Surprised not to find Carrie waiting impatiently for her at the office, Emily tried to focus on getting a few jobs done and out of the way. The arrival of Jason cut short that plan.

“Hey, Jason, didn’t expect to see you today. Figured you would have a sore head after last night. It was a fantastic evening. Well done.”

Jason smiled at her compliment. “Carrie bailed. She said to tell you she was too hung-over to come in. She hoped you wouldn’t be too mad.”

“Carrie? Why didn’t she call me?’

“Said she tried but you weren’t picking up.”

Guiltily, Emily remembered hearing her cell buzz when she was talking to Conor. Carrie was entitled to take the weekends off and have a life. “Jason, you shouldn’t be in the office. Don’t you have a date?”

“Nah. I went home alone.”

“Ah, poor Daisy.”

“She didn’t seem too upset. She hooked up with some rich guy.”

“Oh.” Emily wasn’t sure what else to say. She didn’t pretend to understand the casual dating game the rest of her team seemed to play. She wondered if the gossip about Conor Dunne being a serial womanizer was true and found herself hoping it wasn’t.

“Earth calling Emily, tune in Emily.”

She looked up to find Jason grinning at her. “Where is your head this morning, or shouldn’t I ask? Who’s to blame for you being tired, the guy you were dancing with? I thought he left before you did, though.”

“I went home alone,” Emily said sharply, immediately regretting her tone. Jason was only teasing her. “Sorry, Jason, I’m overtired. I think I might head home, too.”

“You can’t.”

Startled at his insistent tone, Emily held her head to the side waiting for him to explain.

“Sorry, what I meant was do you have to? We really need to get that video shot for next week’s vlog. I thought you could say something about how well last night went. How the Beta is doing and how excited we are to see Warrior Queen, come out in time for the Christmas market.”

“I suppose we should,” Emily said, feeling guilty her assistant was more enthusiastic about the project than she was. What was wrong with her? Usually her business came first, second and last. But now when she closed her eyes, unwanted thoughts of Conor Dunne kept swirling in her brain. How she wished she were like Daisy and the rest of the girls she knew. She could have asked him to go home with her last night. She sputtered as soon as the thought came into her head. She was just as likely to audition for a job as a designer on Generation Sassy, the new offering from Sunny Studios.

Emily shot the video for the vlog. Jason filmed while she talked about the Warrior Queen beta testing, feedback from readers and then she answered some questions viewers from previous sessions had sent in. Jason had curated them, so she didn’t have to deal with any nasty ones.

“That was awesome, Emily. Now we just need to do a piece on the new offering by Sunny Studios. This one is really going to make your blood boil.”

She listened as he outlined the game and what it involved. He was right, she was angry.

“How on earth did that get past the censors?” she asked.

“It has an Adults Only maturity rating. You know what that means.”

Seething, Emily knew it gave the developers carte blanche to include whatever material they wanted. She had to get her temper in check or she would make a mess of the vlog. A cool, well thought-out response would work better than a rant. At the moment, she was tempted to chain Conor Dunne to the wall but that wouldn’t help anyone.

Instead of focusing on the game, she spoke about gaming in general. She outlined the good points—used responsibly, games could help enhance children’s knowledge about history, the world etc. Adult games were designed for the adult market in much the same way as movies. Her voice wobbled when she described some of the bad behavior video games could encourage. She ended the vlog with an appeal to parents not to allow their children to play adult games.

“Why don’t you send a direct appeal to Conor Dunne?”

Emily looked at Jason thoughtfully. Her first instinct was to say no, but Jason usually had good reasons for his suggestions. “Do you think that will help?”

“Well, he was there last night. That suggests he has some interest in cleaning up the gaming industry. He may not agree with all your views—I certainly don’t.”

Emily smiled in acknowledgement. She and Jason had enjoyed some fierce debates on various gaming subjects. While he disagreed with wanton violence and degradation of women, he argued that adult gamers were entitled to play their choice of games. The women who had fought for equal rights would want to make their own choices. Emily didn’t disagree, but she was adamant children shouldn’t have access to the more violent games. She actually loved the Quest Embattlement games herself and, if she had more time, she would have played more.

“I am not sure if that’s fair, he just bought the company. Maybe we should give him a chance-”

“Emily, If he wants to change things, now is the perfect time. We all know he’s the billionaire and he can make the staff do whatever he wants.” Jason paused to look at her. “He’s entitled to introduce sweeping changes. Most investors do when they take over a company. Now couldn’t be a better time.”

Jason’s argument was persuasive, but there was a voice in Emily’s head telling her this was a mistake.

“I see your point, but it seems to me we should give him time to settle in.”

Jason adopted what Emily called his sulky boy face. He was like a child told he couldn’t go to a sleepover.

“Come on, Jase, don’t be like that. Did your parents never teach you it’s easier to catch flies with honey, than vinegar.”

Jason immediately brightened up. “Sorry, Emily, you’re right as usual. That’s why you’re the boss. Why don’t we get this shot now? And then you can go home like you planned.”

“Great.” Relieved she seemed to have gotten through to him, Emily waited for the camera to start rolling. She tied up the loose ends in the vlog and signed off.

“Ever think you should go on camera without the disguise?” he asked. “You’d look fantastic.”

Emily chewed her lip. Should she tell Jason about the threats? He knew about the Twitter ones but not the latest. No, he would only worry, and insist on walking her home and taking care of her. He acted like a big brother at times to both her and Carrie, as if they were unable to fend for themselves. It was sweet, but he could be overbearing.

“Maybe someday. At the moment, I like being able to go where I want without being recognized.”

“You’re so funny, Emily. Most women want to be idolized whereas you prefer a life in the shadows.”

Emily didn’t respond. He was partly right. Even at college she hadn’t shared her friends’ need for the limelight. It bothered her that female gamers had to be cute to be famous. Like actresses, they seemed to be judged on their looks rather than their ability. She wanted to show the world she was just as good as a male gamer. Hence, she never used more than her initials on her games. Nobody had known until recently that she was the designer behind Warrior Queen. Friday night was the first time she had been photographed as the head of the DC Williams Foundation. She liked being able to come and go as she pleased. While she wouldn’t mind the money famous people earned, she would hate to be Angelina Jolie or Oprah. The thought of being unable to run down to the local store without risking your photograph ending up everywhere was horrible.

“Are we done?” Emily asked Jason, anxious to get home. Not sleeping well the previous night was catching up on her and she needed a nap.

“Yes, you go on. I’ll edit it and get it ready. We should publish as soon as possible. Might get more donations for the foundation.”

“Good idea, Jase, but are you sure you don’t want to get home? You can leave it till Monday. It’s the weekend.”

“No, I’m good. I’d rather get it finished.”

“Okay, then, but don’t work too hard. See you Monday.”

“Later.”

Emily slung her purse over her shoulder, deciding to walk home. It was such a beautiful day, not too hot. She needed a bit of sun on her skin. She would take a nap when she got home, then work through until she got her backlog cleared. Then she would go to see her nana tomorrow as promised. She wasn’t going to let her down again.