Seth tries to do his job the best he can. Yes, he’s the head of the company; yes, his meetings include playing poker; and yes, it works out fine. This time is no different, even though the news is more worrying than usual. But he’s going to take it one step at the time and be just fine. It’s more of the same in the end -- talk to these people, arrange that meeting, and don’t panic anybody. The stakes are higher, but it’s nothing he hasn’t done before. And he gets to spend time at the fire station with Connor. Seth should be good.<br><br>And there’s nothing out of the ordinary on Connor’s end. It’s a normal day, spent doing normal things, with the normal people. He happens to love his life and, though some things could be better, they could also be way worse. Connor is satisfied, and nothing is going to change that.<br><br>Everything is going according to plan. There’s no reason to believe that anything has to change. Right?

Out of Nowhere

Seth makes a hand gesture dismissing Rhymes’ claims. “Even if that’s gone, you paid the hackers—”


“So what if I paid hackers? White hats work for companies all the time, you can’t prove that it had anything to do with you,” Rhymes claims, almost exasperated. “And hackers lie.”


“You sent Brown with a fake resume,” Seth says and talks right over Brown’s indignant ‘hey.’ “You are obsessed with Angel and tried to disguise it—badly—by having people hack the other two models. Did you really think nobody would be able to tell?”


“Nobody can,” Rhymes says. He sighs once more and Seth is almost distracted from Rhymes’ making a final admission by enough rage to make the sun melt. If Rhymes sighs one—more—time…


“You have nothing,” Rhymes finishes, but thankfully he doesn’t sigh.


“You’re an idiot,” Connor says, sounding awed.


Chapter 22