Wife by Day, Boss by Night by Thalia Quillspeak

Chapter 31
She couldn’t fathom what was so special about Natalie. Audrey had racked up a mountain of debt with the Howard family.
Despite the family’s outright disdain for both Audrey and Natalie, Brian kept showing Natalie mercy!
But Brian withdrew his arm, replying coldly, “Stay at home until the heat from those nasty comments online dies down. You don’t
want the media making a meal out of it. Head back, will you?”
“1.” Gracia was at a loss for words, watching as Brian turned and reentered the hotel.
Gracia was still fuming from yesterday’s debacle.
Gavin had given Brian the excuse that with Gracia’s reputation plummeting after the trending scandal, casting her as the lead in
the decade–in–the–making blockbuster of Global Entertainment Group would be a financial bloodbath.
Besides, it was Davis who had snagged that opportunity for Gracia, not Brian. He seemed utterly disinterested in the matter.
Ever since Natalie’s return, Brian seemed progressively more indifferent to Gracia’s affairs.
Gracia thought to herself, “I had to take action and reel Brian back to me like before.”
“...Don’t you know how Natalie landed that role? She was a nobody before, so how does she walk straight into a third lead role
the minute she joins the company? Don’t you find that odd?” An actress whispered.
“Maybe because she’s pretty. Plus, she studied abroad.” Another actress echoed.
“That’s not it at all. She’s the president’s pick under Mr. Miller’s wing! And just yesterday, she was in the president’s office with
him alone for nearly an hour! And at the dinner earlier, she seemed to be flirting with the producer, right?”

Brian, passing by the restroom, saw the two lead actresses from the dinner party whispering to each other as they walked past
him.
For a moment, he had been bewitched into thinking that Natalie might need saving.
But it seemed she was the one doing the seducing.
After removing her makeup, Natalie slipped into a hotel bathrobe and checked her phone for the message King had sent.
[Do you need money?]
Natalie pondered briefly before replying, [No]
[Check the hacker forum] King shot back.
These past few days had been hectic, and Natalie hadn’t visited the forum. King’s message suggested something was up, so
she hopped onto “DealDynamics.”
“DealDynamics,” ostensibly a legitimate international second–hand trading site, was in reality a nexus for hackers worldwide.
The lingo was all insider talk, cryptic to anyone outside the field.
She scrolled briefly and stumbled upon a trending post about herself. “FireWing snagged a big contract from a competitor. Who’s
dealing with this?”
Beze FREE Z DE FOSS FO & SEFF
Natalie frowned and skimmed the post. It was filled with envious jabs from lesser talents, bitter about her meteoric rise.

She had become an overnight sensation in the hacking world after creating a nearly invulnerable security code sequence for a
firewall system, a code no one had yet cracked.
Truth be told, King’s security firm had originally developed the code with significant flaws. Hired by King, Natalie had rapidly
patched those holes and crafted a new program capable of counterattacking any viruses that tried to breach it.
In essence, her defensive program could shield any system and protect itself from other hackers‘ attacks. Only she and King
knew the specific code.
This innovation had skyrocketed her reputation, with most clients specifically requesting FireWing. Coding was mentally
exhausting, and Natalie only accepted a few contracts per month, with the highest bidder winning her services.
As a result, she’d become a target for envy in her field, save for those few masters who stayed hidden above the fray.
“Which of you saw...” She began typing a response but then thought better of it and deleted it. Arguing with these green–eyed
monsters was just a waste of her time.
This trouble stemmed from that contract, the one that paid twenty times the going rate.
“It’s that twentyfold contract causing the stir. I decided not to take it and returned the deposit,” she voiced to King as she stepped
out of the bathroom, just as the door behind her creaked.
Chapter 31
“Gavin?” she called out instinctively, “Come in.”