Chapter 17: Sometimes, a Free Lunch Isn’t Worth Its Consequences

A lot, it turned out.

Her ultimate undoing came in the form of a yellow Lamborghini as it pulled up before the Icarus Tech office. Octavia was standing on the sidewalk, looking up nearby restaurants on her phone.

Raemon Kentworth had been gone the past week. He had disappeared on a flight to Tokyo; he had a lot of preparation to do before his legal team and Ms. Bhandari’s would negotiate their future partnership.

He left Octavia with a mountain of tasks and off he went. According to Adelaide, he had indicated that he would be back the next week.

Octavia had decided to treat herself to lunch that day. She was trying to decide between a steak-sushi place and a sandwich shop when the bright-colored, humming, luxury car pulled to a stop right in front of her.

The dark window rolled down to reveal the driver.

“We meet again,” Lucas Marino said, giving Octavia a smile. His dark sunglasses reflected the building behind her.

“You,” Octavia said, stunned.

“I told you who I was. It’s me who should be at a loss for a name,” he said with a laugh.

Truthfully, it took Octavia a second to recall it. “Lucas,” she said at last.

“And you are?” he prompted.

“Octavia,” she answered promptly. “I mean—no one! I’m not supposed to talk to you.”

He gave her a quizzical look. “Oh?”

Octavia shrugged. “So sayeth Raemon Almighty.”

He paused, observing her with interest. “Did he say why?”

Octavia snorted. “Is JavaScript the same thing as Java?” When Lucas didn’t respond, she added, “No. He didn’t. Sorry…that’s just programmer humor.”

His face eased as he became even more interested in the woman before him.

“Too bad. I was just about to ask you to lunch,” he said.

“I was just about to go to lunch,” Octavia added.

Lucas shrugged. “But if you can’t go against your boss’s orders…”

“I never said I couldn’t,” Octavia said.

He glanced at her. “Well, how about it? I was thinking of Le Cochon Mariné.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a five-star French restaurant. Very hard to get reservations at. Fortunately, I know the chef.” Lucas said.

Octavia squinted at him suspiciously. “Who’d be paying?”

“It’s my treat, of course,” he said, stifling a laugh.

Octavia’s face brightened. “Okay, sure!”

She darted round his car and slid into the passenger seat after the butterfly door had ostentatiously opened upward and out with a push of a button. It then fell slowly back down, and firmly shut itself.

“No offense, or anything,” Octavia said, “but you clearly have the greater budget out of the two of us, so it’s quite reasonable I would expect you to pay.”

Lucas nodded in agreement, his smile never leaving his face. “Of course.”

In spite of him being leagues out of her tax bracket, Octavia enjoyed lunch with Lucas.

Granted, it was mainly because the steak she ordered at Le Cochon Mariné was juicy and thick with just the right amount of pink on the inside.

And it was also free. But on the whole, Lucas wasn’t a terrible conversationalist. As Octavia dug into the steak, he gave a detailed explanation on the luxury real estate market.

She listened but didn’t exactly remember anything he said.

She finished up the meal with a slice of lemon cheesecake and a cup of coffee.

After she had spooned the last bite into her mouth and swallowed it down, she leaned back in her chair and let out a sigh of satisfaction.

“I should come here more often,” she said with a lazy smile on her face.

“I’d be happy to bring you,” Lucas returned.

She laughed, and when she noticed the seriousness in his expression, she stopped.

“Seriously?”

“I’d like to spend more time with you,” Lucas said.

Octavia paused in thought, then sat up to look directly at him. “Why?” she asked plainly.

His pleasantly amused expression deepened into one with the slightest hint of sincerity.

“I’ve never said this to any woman before, definitely not to one I just met, but…I like you, Octavia,” Lucas said.

“That’s weird,” Octavia replied, “considering the only interactions we’ve had have been you acting as a translator and buying me lunch.”

She gave him a look of disapproval. “Do you always like people who take advantage of your bilingualism and money?”

“Only when they’re as pretty as you are,” Lucas said.

Octavia could not hold in her laugh at his words.

“Jesus, Lucas. You need to get out more,” she said.

Lucas placed a warm hand on Octavia’s. He stared at her with a searching gaze.

“I get out a lot, believe me,” he said. “And I meant what I said.”

Octavia slid her hand out from his grasp and folded both of her hands in her lap.

“Can I ask you a question?” she said presently. Lucas nodded. “What is it that happened between you and my boss?”

She did not miss the change in his expression, the warmth leaving his eyes and the smile fading from his lips.

“We were friends once…practically brothers,” he said. He stared off past her as if recalling a time long ago. “We lived in the same neighborhood as teenagers and ended up going to the same school.

“Neither one of us had much, but…we both loved learning. We loved technology. We were always taking things apart, a lot of junk that the apartment building caretaker stored away in the basement.”

Lucas let a small smile tug at his lips with the memory. “We made a pact that we’d go into business together someday. And we did.”

Octavia observed him as he spoke. It was hard to imagine this soft-spoken, sincere man ever being friends with her boss. But looking at Lucas, she couldn’t help but be drawn to his story.

“Both of us worked our asses off in high school. We got scholarships to good schools. He went to Stanford; I went to Harvard,” Lucas continued.

“When we graduated, we did just what we planned to do. I moved out West to join him, and we started a business together. It was all going well. We came up with a few good software ideas.

“We were talking to some people about it—it looked like we had a really good chance at selling our programs for a good price. And then we’d use the profits to set up our company.”

She noticed he was clenching one fist in the other.

“That’s when she came along,” Lucas said.

~Of course, the “femme fatale,”~ Octavia thought, inwardly rolling her eyes.

“I met her at a bar one night, and we hit it off. I kept seeing her, and we…we fell in love.” His tone became cynical. “Raemon claimed he was happy for me.

“That he didn’t care as long as I stayed committed to our business. And I was committed. I was working eighty hours a week, just like him.

“And we were so close to getting everything we’d ever wanted. That was when…I found out.”

Octavia was quiet, waiting.

“I walked in on the two of them together one day. They’d been sneaking around behind my back. She’d been lying to me. He’d been lying to me. I was devastated.”

Lucas looked like he was about to either shed tears or fly into a rage.

“I couldn’t believe it, but then she showed up at my house, begging for forgiveness, saying it was just a mistake. And like the idiot I am, I forgave her.

“I then went to see Raemon, to clear things up with him. And that was when I saw him for what he truly was. He told me he felt nothing for her.

“He was just trying to get us to end things so I could be one hundred percent committed to our work.

“He actually tried to play off the whole thing as proof that she wasn’t serious about me, and never would be.”

“That’s fucked up,” Octavia commented.

Lucas gave a short, humorless laugh. “Yeah, it is. The irony was, he was right. But she wasn’t the only fucked-up person in the equation. After I forgave her, he and I went separate ways.

“I knew I could never work with him again after what he did. We were supposed to go through with the sale and split the profits equally—then never see each other again.

“But a week after that, he disappeared. And she disappeared with him, having the audacity to leave me a fucking stupid note apologizing, telling me, ‘You can’t help who you love.’ She was right about that.”

“What about the sale?” Octavia asked.

Lucas shrugged.

“Raemon went through with it on his own without telling me. He took all the products we had been working on and sold them, then took the profits. And her. He left with her. He left me with nothing.”

Silence reigned for the next few seconds before Octavia spoke.

“Shouldn’t it be you who hates him, then?” she asked.

Lucas gave her a weak smile. “I guess the man has some shred of a conscience left. Guilty as it may be.”

Octavia took in what he said. Then she glanced at her watch.

“My lunch break is almost over,” she said.

Her words seemed to drag Lucas back out of a melancholy spell. He stood and offered her his hand. “I’ll take you back.”

The short drive back to her office building was spent in silence. When he pulled up in front of the building, she climbed out of the car and stood on the pavement.

Lucas got out of the car and came to stand before Octavia, leaning back against the vehicle. He was silent, regarding Octavia with that same deep, warm look.

“I was serious about taking you out again,” he said.

“You haven’t even taken me out once,” Octavia replied. “Today doesn’t count. It was just lunch.”

He reached out a hand and placed it on her arm, just above her elbow. He stroked the skin on her arm with his thumb and looked deep into her eyes.

“Then can I take you out for the first time?” he asked.

Octavia considered this. She was by no means opposed to going on a date with Lucas. Hell, there were a lot of things she could do with Lucas that she was perfectly fine with.

Still, there was the small issue of not really knowing the man. Also the teensy-weensy problem that he and her boss seemed to be sworn enemies.

If Mr. Kentworth had been livid at her talking to Lucas, she could only imagine his reaction if he found out she was dating him.

Octavia sighed.

As if anticipating her answer, Lucas said, “Don’t say anything. You can think about it. And in the meantime, can I have your number?”

“Lucas, I—”

Octavia was interrupted by the all-too-familiar feeling of an iron grip circling her arm and yanking her away from Lucas.

She didn’t need to look up into the stone-cold face of the man who now held her pinned to his side to know it was the last person on earth she’d wanted to see.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Raemon Kentworth growled at Lucas.

Octavia wanted to ask her boss the same question.

Lucas had straightened and taken a step toward Octavia, but a glance at Raemon’s face seemed to stop him.

“Hello, Raemon,” he said, an easygoing smile on his face. Unlike the one he’d directed at Octavia, there was a look of venom in his eyes. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Not long enough,” Raemon snarled, “never long enough. Go.”

“Not till you unhand Ms. Octavia,” Lucas replied.

Octavia felt the grip on her arm tighten and saw Raemon’s already angry face intensify in fury.

“Stay away from my assistant, you fucking trash,” Raemon said.

“That’s not your decision to make, Raemon,” Lucas said, taking a menacing step toward him.

“You think? I swear to god, Lucas, if I ever see you near this place or near her ever again, I’ll—”

Octavia had had enough of it. In a swift motion, she twisted away from him and released herself from his grip. Raemon’s eyes darted down toward her as his fist grasped at air.

“Not that this isn’t fun and all,” she said, looking between the two, “but I’ve got other things to do. Have fun,” she said.

As she started to walk away, she gave a careless nod toward Lucas and said, “Thanks for the lunch.”

Raemon had turned his deathly glare from Lucas and fixated it on Octavia. Lucas took the opportunity to slide back into his car and pull out into the street, driving away.

“Stop right there,” Raemon called to Octavia.

She stopped and turned.

He closed the short gap she’d put between them in a few strides. As he came toward her, Octavia noticed the changed expression on his face.

Though it seemed impossible, it was even more angry than it had been when angled at Lucas.

“Yes?” Octavia asked innocently.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing with that man?” he demanded.

“We had lunch,” Octavia answered.

“I told you to never speak to him again.”

“But you didn’t say anything about lunch.”

Raemon’s eyes narrowed, and he took another step toward her. He was close enough for her to see the pores of his skin.

“I warned you what would happen when I am disobeyed,” he said in an eerily quiet tone.

Octavia sighed. “I know. I’m fired. I’ll go clear out my desk.”

Before she turned to leave, Raemon shot a hand out and gripped her arm. This time her other arm.

“Again with that? Seriously?” Octavia said, scowling at the sight of his clenched knuckles against her skin.

“Listen carefully, assistant. Do not ever cross me again. If you think the punishment for disobeying me will only result in your job termination, you are sadly mistaken.”

His voice turned into a rasp with an unmistakable cold, deadliness to it.

“I will not only fire you, I will make sure you never work in any respectable company ever again. You’ll be rejected from every technology and software business in the country—maybe even the world.

“When I’m done with you, the only job you’ll be able to find will be flipping burgers at some dead-end diner near a truck stop.”

Octavia was hesitant. “Really thought this over, haven’t you?”

Raemon’s jaw clenched, then he suddenly released Octavia from his grasp.

“I will not warn you again, assistant. People who cross me are never heard from again. Don’t think I’ll spare you from that.”

With those final words, he turned and walked toward the building entrance, soon disappearing into its glass doors.

Octavia stood where he had left her for a while longer. She would’ve been lying if she told herself she wasn’t experiencing just the tiniest bit of fear.

She hadn’t been afraid of getting fired—she’d kind of wanted that actually. What she didn’t want was some power-hungry egomaniac with literally billions of dollars at his disposal orchestrating her ruin.

Could he destroy all of her chances of employment with every person on the planet? Probably. Would he go that far?

A few minutes ago, she might have thought, “No, he has better things to do with his time,” but now, she wasn’t so sure.

Octavia’s brows knit together, and she bit her lip in concentration. This wouldn’t do. He had all that power on his side.

She was small, insignificant, and, at the moment, expendable. What she needed was her own insurance.

She whipped out her phone and dialed Gracie’s number. She answered on the third ring.

“What’s up?” Gracie’s bored voice said.

“I need your help,” Octavia blurted out.

“For what?” Gracie said, her voice losing its disinterest.

“I need to get myself some…insurance,” Octavia said. “Can you hook me up with the right equipment to…well, um, let’s say…access the private servers of a global technology company?”

Gracie was silent for the next few seconds. “It will take some serious innovation…but sure. I can hook you up.”

Octavia let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks. Once you get me some way to access what I need, I’ll take it from there. You don’t even have to be a part of it.”

“Like hell I’m not,” Gracie answered. “Of course, I’m going to be part of it. What are you going to do? Is this for your boss?”

Octavia turned and gazed up at the shimmering building before her, squinting all the way to the topmost floor. When she answered Gracie, it was with a smile.

“I’m going to give that fucking jackass a taste of his own medicine.”