thought—to get at my designer reel.
I suppose I should be flattered, but…
“This feels like an invasion of privacy, Sam. And aggressive in maybe not a great way,” I finally say, tugging at the mock turtleneck on my dress, wishing I’d gone with a t-shirt and jeans.
Yes, it’s a party, but I always think more clearly in comfortable clothes. If I had my boyfriend-cut baby blues and vintage Evian t-shirt on right now, I would have already pinpointed the source of the fishy smell lingering around this situation.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “That’s my fault. I encouraged Doug to do whatever it took to put together a compelling packet for the board. I just wanted to get you the best offer possible and…I guess I thought you wouldn’t mind. Since it was me and you know I have your best interests at heart.”
I flap my arms at my sides. “Must I remind you again that I haven’t seen you in six years? And that you ghosted me? And that I have no idea who you are anymore?”
“Yes, you do,” he says, his dark eyes boring into mine with an intensity that makes my skin hot all over again. “I’m still the same person I was when we were best friends. I’m just less afraid to go after what I want than I was back then. And what I want is you, Jess.”
My stomach plummets like an elevator with the cables cut and a dizzying mixture of joy and terror swarms through my blood like nanobots on a mission to colonize my internal organs. Visions of Sam and me playing video games in our underwear in bed and making out fill my head, making longing twist in my chest.