Lauren (Silicon Valley Billionaires 1)

“Shut up, Clive,” I said, already exasperated with him. I wished Gabe was there so he could just punch Clive in the face once and for all.

“What do you want, Lauren?” he asked, and the humor evaporated from his voice.

“I want to know what you’ve been up to since I saw you last.”

Clive shrugged. Not only did he have the new scruff on his face, his glasses were smudged and his shirt was slightly rumpled. “I’ve been working. Just like you. How’s it going?”

“How’s it going for you?” I spat back at him.

He shrugged almost casually before pulling his glasses off and cleaning them with his shirt. “It’s…going.” He pushed his glasses back up on his nose and stared at me. “Gabe’s goons paid me a visit, and then I saw your press conference. That was a real kick-in-the-balls sort of day.”

“I didn’t intend it that way, but that’s a welcome bonus.”

“It probably didn’t work out the way you wanted in the end. I had to go with Plan B. I do wish you’d been more forthcoming about the status of the technology contained in your system,” he said. “It doesn’t work for shit. That was an unwelcome development.”

“You hacked me, Clive. Did you think I should have put a warning in there?”

He watched me carefully. “Do you admit it? That it’s not the updated technology?”

“Do you admit hacking me?”

Clive gave me an exhausted smile. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m not telling you anything. Not ever.”

“You might want to rethink that.” He paused for a beat. “I mean it, Lauren.”

Something about his tone made my hackles rise. “What are you saying?” I asked. “Spit it out. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Your lack of cooperation has been noted. Not only did you say no to my generous offer to buy your company, you fed me false information.” He was talking as if his lines were rehearsed, as if he were on the witness stand after being coached by a lawyer of questionable ethics.

“I didn’t feed you false information,” I seethed. “You broke into my company and stole my technology. If you can’t figure out how to use it, that’s your problem!”

“No,” Clive said, shaking his head. “It’s your problem now.” He took a step closer to me, and I backed up. “It’s out of my hands. You were so self-righteous. You didn’t accept my offer while you still had time. Now, the people I’m obligated to are out of patience. They want the perfected technology, and they want it now.”

“Then tell them to perfect it themselves,” I snapped.

Clive nodded. He almost looked sad. “Oh, they will. It’s only a matter of time. And they don’t have barriers l

ike you do.”

Frustration built inside me. “Barriers like what? What are you talking about?”

“Barriers like FDA approvals, like legal teams, investors, and board members who need to be appeased and answered to, like…any semblance of a corporate conscience. Those things don’t exist for them.”

“What are you saying? And who the hell are they, anyway?”

“I can’t tell you that. But I can tell you that they won’t stop. Anybody who gets in their way gets run over. That includes you and me.”

“So…fine. It’s me versus them, then. And as for you? Best of luck.” I put my hand on the door, ready to go. All my brilliant plans of getting useful information from him had gone up in smoke. I just wanted to get away from him.

He sighed. “I always liked you. I know your brilliance is the real thing. That’s why I tried to help. To protect you.”

I whirled back toward him. “You didn’t try to help me. You tried to ruin me!”

“You’re wrong.” He shook his head. “And they aren’t going to be as generous as I’ve been. Not with any of us. You need to watch yourself, Lauren. You and your thug of a boyfriend.”

My heart was pounding. “What the fuck does that mean, Clive?”