Page 7 of Collin, Episodes 10-12 (The Residency Boys #4)

Mr. Moreau squeezed Collin’s hand as he took the coffee mug, then sat down, and leaned forward so Eleanor could hear him.

“We’re in a good place, personnel wise. So far, everyone who has reported harassment or threats has met with a lawyer and someone from our security team.

Two of the three people who had resigned under pressure have come back.

The third one acknowledges our attempts but says they don’t want the stress.

We’ve offered a severance package, and they’ve accepted and signed an agreement not to hold Reevesworth Industries liable.

There are ten legal cases in the works to answer the threats that were made, and we expect another eight or nine to develop.

Damian is on top of that. That’s what I have right now. Eleanor?”

There was some heavy breathing then Eleanor’s voice came through the phone.

“If ever there was an argument for better transportation…” She bit off a curse.

“We’re in for a busy week. The inheritance challenge is being pushed hard, timeline wise.

The other side feels ready and wants to get in front of a judge fast. They want to give us as little time as possible to review the evidence.

But that’s okay. The judge has already ordered them to hand over the evidence for discovery.

Depending on what we find, that will give us the timeline we’re fighting for. ”

“When will the documentation arrive?” Mr. Reevesworth asked.

Eleanor huffed, clearly walking along a busy street.

“Tonight. And yes, I know that’s incredibly fast. But if their case is based on what I think it is, it won’t matter what they tell us.

What we need is independent information on this Dana Reevesworth.

And so far, the private investigators are coming up with very little.

Home educated by her mother, no known nannies.

No known babysitters, not even a music teacher.

We’re down to trying to figure out if she’s even seen a doctor since she was born.

I’ve told them to widen the scope to her mother’s family. ”

“Nine years, you’ve got to have some sort of paper trail,” Bruiski scoffed.

“It’s how much that paper trail can hide that’s the issue,” Eleanor growled.

“I need more than a blank slate to work with, especially if we go in front of a jury. At this point, I’m going to have to argue that the child is being used as a pawn and not a person and that her mother should lose custody, which is such a flimsy argument that my professors would throw me out of law school for it.

Plenty of kids have minimal paper trails for all kinds of reasons from religion to living in undeveloped regions. ”

Collin winced. This doesn’t sound good.

Mr. Reevesworth tapped his fingers lightly against the table. “The child’s life could be fine. However, her creation may be an act of stealing if we can prove the sperm was taken after death and against my uncle’s wishes. Any update on that?”

“Nothing yet. I have interns reading his journals now though. Thank you for that.”

“Of course.” Mr. Reevesworth grimaced. “They might know more about my uncle than I do by the time they’re finished.”

“I’m having them digitized for ease of use, so if you want to read them later, I can have the files made available.”

“Send them to Bruiski.” Mr. Reevesworth gave a nod, and Bruiski made a note.

Tuesday and Wednesday followed the same routine.

Mandarin classes first thing in the morning, work, lunch, and more work with evenings in the gym, and then dinner and bed, although everyone, including Collin, was bringing work home and eating takeout with their laptops open in front of them.

Collin had brought work home partially because he was helping take up the slack of the one person who had really quit the team and partially because he had an idea he was trying to develop on the side.

There was pressure on his team from other teams, especially public relations, to model and produce ideas that could be taken to the public.

Stories were being leaked daily about how irresponsible the passenger rail line was, how many failed passenger rail projects around the country had gone over budget, and how trains brought in floods of gang members and homeless populations to good, well-run communities.

It seemed like a never-ending list of negativity; the public relations team was fighting it with experts, talks, articles, and even interviews with authors of books on sustainable cities and humane living.

It remained to be seen who was winning the discourse. Fear sold easily and hope less so. And there was still the overarching threat of who would even own Reevesworth Industries in the coming year.

Thursday morning, Collin limped out of Mandarin class with sore legs from his new exercises Damian had taught him the night before in the gym.

Ash gave him a side-eye. “You do that for fun? That workout stuff?”

“You run stairs for fun.”

“I don’t look like that.” Ash nodded at Collin’s sore legs.

Collin shot him a dirty look. “That’s because you’ve been doing it for months.”

“No, it’s because I did a few at a time. It took me months to run the whole building.”

“You run the whole building, top to bottom?”

Ash nodded.

Collin moaned. “Fine. I wanted to impress them, okay. It was stupid. I kept saying I was fine.”

Ash shook his head. “Stupid. Yes. You are stupidest smart man I know. Anyway, you bought me more food. I need to give you more money.” He took a wad of cash out of his pocket and held it out.

Collin put up his hand. “Wait a sec.”

“No waiting. Take.” Ash pushed the money toward Collin.

Collin closed his eyes and put his knuckles to his forehead. “Not here, okay? Let’s do this in the dungeon.”

A giggle broke out in the hallway. Collin opened one eye. It was Janice, hand over her mouth, face turning red.

“It’s not… I didn’t… Gah! Janice!”

The woman was entirely unrepentant.

Ash looked between Collin and Janice. “What’s wrong with you two?”

“Cash. Dungeon. You look like you’re trying to pay Collin for spicy times.”

Ash turned four shades of red and stuffed the money back into his jeans. “The fuck!” He looked to Collin, eyes wide and pleading.

Collin groaned. “Janice! Seriously. The dude is seventeen.”

“I know. If it was the other way around, I’d be hitting you with my purse.”

“Thanks.” Collin rolled his eyes. “Ash, let’s talk in your office. You overpaid.”

“Overpaid?”

“Yeah.” Collin grabbed Ash’s hand since the teenager seemed to have forgotten he had feet and dragged him into the tech dungeon.

He shut the door and pulled out his phone, bringing up his notes app.

“Look, this is how much money you gave the first time. I counted it and wrote it down. This is how much I’ve spent on your lunches, before and after.

This is how much money I still have from what you gave me before. ”

Ash grabbed the phone and put the screen up near his face. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Collin tapped the number of how much money was still left to be spent. “Look, I can share this note with you and tell you when it gets low. Then, and only then, give me more money.”

“I just really want to pull my own weight, you know.” Ash looked kind of devastated. He shifted his feet back and forth on the floor. “I’m not stupid. You keep buying me stuff, like the bed.”

“Believe me, you are pulling your weight.”

Ash huffed. “Don’t lie to me. You don’t have to help other people in the office like this.”

“Everyone has things they need help with, Ash. Like Carrie getting sick because she was allergic to that lawyer dude’s cologne. Or Veronica getting Damian to help her with her stupid hookup. Unless you have a stupid hookup you need help with?”

Ash shook his head. “The only guy who tried ate it.”

Collin’s eyebrows climbed into his hairline. “Ate it? Ash, please, please , don’t confess to murder right now even in self-defense. I cannot handle any more complications.”

Ash giggled. “Naw, I didn’t murder him. He lost a couple of teeth though. And for the record, I think girls are my lane. Like ninety-five percent sure.”

“That’s cool. I’m leaving plenty of girls for you.

I’m just glad you didn’t have to kill anyone, but if you need to, like, I totally get that.

We’d be here for you, but maybe just try to avoid it for at least three more months?

I’ve already had two ER visits in four weeks, and evidently, I have to give testimony in court next month?

I don’t know. Damian is on top of that. And now I’m on a first-name basis with, like, three police officers. ” Collin sucked in air.

Ash snickered. “Okay, okay, jeez, Collin. You’re like super red.” He patted Collin on the arm. “You really need to relax though. You, like, went off the deep end there.”

Collin heaved a sigh and leaned against a filing cabinet. “I really need to get to my desk. No, before that, I have to see Mr. Reevesworth, but I was wondering if you know any gamers. I’m going to ask my sister too, but I thought I’d ask you.”

Ash frowned. “I’m not big into video games. Like, I play a few but not a lot.”

“Okay, sister it is. Thanks.”

Collin gathered himself and headed for Mr. Reevesworth’s office. After the workout he’d had last night, Damian had been all over him to drink water, and he was really feeling the effects.

His sister was only too happy to take his video call over his lunch break. Collin found an empty corner of an unused conference room and caught her between class and her job at the on-campus cafe.

“Games take years to build, bro,” Alice said as soon as Collin had told her his idea. “The only game I can think of that’s done anything like this is Minecraft . Someone rebuilt ancient Rome in there and a bunch of other stuff.”

“What if we made it a competition?”