Divine Artifact in a Scientific World-Chapter 70: Frustration and New Hire

It was day two of Jack’s house viewing tour, and they were approaching lunch time. Meanwhile, in his soul space, his parallel self was in his lab trying to figure out how to make a modified version of CRISPR when he heard what sounded like Madison screaming in anger or frustration. He left his lab and when he entered his white room; he found Madison standing in the middle of the room, fists clenched tight, shaking with anger.

"Hey, what happened?" he asked.

As soon as she saw him, she lurched over and hugged him, pressing her face to his chest.

"It’s not fair!" she cried into his chest. "It’s not fair!"

He caressed her hair and asked, "Hey, what happened? What’s not fair?"

"The bastards declared me a flight risk, and the judge refused to set bail, so I’m stuck in jail until the trial. I’m going to miss my classes!"

"I get that being stuck in jail for a few days is unpleasant, but with parallel self, you should have no problem catching up on your classes once you get out."

"A few days!? The trial isn’t scheduled to start for three months!"

"Okay, but once the feds learn about what happened to Cascade, they’ll have to drop the charges."

"But what if they don’t?" she whined.

"Then we hit them again! They can’t accuse you of hacking Cascade if you’re locked in jail when it happens."

"Okay," she mumbled, still clutching him. "This sucks!"

"Yes. Yes, it does. But look on the bright side, it’s not permanent. And unlike everyone else in jail, you can come here."

She huffed a sigh, "True."

Miranda appeared in his white room, and seeing them, asked, "What happened?"

After he explained to Miranda what had happened, she came over and hugged Madison from behind, wrapping her arms around both of them. She didn’t say anything.

Eventually, Madison pulled away and sniffed. "Thanks, guys. I needed that."

Then she looked at Jack and asked, "Can I just destroy them completely? I was able to exfil all their sensitive data before wiping their servers. I’ve been examining the data and I’m not sure, but I think they are into some shady shit and I bet if we released that to the media, they’d be ruined."

Seeing that Miranda didn’t understand what they were talking about, he explained how they made it look like a competitor of Cascade Marketing had hacked them and trashed several of their servers.

"That is incredible. So, could you plant a hidden camera in someone’s house, record them, and then remove it later?"

"Sure, I think I could probably do that. Why? Did you want to spy on someone?"

"Maybe," she said, coyly. Then more seriously, she added, "But if you can do that, why haven’t you planted cameras in their offices and conference rooms? Surely they’ve talked about their shady shit. If you can get it on camera, then the media would have a field day with it."

"Damn, why didn’t I think of that!" exclaimed both he and Madison at the same time.

He and Madison laughed while Miranda smiled triumphantly, pleased that her great idea was recognized.

Madison’s earlier despondency and frustration were replaced with a fire in her eyes as she and Jack began planning the destruction of Cascade Marketing. Miranda mostly just asked questions and occasionally rubbed their shoulders, though she did offer some good suggestions for were to place the hidden cameras.

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Jack, Miranda, and Abigail walked into a nice little bistro that Abigail claimed had a wonderful menu. They were waiting to be seated when he noticed a familiar couple walk in behind them. It was the real-estate agent Ester and the young man they saw yesterday.

"Small world," said Ester as she walked up to Abigail.

Jack noticed that the way Ester walked was a little off, like she was just a touch loose, wobbly. While Abigail and Ester started talking, he turned to the young man, leaned in, and said in a low voice, "So, making her really work for it?"

"Damn straight," the young man replied. "Dad said, ’If she’s going to collect a five-figure commission, she should perform five figures worth of service.’ And let me tell you, she’s hungry for a sale."

Then he added, "Oh, I never got a chance to introduce myself." He stuck out his hand and said, "Lukas Vashon, but you can call me Luke."

Jack shook his hand and said, "Jack Waldron."

With a glance at Miranda, Luke asked, "So, is that your..."

"Girlfriend? Yes, one of them." Jack was curious to see how Luke would respond. Word would get out eventually that he had more than one girlfriend, and he was curious to see how people would respond.

"Girlfriends?" Luke whispered, glancing at Miranda. They were standing right next to the girls, so he probably thought Miranda didn’t know about Jack’s other girlfriends.

"Yep, they know about each other, too. She and Madison get along great."

"Seriously? Damn. What’s your secret?" asked Luke, with a touch of awe.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Sheer dumb luck, as far as I can tell."

Luke looked at him appraisingly, like he wasn’t sure if Jack was being genuine or self deprecating.

"Still, I’d kill for your luck," said Luke.

Well, I nearly died for mine. Jack thought, remembering waking up with nothing but a rhododendron between him and a long fall.

Miranda, who had appeared to be listening to Abigail and Ester’s conversation, something about escrow, turned to Luke and said, "She really likes you."

"What?" Luke said, thrown off by Miranda’s statement.

"Ester, she really likes you. All this time, she’s been giving you these little side glances. And even though she’s talking to Abigail, her hips are turned more towards you. Also, she keeps caressing her hip, like she wants to rub her pussy, but can’t because she’s in public."

Was she really that good at reading body language? Jack wondered what else she could tell just by looking at someone. Madison was terrible at it, and Miranda seemed like a savant in comparison.

"Really? Do you think she..." he sounded hopeful.

"Oh, she wants you. I’d bet money on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s been taking you to see places that are just not quite what you want. Just to so she has an excuse to be around you more."

Their conversation was interrupted by the hostess ready to seat the three of them. As they turned to follow the hostess to their table, Jack gave Luke a thumbs up. Luke had a pensive look on his face, like he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do with Miranda’s revelation.

Shortly after they were seated, he saw Ester and Luke following a hostess to their own table. As they passed, Luke stopped and said to Jack, "Hey, do you mind if we exchange contact info? Maybe meet for lunch sometime this week?"

"Sure, no problem," Jack replied.

After Luke left, Abigail asked, with a mild teasing tone, "So, what were you three talking about that has Luke so flustered?" freēnovelkiss.com

"I told him Ester really likes him," said Miranda with a chuckle.

"More like hungry for his cock," muttered Jack.

"Oh?" said Abigail, surprised. "Are you sure she’s not just trying to close a deal? I know that slut would do just about anything to earn a commission."

"Maybe, but her body language makes me think she actually wants him. I think he really does it for her. When I suggested to Luke that she was showing him homes that were not quite what he wanted just so she could spend more time with him, he didn’t deny it."

"Huh. That would be hilarious. Her, tamed by a fresh faced college kid. I wonder what she could see in him."

"It’s more like what part of him she wants to see in her. I have it on good authority that some woman just love to feel a long thick cock pounding deep-"

"Miranda!" warned Jack. He didn’t want her making Abigail uncomfortable. He was still considering hiring her and didn’t want her filing sexual harassment charges against him.

Abigail smiled mischievously and said, "Oh, I don’t mind. It’s a refreshing change from the stuffed shirts I’m used to dealing with."

The waitress arrived to take their order. When she left, Jack asked, "So, how would you feel about managing the houses I buy, along with any other real-estate North Star purchases.?"

"What, like a property manager? Dealing with renters, scheduling maintenance, etcetera?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of CEO. The company is small, right now, so you’d have to deal with that stuff initially, but eventually, you’d need to hire more people."

"But I don’t have any experience running a company."

"Do you want that experience?"

"Yes! I just... Are you serious?"

"Yes, I’m serious. Henry vouched for your professionalism, and Candice said you’re a good person. And you seem very knowledgeable about the real-estate market. So, yes, I’m willing to offer you the position of CEO of North Star Properties."

Seeing that he was serious, she said, "I have to ask, what kind of compensation can I expect as CEO of North Star Properties?"

"If you’re seriously considering taking the position, write up what you think would be fair compensation, salary, profit sharing, bonus plan, benefits, and send it to myself and Henry."

"Okay, yes. I think I’ll do that. When do you need an answer?"

"Preferably, I’d like to see your proposal sometime this week. I would prefer if you were on board before any of the purchases close."

After lunch, and for the rest of the day, Abigail seemed more relaxed, not that she had seemed tense before. And she even started joking around with Miranda. Some of the things they said even made Jack cringe.