Chapter 15: Code X and Emily Carter

Code stretched his hands and flexed his fingers, he seemed dead tired from the coding he did for the last few days. Working with Dominic drained him but expecting to gain McConnell's trust was harder. 

He looked on the other side of the room and Dominic was nowhere to be found, 

'Where's that egotistical bastard?' he thought

He grabbed Dominic's unfinished whiskey and gulped it down, Code never liked drinking whiskey it burned his throat and the taste was not as soothing as he thought it would be. Beer was his choice of poison anyway. 

Code continued to do some more stretches when he saw Emily on one of the CCTVs in the lobby, creating hell for his employees, 

"I really don't know why I work for this family. Everyone is crazy bat shit." 

He picked up the telephone on the right side of his table and dialed the receptionist in the lobby, 

"What's the matter?"

[Sir, we have Ms. Emily Carter at the front desk, she badly wants to speak with Sir Dominic.]

"What happened?"

[Sir Dominic mentioned to look for Emily Carter.]

"When did this happen?"

[An hour ago, your secretary specifically mentioned never to disturb you if you are in the secret lounge.]

"Next time if Dominic says something that's a top priority. Send Ms. Carter upstairs."

[She's on her way sir.]

Code flung the door open when a loud slap welcomed him, his eyes were shocked before he could not say a word or two. Everyone on the floor was stopped upon witnessing what just happened. 

"Hello to you too, Ms. Carter."

"Where are they? Where is that sick son of a bitch bastard?"

"Everyone, please continue working, nothing to see here." Dismissing everyone Code and turned around to talk to Emily.

He did not have to invite Emily in as she walked inside the room with her eyebrows clashed and arms across her chest while she mumbled curses at Dominic, 

"I'm going to kill him."

"Can you just chill? Dominic and Isabelle are fine, I saw them just now so you can chill."

"I can't relax if I know my best friend is with him! Don't you realize how dangerous that is?"

"Can you give your cousin a little air to breathe? He's stressed enough with the situation and I am sure he never wanted anything of this to happen. Before you judge him with your judgy eyes, give the man some benefit of the doubt."

"And who are you?"

"Code X or Code,"

"I know you, you are that—"

"Poor noble? Broke viscount? Ex-criminal poor viscount?"

"No, but yeah. I mean you are James McElroy, I saw you in one of the games back in Rayfield. That's why you are familiar!"

"You went to Rayfield?"

"My mom and I are frequent in Rayfield. I thought you were dead or something, now you are involved with Dominic."

Code rolled his eyes as Emily began to judge Dominic again. He understood how miserable Dominic was in his situation, his family was a mess, and his love life was not going anywhere positive but at least he got the money to comfort him. 

Emily sat on the couch-turned-bed by him and he saw her face go icky when she realized someone had slept on it for a week. 

"What's that smell?"

"That would be me."

"You slept here?"

I gave her a smirk and she immediately stood up from the seat and dusted her clothes, Code laughed upon seeing her reaction, 

"Fuck you!" 

"Curse all you want but you will not win against me."

"I know. You defeated my team back in Rayfield and until now I still long for revenge."

"Are you into coding?"

"No, but I fund that team." 

"Oh, so you are that rich sponsor after all. Wait, are you a Rossi too?"

She looked at Code as if she wanted to attack him and rip his mouth apart when she took deep breaths and mumbled again under her breathe, 

"5,"

"Five, what?"

"There are five bodies buried six feet under knowing my secret, you know, being a Rossi."

Code almost choked on his saliva and brushed off the aura between the two of them with humor but instead, it got worse. Emily did like to socialize, it was her job, but since the Isabelle-Dominic-Antonio fiasco, she began to put up walls against all the people around Dominic. 

"Why are you so mad with Dominic anyway?"

"Do I need to state the obvious?"

Her eyebrows were elated and the sarcastic tone of her voice was too obvious she did not want to continue the conversation, but Code was too dense not to realize and not to shut up. 

"Honestly, Dominic and Isabelle have good chemistry, why can't you support that? He saved your friend from dying countless times, including today. Instead of getting mad and slapping people around, you should at least consider Dominic's affection towards all of this."

"Can you shut up?"

"I can but you are too unfair to Dominic, he only wanted the best for everyone. That guy works a lot, a lot!" 

"If you think I'm just throwing my anger around and creating a huge roadblock for my cousin then you are right. I am not only doing this for Isabelle but also for Dominic. I know what's best for them, so shut up. Your opinion is not needed anyway."

"I am not offering any opinion, I am purely stating the obvious. Plus, do you really know what's best for them?"

This time it was Emily who was too stunned to speak, she knew Dominic had fallen for Isabelle and Isabelle could not shake that jerk off. They were made for each other BUT, as long as Dominic is a Rossi he would never be the right man for Isabelle.

"Can you just tell me where I can find him?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know too. Your cousin literally went dark when he left the building hours ago. I tried to track him down but there's nothing. So whether you believe it or not, I have no answer for you."

Code showed Emily a map with coordinates and GPS trying to locate Dominic's whereabouts but there were no results. 

"I don't believe you."

"Your choice, anyway, I will continue to work since I am paid to do this. You can call my secretary if you need anything."

"Can he buy me a C4 to blow this place up?"

"We have C4s in the storage room, you can try."

Irritated by Code's sarcasm, she picked up the used glass and threw it on Code's head. Glass shattered all over Code's desk, and this time it was a dealbreaker for him. 

"Fuck," he whispered and touched his injured head as blood trickled down. "Fuck you, Rossi." 

Code never wanted to hurt a woman, not because of rage or petty reasons. He could not bear to be in one room after he was assaulted by Emily. The Rossis were definitely above his pay grade. 

"Can you page my secretary and bring in Dr. Han please?" 

In a minute, a blonde with spectacles young woman came into the pantry Emily was worried and shocked witnessing everything that was happening inside the room. 

The blonde woman was of course concerned as blood dripped over Code's face while Dr. Han worked on him. Code even had the chance to joke around while getting the first aid he needed which did not lighten up the mood, 

[Where's Sir Dominic?]

"Yeah, I'm fine by the way, Richard. Thanks for asking."

[Yeah, what now? Is there something wrong in Solar City?]

"I just had a little accident, I had some wild animal stuck in my secret room. Dominic is nowhere to be found right now…"

[Tell me about it.]

"Don't worry, I'll keep tracking him. If you are on your way to Solar City, can you escort Ms. Carter away from the building she's getting out of hand and might be the end of me."

[Ms. Emily is there in the HQ?]

"Yep, destroyed almost everything in site."

[I'll take care of it.]

"I'll see you in an hour, bro."

Code looked at the glass door and he could see Emily's concerned face watching them work on him when he ordered his secretary to close the blinds so nobody could witness the bloody work on the pantry. 

Feeling all guilty, Emily took the courage to clean up the shattered glass, as she was about to do so Code went inside with a bandage on his forehead followed by his secretary - the blonde young woman, 

"Please take Ms. Carter outside the workroom, Richard is almost here anyway."

"Look,"

"I'm trying my best to do my work here, Ms. Carter. I don't want to cause you any problem, I will call you once I hear from Dominic, you may leave now."

"Look,"

"Ms. Felice, take her out please."

"Code, I'm—"

"This way, Ms. Carter…"

"Look, I'm so sorry!" Emily in all red apologized to Code (which was a first for her) "I didn't mean to hurt you at all, I was…"

"You know what, I can put up with anything you do. You can destroy my work or any facilities this office has but don't you ever try to assault me in my own turf. I grew up in a household where my father used to beat my mother with anything he touched. What you did just now is a dealbreaker, so if you please, leave me alone before I make mistakes."

This time Code's secretary dragged Emily outside the room, she felt guilty of what she did and she knew was over the line this time. Code's past experiences came back to him, he could hear his mother's cries and his father screaming at the top of his lungs. He could remember glass shattering and curses at the same time. James was too young to remember all of it however whenever he closed his eyes he could hear them all as if his memories were playing tricks on him. 

Waking up in his desk chair, he checked his phone, and Dominic's number called a few times so he took the initiative to call back. 

"I will send Richard the right model of laptop I want right now."

[Do whatever pleases you. And take care of Emily for me.]

"Boss, I am not a saint. I can only grant one wish and that's it."

[She's sorry, trust me.]

"You, Dominic, I like. But the rest of your family are bat shit crazy! I will see what I can do."

Code looked at the clock on his laptop and it was almost midnight, he realized everyone left the office except, for him, a few bodyguards were on duty tonight so basically he was alone. 

"Peace, at last."

He was about to leave the office when he saw a person sleeping on one of the couches in the lounge area, 

"What the hell?"

He looked around and no one was there. Code went closer to the person sleeping in the lounge, he saw her shoes were perfectly arranged on the floor and a lunch box on the coffee table. Code drew closer to verify who was it and to his surprise it was Emily sleeping soundly. 

"Hey," he gently tapped on her shoulders and continued to shake her up

To her surprise seeing a man watching her sleep, she clenched her fist and immediately threw a left hook on his face, and this time it hit Code's nose and it bled.

"Fuck, woman, what's wrong with you?!"

"I'm so so sorry!" 

Emily wanted to help him with the bleeding but he expressed utter dislike for her to be closer to him, 

"Please, please stay away from me. I won't die from all the killings I am involved in but you, woman, is the death of me."

"I didn't know it was you! I'm sorry, James. I swear this time it's unintentional. I didn't even know you would be that close. I grew up in the Rossi mansion, so you can't blame me. I'll go get some ice."

Emily ran to left and without direction so Code went to the reception area and grabbed some ice on the mini fridge he installed there. 

"Sorry,"

***

"I hate you," Code muttered as Emily tended to his almost broken nose.

"I can imagine."

"Will you stay away from me?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Even if I'm temperamental bat shit crazy woman, I still know how to repay debts."

Code looked at her, pissed, but he gave up being mad since she broke his nose an hour ago. 

"You don't need to pay me anything. What happened just now was my fault, I scared you, initially I wanted to leave you alone but I think that would be rude too. After all, you helped me with the accident that happened in the bar weeks back."

"I'm really sorry, James."

"Just call me Code,"

"But I like James better." She smiled and this time it was real.

Code and Emily decided to grab a quick supper on the fast food chain across town, they got into talking and realized they had a lot in common. They were Rayfield in the same year for the same competition. Emily likes the games Code helped to develop. And they both loved Detective Conan!

"Kudo Shinichi was my first crush," Emily confessed.

"I like Ran, but I still like the idea of how Kudo Shinichi was created."

"So that's why you like Marcus, right?" Code asked out of the blue

"What do you mean? You're weird." She nervously brushed off the conversation by laughing awkwardly. "I don't like him. We three are only friends."

"Maybe,"

"Stop it."

Code smirked and he knew he got her. Emily liked Marcus for a long time and no one knew about it. Code was monitoring Isabelle since the day she left the hospital and most of the photographs he saw on file were Emily looking at Marcus or laughing with him whenever they met up. 

"Fine, I do. I mean I did. But he's mad at my family so that will never happen."

"No one in Porta Sole knew you are a Rossi,"

"Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides," 

"Andre Malraux?"

"I saw it in one of the dramas I watched recently, so I don't know. But seriously, you should stop my cousin the best you can."

"Can you please do one favor for me?"

"What?"

"Leave them be for two days, just give them two days."

"Why?"

"I'm sure you know the reason why, Em. So leave them alone, Dominic will call you when it's over."

Emily looked Code into his eyes before she nodded. 

"Surprisingly, you're a good friend, James."

—

At 5 am, Code's phone vibrated and awakened him in his desk chair, this was the fourth time he slept in the office but this time he was not alone, on the far right corner, a makeshift bed was placed for Emily to sleep in. 

"Yep,"

[It's me,]

He opened his left eye checked the caller ID and saw it was Dominic calling.

"Is it time?"

[Tell Emily, she can pick up Isabelle now.]

"Got it."

[Don't tell them where I was. Thanks, Code.]

"Just don't die."

Dominic chuckled on the other line and Code could hear Richard on his side. Code felt relieved to hear Richard on the other line too. 

"What are you planning now, Dom?" 

Code thought as he finally completed the changes McConnell requested on the program they invented.