Author's note:
All Character's in this story are over the age of eighteen.
Any names or places that bare similarities to reality are purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Warning: This story contains elements of non-consent.
*****
Gareth would have loved to have visited Rachel every night for a repeat encounter but he knew it was too risky to be seen around her place too often, though he was quite confident in his power over her, others around her might not be as easy to control. Besides, he wanted to wait a little while until her room-mate was ready to play.
At work the next day, his boss called him into his office. Jacob was one of those dickhead bosses that never did any hard work but was happy to allocate, he always took credit for all the good things and was quick to shift blame for the bad. The only reason Gareth had put up with him these past few years was because the company had marketed his game so well it allowed him to deliver his platform to as many people as possible. Since the numbers were good Jacob hadn't had much to say to him, that was until recently.
"You wanted to see me Jacob?" Gareth entered the office.
"Have a seat, my boy" Jacob directed.
"Is everything okay? I haven't heard any complaints about the app?"
"No everything is fine with the app, amazing in fact. That's what I wanted to talk to you about." He paused for dramatic effect. Arsehole.
"It looks like we've attracted the attention of a big player and I'm talking multi-million dollar big, they want to acquire this company and they've been doing their own research on our product. The number of installs and game time are great but the in-game purchases are low. The users all seem content on just spending time grinding for all the cosmetic stuff." Jacob turned his computer monitor around to show Gareth the screen. It displayed several mockups of the game, they looked to be an entire redo of the user interface. It also had notes around the screenshots with things like pay to play, pay to unlock and other nonsense.
"Jacob, the marketing team already did their research. Players hate pay to win schemes it separates those that have and those that don't. It will reduce our player base not increase it. Besides the last report showed our revenue was still well in the green." Gareth pleaded.
"Not according to their numbers, they estimate we can double our revenue by the end of the quarter." Jacob explained. Gareth looked over at the screen, if he had to rewrite a lot of the code on the surface who knows how much he'd have to in the bottom layer.
"This is pretty big task Jacob, it's going to take a while for me to get organised. I've only just managed to get the others familiar with the code base." He answered skeptically.
"Yeah...about that. See they don't like the idea of not being in control. It's a pretty standard process when it comes to mergers like this but they want to bring in their own team." Jacob replied.
"So, I'm going to have to teach another bunch of idiots how everything works". Gareth sighed.
"Not teach but hand over. They want your resignation." Jacob replied flatly. There was no emotion in his words, Jacob never liked Gareth, he always seemed threatened by people smarter than him; even if that person was making him money.
"What!? They want me to hand over everything? Everything I've worked for." Gareth nearly leapt across the table at his boss.
"Look they've offered a pretty substantial severance package. One year's worth of pay plus stock options." Jacob changed the screen on his laptop to show a new document, from first glance it looked to be what he promised with a few extra's on top. If he were any other developer this would be an amazing package but it wasn't just about the money, he'd invested more than just his professional time into the project, his little experiment was also deep within the code. There was the possibility of him being able to continue his work externally but there was an even greater risk of being discovered if he had to hack into the company to make any changes.
"Jacob, please there has to be something you can do, I don't want to leave. I've put so much into this project. It isn't just another job for me." Gareth pleaded.
"It's already done, we sign off early next week. If it makes you feel any better, they are asking me to step down to second in charge. I won't be the big boss anymore." Jacob seemed empathetic this time. Well at least the arsehole wasn't getting away that easily.
"Let me talk to them directly Jacob, maybe I can convince them it's in their best interest to leave us right where we are." Gareth didn't want Jacob to stay as his boss but it was probably the only way he could get him on his side.
"Thanks for the offer, but it's too late. I'm sorry things didn't go the way you wanted but you're smart I'm sure you'll find something else, probably even better." Jacob was quick to answer, he didn't even consider Gareth's offer, something else was going on and Gareth intended to find out.
"Right sure. Okay, it's a lot to take in. Can I hang around until its final? I just have a few little things to clean up before I leave."
"Sure. you'll have till the end of the week anyway, for the hand over that is." Jacob replied and turned his laptop back around. It appeared that the meeting was over. Gareth wanted to use his MCA to control that bastard, to get him to change his mind but Jacob didn't even play the game. He was too lazy to test anything himself so he hired people to do it for him.
Gareth returned to his desk, he didn't go back to work, there was no point right now. He needed a solution, if he couldn't control his boss he needed to know more about what happened. He attempted to gain access to Jacob's email but that proved to be troublesome, despite the fact that his boss was a moron he didn't hire morons, the network security within the company between employees was actually quite strong. Given time he might have been able to get access but time was not on his side.
He considered his other options, if he couldn't brute force his way into his boss's computer then perhaps, he could find a less direct way around. Gareth hopped onto one of the social media sites that he knew Jacob was part of, as expected his boss had no idea about account privacy settings, he could practically steal his identity. He scrolled down the pages through all the of pictures and posts; as usual he had plenty of pictures with his family and pets. Nothing useful yet.
Gareth continued down the timeline until something caught his eye, his daughter had made a seemingly innocent post
Hey Dad great work on the new game, it's great fun. All my friends love it. #bestdadever.
Hmph, even his family thought he made the game. This new piece of information was excellent news however, even if Jacob was too old fashioned to play the game, his daughter was certainly a player. Gareth only hopped she was at least an orange, if he was going to get any more information about Jacob he needed her to be at least a little bit compliant.
He clicked on his daughter's profile, she was much smarter than her dad, her profile was mostly private. He could still see her cover image and name though. Jennifer. Gareth was surprised, she was a little hottie, it looked as if she had just turned eighteen according to a post her dad made.
My little girls all grown up and ready for the big world. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation baby girl.
Gareth expanded the picture she was tagged in. She was wearing her school uniform with the graduation robes and cap on, it looked to be a practice run for the real thing. Her smile said it all; innocent, but waiting to be corrupted.
Gareth used his MCA to do a lookup search on his users. Since he had her name, he would be able to locate her and find out what level she was at.
Boom! He got a hit.
Not only did the little minx play the game, she was hooked. Level two red. This was going to be interesting.
Since she was a level two, he would be able to do quite a few things with her. But more importantly get the information he needed to keep his job.
