Left of the Slash, page 25
Olivia grins, and my question about her preparation is answered. It’s clear she expected the beginning of the meeting to go this way, and I can see her gearing up to deliver what she thinks will be the big blow. I bite my bottom lip, hoping that I'm wrong about these two.
“I understand that you have a long history with Palo Alto Networks,” Olivia says. “However, I think you'd be even happier paying six percent less than Palo Alto’s price, and five percent less in insurance. Add in the fact that we have better coverage and stronger firewalls, and our deal is much sweeter than what they can offer you.”
“With all due respect,” Richard Saul speaks up for the first time, his body tight with impatience. “Obsidian Securities has undergone extensive attacks and had a number of breaches over the last quarter. You are in no position to speak about better coverage or stronger firewalls. Truth be told, you only speak of better insurance coverage because you know that you've had clients getting hacked, and you want to assure us that if we’re hacked too, you can ensure our data recovery, but that’s not a selling point. As far as I'm concerned, it simply reinforces the fact that we need to stay where we are. Palo Alto Networks hasn't had the breaches that you have, so how can you possibly speak negatively about them?”
“Oh, I don't mean to speak negatively about them,” Olivia says, her confidence quickly evaporating as she scrambles to recover. “I apologize for the misunderstanding. I know how strong your relationship with Palo Alto is, and I didn't mean to step on any toes—”
“Look,” Joel interrupts with his stop sign hand again. “Don't stress yourself over it, Olivia. We respect your father and wish you all the best in trying to keep his business afloat. But, we’re just not interested.”
“If you would just give me a second to go into further detail—Olivia tries to say, but Joel cuts her off again, making my blood boil.
“Olivia, please,” he snips. “We’ve said that we’re not interested. Thank you all for coming, but this meeting is over.”
Eden and I look over at Olivia, and it’s obvious that she has lost it. Tears fill her eyes as she realizes she has no more cards left to play, and she's about to lose to the house. I see the pain filling her face like a pitcher about to overflow, and even with everything that went down yesterday, seeing her in pain sends fire raging through my veins. I know how much this meant to her, and I know how dark Obsidian’s future is without this deal. No matter how murky our situation is, I can't let this happen. Not to Obsidian. Not to Olivia.
“Okay,” Olivia says as her eyes drop down to the table. “Thank you for your ti—”
“You are interested,” I jump in before she can finish.
All eyes turn to me and my heartbeat revs like the engine in a race car.
“Excuse me?” Richard says. “Did you say something?”
I take a deep breath, knowing that what I'm about to do could get me fired, arrested, and blacklisted from every cybersecurity company on the east coast. It could cost me everything, but I don't fucking care. I've listened to enough, and now I'm off the deep end. I know I was supposed to just sit back and observe Olivia’s attempt at this pitch, but she needs me now, and I can tell from the fiery gaze in her eyes that she's going to be pissed about this, but I don't fucking care.
“I said you are interested,” I repeat. “In both doing business with us, and in leaving Palo Alto Networks.”
I feel Olivia’s eyes burning holes in the side of my face, but I ignore it and focus on the rich men sitting across from us. They forget Olivia too, and while that fact pisses me off, I’ll be sure to make them regret it and apologize before I'm done.
“Umm … Mr. … King, is it?” Joel asks as condescendingly as he can. I'm offended, but I don't act on it. I'm smarter, and I simply nod. “Right. Well, Mr. King, I can appreciate a hard-nosed approach, but I didn't misspeak. We’re not interested in either of those things.”
“Yes, you are,” I say. “And if all of you would just indulge me for a few minutes, I can do more than just tell you. I’ll show you. Give me one second. I’ll be right back.”
Olivia gasps. “Be right back? Quinn, what the hell are you doing?”
I turn to her in all seriousness. “Do you trust me?”
I watch Olivia swallow hard as her breath quivers in her throat. Then she says in nearly a whisper, “More and more every day.”
I nod. “Good. Then make sure they don't leave.”
Without another word, I spin around and begin speed-walking down the hall, ignoring the loud complaints from Joel and Richard. I fly past the receptionist, gazing at the homescreen on her desktop before stepping onto the elevator and riding it down. Once the elevator hits the bottom, I quickly walk out to my car and grab the laptop from my passenger seat. I thought I wouldn't need it, but they pushed me to it.
By the time I make it back to the conference room, everyone is standing and gesturing with their hands as the conversation heats up like the thermostat has been tampered with. Joel and Richard are sick and tired of our shit. They think they've made their choice and they're just about ready to have security escort us out, but if they were going to leave, they should've done it already. Now it’s too late. I'm back, and I'm pissed.
“Sit down, please,” I command as I take my seat and open my laptop. “All of you sit down. If you stick with your decision after I show you this, you can have us thrown out and have me arrested, but until then … sit down.”
The room goes quiet, and I half-expect Richard to call security anyway from how hard he's staring at me, but he doesn't. Everyone slowly retakes their seats and waits in silence for me to begin.
Perfect.
My eyes find Richard Saul. “You spoke eloquently about Palo Alto Networks not having security breaches like the ones Obsidian faced over the last quarter, but I can't help but wonder if you lied on purpose or if you really didn't know.”
Richard scoffs. “Didn't know what?”
“That Palo Alto Networks had a security breach last year,” I reply. “One that cost them nearly a third of their clientele after it was discovered that five terabytes of personally identifiable information was stolen.”
Richard scoffs again, but it’s weak and he knows it. “Well, that PII breach didn't affect anyone working here, or any of the clients banking with East-World.”
I nod my head as my laptop comes on and I start to click the keys. “Not this time, you're right about that, Richard. But if that breach didn't bother you, why do ours? Especially when you're well aware of the fact that our breaches were carried out by someone working at Obsidian, someone with direct access to the information and systems we use. We were never hacked by an outside threat, but Palo Alto was. How come that doesn't bother you?”
Joel and Richard look at each other, and they don't even know how dumb they look. It doesn't matter, though. I’m just getting started.
“Why are you willing to risk your data, and the data of your clients, just to maintain a business relationship with a company you can't even trust? If you switch to Obsidian, we may not be the best of friends who go golfing together like you do with the Palo Alto CEO, but at least you won't have to worry about a data breach that could result in numerous lawsuits and millions in payouts.”
“We can trust Palo Alto,” Joel snips angrily.
“Can you? Is that a fact?” I ask, still typing on my computer.
“Yes, we can,” Joel barks. “And maybe if you weren't on your laptop in the middle of this meeting, you could see that.”
“Oh, this laptop isn't for me,” I say confidently. “It’s for you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Richard asks.
“Quinn,” Olivia calls to me. Her tone is blistering hot, but I don't take my eyes off my laptop.
Everyone in the room waits on pins and needles while I click a few keys to bring up a screen on my laptop, and run a background scan on computers within a one-block radius. In about five seconds, I can see whose work computer has updated antivirus and whose doesn’t. Luckily for me, the receptionist who brought us into this meeting hasn’t updated hers, and I use her system to bypass Palo Alto’s firewall and get into East-World Bank’s employee files. After a few more keystrokes, I have exactly what I want, all thanks to the receptionist who doesn't even know her profile has been hacked.
“Mr. Saul, could you do me a favor?” I ask as I turn the laptop around and slide it over to him so he can see the screen. “Go ahead and put in your username and password.”
“Excuse me, how did you get to this screen?” Richard asks. “This is our bank staff login page.”
“Right,” I reply dryly. “Go ahead and login.”
Richard starts pressing keys on the laptop, but nothing happens. I watch with a growing smile as his frustration peaks every time he presses enter, and he slowly realizes that he’s locked out.
“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Richard asks.
“I locked you out of your account,” I reply with a smile.
“Excuse me?” Richard says again, this time with wide eyes and a voice as high as the receptionists.
“Quinn, stop,” Olivia growls, trying to whisper angrily, but I ignore.
“I didn't misspeak,” I reply, quoting Mr. Epson. “I locked you out of your account, Mr. Saul, by hacking into East-World’s system and installing ransomware into your file, meaning I encrypted your data storage drives from right here, and made them inaccessible to you. Now, if I was a real asshole, which I should be for the way you’ve been so disrespectful and dismissive of Olivia, I could hold all of your shit ransom. I could lock you out of everything until you pay me what I want, which is why it’s called ransomware. I could even erase everything if I wanted to, including all your records in payroll. In less than five minutes on a laptop, sitting right in front of you, I hacked into your system, and could make it like you never worked even here, Richard, and you’re the CFO. Now, tell me again how you can trust Palo Alto.”
Neither Richard nor Joel says anything. They just stare at me, as do Eden and Olivia, but I can feel Olivia’s eyes on me like heat from warm pavement.
“Obsidian was never weak,” I continue, going in for the final nail in the coffin. “It simply had a leach that was sucking our blood from the inside. That leach has been removed … and replaced by me. With my help, and Miss Lucero at the helm, Obsidian is going to be bigger and stronger than it even imagined it could be before, and I say that with all due respect to Diego Lucero and his legacy. But it’s a new day now. We’re going to grow exponentially, and we’re asking you to grow with us.” I take the laptop from Richard and quickly undo everything I did, then I close it and clasp my fingers together on top of it. “Or, you can stay in the past. The choice is yours. Grow with us, or die with them.”
I stare across the table and take great pleasure in watching Richard blink rapidly like a bug just flew into his eye. He looks over at Joel, who stares at me with raised brows before clearing his throat and standing up. Richard follows his lead as Joel turns his gaze toward Olivia.
“Olivia, I apologize if we got off on the wrong foot,” Joel says. “I certainly didn't mean to be disrespectful to you or your,” he glances at me, “brilliant colleague. I came into this meeting intending to quickly send you on your way, but after what I just watched, I don't think I have any other choice now.”
Olivia gasps but tries to keep it quiet as she stands. Eden and I do the same as Joel reaches across the table with an open hand and his first genuine smile of the day.
“Okay, Olivia Lucero,” Joel says as the two of them shake hands. “We’re in. Where do we sign?”
THIRTY-SIX - Quinn
“What the hell was that?” Olivia barks the second we’re outside of the East-World Bank building. I knew she was uncharacteristically quiet on the elevator ride down, but I was hoping she was keeping her excitement bottled up. Clearly, I was wrong.
Olivia places a hand on my shoulder and pulls me back, spinning me around and forcing me to face her. We’re in a parking lot again, and I can't help but think about what we did the last time we had an argument in a parking lot. Something tells me things won't end up that good this time.
“What are you talking about?” I ask, trying to keep my feelings subdued. “I just saved Obsidian.”
“You hacked their system.”
I shrug. “So?”
Olivia’s face fills with rage that turns her cheeks red. “So? Are you out of your fucking mind, Quinn? What don't you understand about hacking being illegal? You can't do that? You could've gotten all of us arrested.”
I glance over at Eden, who is standing by Olivia’s car watching us with a painful look on her face. I wonder if she feels the same way Olivia does. I thought I had just done a good thing back there. Or am I unable to do anything good in Olivia’s eyes when it comes to this company?
Everything I've been feeling since the second Olivia walked out on me in the playhouse comes to a boil in my belly. I'm hurt, frustrated, confused, and pissed the fuck off by how I've been treated over the last few days. At some point, it becomes about what you deserve, and I don't fucking deserve this from anybody. Even though I have strong feelings for Olivia and I credit her for helping me accept myself, I won't take this from her either.
“But I didn't get us arrested,” I snip. “I did what I had to do to save Obsidian. You shot your shot and it didn't work. He turned you down, so I took fucking action and it got the job done. You should be thanking me, Olivia.”
“It is not your company to save,” she yells, and hear her voice echo down the street. “My father built Obsidian and he left it to me. Me! I was supposed to be the one to save it.”
“Goddamn, Olivia. You tried. You gave it your best shot and it didn't work, so I helped you. He didn't go for that bullshit about decreased prices because it didn't scare him enough. With a guy like that, you have to make them believe that they are already in danger—that everything they love, which is their money, power, and so-called supremacy, is already under threat. Even if it’s not true, you have to make them believe it, and people like him are the exact reason that the world is in the shit hole it’s in now, because they believe the lies being spewed about being threatened or something being stolen from them. You see the way he didn't care about the Palo Alto PII breach because it didn't affect him personally? It didn't matter how many others were hurt by it. He was safe and knew he never had to worry. So I made him believe that it could happen to him. I told you that I was ready for this pitch because I'd been studying Joel Epson, and I knew the kind of person he was, so I did what I had to do.”
“Oh my god,” she whispers, turning around in a full circle with her hands on her hips. “And what if it didn't work, Quinn? What if he would've called the cops?”
“He didn't.”
“But what if he had?”
“Then it would've been worth it,” I bark, losing my cool. “I did it protect you and the company you love so fucking much. Even with you treating me like shit, I still cared enough about you to risk being thrown in jail to give you what you wanted. I don't regret it, so if you're looking for an apology you're not going to fucking get it. I did it to save you. You needed me in there and I stepped up, consequences be damned.”
“Needed? You think I need you?” she says, her brow so furrowed I'm not sure it will ever recover. “You see? This is why I don't get serious with anybody. You fucking men always think someone needs you, but I accomplished everything I have on my own. I don't need anybody. I'm not some damsel that needs a savior. You've clearly let this Dom shit go to your head.”
“Oh, is that what I've done? Now I've let all of it get to my head because I stopped your ship from sinking? I should've let every employee at Obsidian drown just so you could say that you were the only one who tried because it’s your dad’s company? I know that you're still dealing with issues about your father's death, and I get that, Olivia. But you can't let those issues make you like this. You think Diego would be upset that Joel Epson shot you down and somebody else had to assist you? He wouldn't. He would just be glad that his daughter tried her best and that the company ended up being saved by this deal that is bigger than his dreams could've imagined. He would've been proud of you. He would've been proud of all of us for making this happen.”
Tears begin to stream down Olivia’s face, and I know that her emotions are getting the best of her, so I do my best to be understanding. I'm enraged by how all of this has turned out, but I'm starting to understand that maybe this is bigger than me. Olivia was so good at pushing me to be myself and accepting who I really am, but I'm not sure she's able to do it for herself. I was able to resolve my issues with my dad’s incarceration, but it’s clear she's still struggling with her own daddy issues. I understand, so I choose to back off.
She wipes her face and steps closer to me, pointing her finger at my nose. “You don't know shit about my father. Don't even say his name.”
“Fine,” I say, nodding. “So you're going to stay mad about the deal you've been hoping for all this time?”
“I'm mad at you, not the deal,” she says. “You risked burning my father's company to the ground, but you got lucky. That stunt you pulled could've cost us everything my father built.”
I nod again, understanding that this moment may be our last. “Okay. Yeah, I did. I risked them saying no and calling the police. I risked getting blacklisted all across the east coast for hacking. I risked my career and my livelihood. I risked my fucking freedom. You're absolutely right, Olivia. But when it all boils down to it, I hope you realize that I risked all of that … for you.” I look over at Eden who is still frozen in place, and nod to her. “Congratulations on the deal,” I say to them both, then I turn my back to Olivia and get in my car.
Out of my peripheral vision, I see Olivia place her hands on her hips and lift her head to the sky before covering her face with her hands. Eden walks over to her and says something before the two of them embrace. Good. At least she has Eden there to comfort her. Eden and Obsidian.
