Chapter 45
Jace rushed to catch up with Emerald and stopped her after their meeting, “I’ll send you to your company.” he said. “I’ll just get my car key,”
“I’ll just call a cab.” Emerald insisted.
“Please, Emerald. Let me do this for you.” Jace said, pleading. Young Morgan didn’t say anything and just sighed before nodding. Young Higginson grabbed her hands and pulled her into the elevator.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to get my car key, and I’m afraid that you will leave if I leave you even for a second, so I’ll bring you to my office, and we will go together in the parking lot,” Jace answered.
“I didn’t know you have trust issues,” Emerald replied, shaking her head. Deep inside, she felt happy knowing Jace was concerned about her. Although the news Creep sent her was something she couldn’t feel relaxed about, knowing she had him by her side made her mood lighter.
“Where are you going?” Emerald asked when Jace followed her when they arrived at the ACEGame building.
“Following you,” Young Higginson replied casually. He continued walking to the elevator and got in. Emerald, on the other hand, followed him with her gaze and was glued to where she was standing. “Are you not in a hurry?” Jace asked, looking at his wife while he stopped the elevator door from closing. “I thought you would want me to carry you in instead,” he said when she finally got in and pressed the top floor where her office was.
“You don’t need to come with me; this has nothing to do with you,” Emerald said after the elevator door closed.
“With the look on your face earlier, I don’t think you’d be okay.”
“What about my look?”
“You look like you’re ready for a war,” Jace replied and said nothing when he didn’t receive a reply from his wife, who was in deep thought.
‘Is that how transparent I was?’ Emerald asked herself. She didn’t want to worry anyone, especially Jace, because she didn’t want to ask him for help. The two made their way to her office when the elevator stopped on her floor, and Creep and Daryl welcomed them.
“How did it happen?” Emerald asked as soon as she entered her office, followed by her friends and Jace.
“Ahm, is he going to be here?” Daryl asked, confused. Emerald looks at Jace with a creased forehead as if asking the same thing.
“I might be of help,” Jace said as he sat on one of the couches in the mini-receiving area of Emerald’s office.
“Yes, we might be needing his help.” Creep agreed, so Emerald and Daryl didn’t say anything more, thinking how serious their friend looked.
“Tell me everything.” Emerald started as soon as they were all seated.
“A company in Europe was claiming one of our games as theirs. They are accusing us of plagiarizing their work.”
“What?” Emerald exclaimed. Her message from Creep earlier told her that someone was copying their work. Now that she understands it differently, she wants to tear down their entire building out of frustration. “Are they for real? How did they think of that idiocy?” she added.
“They said they had proof that the game was theirs, and they already submitted a complaint to the Gaming Association,” Creep answered.
“There’s no way that we plagiarize or even copy their work. What game are they referring to?” Emerald asks.
“The Soul Reaper.” It’s the game that Emerald had poured all her energy into. After she developed their first game, which luckily became a hit and gave them millions of dollars, The Soul Reaper is the only game that Emerald develops all by herself. From illustration to coding, everything. It was during those times that she was taking care of her newborn son while suffering from depression because she missed Jace and remembered what had happened in her married life. As did her son, it became the outlet that made her hold on and continue living.
“And they choose that? Did they know how hard I worked to complete that game?” Emerald said angrily. “I am not going to forgive them. Daryl, I need to find out anything about the company. I want to know if they have experienced something like this before and look for a legal counsel who is good in this case to help us with the legal battles we might face.”
“I can help you with that.” Jace chimed in. Everyone looked at him, and Emerald was about to decline his offer, but Creep said immediately.
“That would be great.” Then, he looked at Emerald, who had her eyes on him. “We need him. He came to mind as soon as I received the letter. I knew we would need his connection as well.”
“You can tell me what else you need.” Jace encourages them. It was his chance to help his wife, and he was willing to go all out.
“As I said, Daryl, find out everything about that company. I want to know if they accused other companies like ours before this and the result. I want us to be ready for this battle because I am not going to hand them my baby.” Emerald said. She was trembling in anger, and if only she could throw everything in sight, she’d do it. But she managed to collect herself and keep cool.
“What about the game?” Daryl said suddenly, making them look at him, “Many players had been asking whether they could continue playing it.”
“Of course, they could still play it!” Emerald exclaimed.
“I think not,” Creep said. “The Gaming Association demanded we stop the downloading and, of course, playing the game until the issue is settled.”
“Another thing is, many gamers who had just purchased some of the necessary items for the hero upgrades were flooding the game with negative feedback and reviews in all app downloading stores,” Daryl informed them and then showed them his iPad.
“This is not good either. Why did it already become this before we were informed about their claims?” Emerald asked, confused.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
“They planned this,” Jace said. “Before they informed the Gaming Association, they probably escalated rumors about the game, and you just didn’t notice it.”
“Yes, I was scheduled to check it in two months since I just finished optimizing it after our return here,” Emerald replied.
“Then they did it after your optimization?” Daryl asked,
“Possible.” Jace agreed. “There’s no better explanation than that.”
“So, after discovering everything about the company, what will we do next?” It was still Daryl.
“Creep will prepare every proof we could show the association that the game is ours,” Emerald said, looking at his friend, who nodded. “Will you be needing Elise?” she asked.
“No need, let her handle the grocery store. She even enjoys managing it.” Creep replied, smiling while scratching the back of his head.
“Thank you, Creep.”
“No problem, M. We’re doing this together. The Soul Reaper is important to me as well. You know I love playing it with Elise, right?” he added.
“Daryl, Creep, I want them punished. I want whoever the owner of that company to pay for what he did to my baby. I expect your reports as soon as possible.”
“No problem.” the two replied in unison.
“And I am going to handle the legal part,” Jace said.
“Thank you,” Emerald said, feeling thankful that she had him then.