Nora's Dilemma: Hacker Alliances, Family Dynamics, and Unexpected Connections
Nora paused at the bottom of the stairs. Sensing her
presence, Florence raised her voice, addressing Warren but making sure
everyone, including Nora, could hear her. "Do you know what the Hacker
Alliance is?" Florence asked. "It's an organization that includes the
world's top hackers. If Avon enters the alliance, they'll take care of her in
the future. Miss Evans's computer skills are extraordinary, and she'll be with
the most elite hackers in the world, including Y and Q. Q was the one who
started the Hacker Alliance. Now that Mr. Vaughn has submitted her application,
they'll review it."
Warren raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I don't know
much about hacking, but even I've heard of them. And you're going to be in the
same organization? That's impressive."
Yvonne ducked her head and smiled. "Yesterday's
programming was the key to entering the Alliance. Without your help, I would
have really messed up. If Y or Q found out about what happened yesterday,
they'd never let me in." Yvonne had hidden the truth about what had really
happened and was not about to come clean now.
Warren waved his hand in the air. "I wouldn't worry
about that. No one in our family knows Y or Q. How would they find out?
Besides, I asked around and nobody lost any data."
Yvonne nodded, acting relieved. In reality, she had been
confident that her application would be accepted. "The monitoring software
I created was actually quite good," she thought. "If the real Solo
hadn't shown up, I would never have been discovered. Who would have thought
that Nora knows Solo?" She glanced over at Nora as she entered the room.
"How on earth did they ever meet?"
Warren saw Nora enter the room as well. His first instinct
was to rush over and thank her for introducing him to Solo. But she's Uncle
Ryan's daughter, he thought. She's my cousin, not my sister. It wouldn't be
seemly to show too much gratitude. Instead, he said, "The person you
introduced us to yesterday really was Solo. I thought you were lying about
knowing him."
Over the past few days, Nora had learned that Warren rarely
said what he really meant. "You're welcome," she said.
Warren blinked in surprise. "What do you mean, you're
welcome? Did you think I was thanking you? I agreed to add Solo yesterday
because I thought he was deceiving you and lying about his identity. He did me
a small favor, but that's because he wants to work with me. He said that he
doesn't care if he gets paid or not. If there's a problem in the future, I can
call him directly. We just met, but we already have a good working
relationship. I guess I'm just that charming."
Maureen interrupted him. "Nora, if Warren won't thank
you, I will. Just let me know if there is anything you need and I'll get it for
you."
"No, it's all right," Nora replied. "I really
don't need anything right now."
As she was taking her seat at the table, Warren asked her curiously, "Just how do you know Solo anyway?"
Yvonne looked at her too, curiosity mixed with apprehension.
"I met him overseas," Nora said. "He was a
patient of mine." "It's a good excuse," Nora thought. "The
whole family knows that I'm a surgeon. That's my only profession the outside
world knows about. And I owned a private practice. Someone like Solo wouldn't
go to a normal hospital. It would make sense that he'd be treated at a small
private clinic."
Yvonne sighed in relief.
"I never knew being a doctor would give you such
connections," Warren said. "Not bad. Have you treated any other
celebrities?"
"I wonder if they would consider the Queen of England a
celebrity," Nora thought wryly. "How impressed would they be if I
told them I visited the Royal College of Surgeons? And Cherry even got to meet
the princess."
But, she said simply, "I have to respect my patient's
privacy."
"Oh, of course," Florence said. "We all know
that medicine is a noble career, but I noticed that you haven't seen any
patients since you've moved here. Don't you have any current
appointments?"
"No," Nora said. She had arranged some time ago to
perform just two surgeries a month, and Lili handled the scheduling for her.
Florence misunderstood. "Then do you need us to
introduce you to potential patients, or have you considered a different
profession?"
"Introduce potential patients," Nora thought.
"Do they think my services aren't in demand? That's funny."
"No, thank you," she said. "I'm not currently
working full time as a doctor."
"She's only working part-time," thought Florence.
"Can't she find patients? It must be humiliating to be a doctor with no
patients." Florence hid her grin.
"I see. Then what kind of work are you considering? Do
you have much interest in programming? But of course, ordinary girls don't get
into computers, do they?" She looked over at Yvonne. "It's too bad.
If you were interested in programming, I'm sure Miss Yvonne could show you a
thing or two."
"Florence, what are you saying?" Yvonne said.
"You're making it sound like Nora has to earn her keep. Even if she's not
working, the Smiths can afford to take care of her." She looked over at
Nora. "I never did ask if you have spending money. If you don't, I have
plenty, and I can lend you some." Her superior attitude and the fact that
she had brought this up in front of so many people combined to make the
atmosphere awkward.
"Miss Yvonne," Florence said hurriedly, "We can't ask you to spend your own money like that. Look at the calendar. Today is the distribution day for petty cash. The finance department will be transferring money onto your bank cards later today."
"Then give my share this month to Nora," Yvonne
said. "She might not have enough money for this first month."
"You really don't need to do that," Nora said.
"I'm quite all right when it comes to money." She stood up from the
table, grabbed her plate, and went upstairs to finish her meal. As she was
leaving the room, she heard Yvonne say, "Why is Nora so cold toward me?
Doesn't she like me?"
Florence replied, "I can't see why you're always so
kind. Nora is the one staying in your home. You're Mr. Smith's lawful daughter,
but don't worry about it. You just concentrate on the Hacker Alliance. I'm sure
there's nothing to worry about."
Nora raised her eyebrows at that. She sat at her desk and
opened her email. Yvonne's application form was right there. She sat there,
chin in hand as she considered it. "Hmm," she thought. "Do I let
her join or not?" Nora scrolled casually through the list of hacker
aliases. Only about a dozen hackers belonged to the Hacker Alliance. They were
the most elite hackers in the world, and their identities had to be protected.
Nora knew that Y was powerful enough to protect them. Although rumors said
otherwise, Y was the actual creator of the Hacker Alliance.
Although she and Y were the top hackers in the organization,
Y handled the administration of the group, and Nora had no direct interaction
with him. Though they had equal reputations and similar skill levels, they
never competed. They generally chose new members together, though as Nora was
looking at the application, Y sent her a direct message with two names listed.
Yvonne was one of them. "Which one do we choose?" Nora considered.
Yvonne's monitoring system had indeed been elite programming and difficult to
detect. Nora never let personal feelings cloud her professional judgment.
Warren had said, though, that something had supposedly been
wrong with Yvonne's software that she had not been able to control, and it had
hacked into nearby computers inadvertently. If Yvonne could make such a rookie
mistake, they could not accept her, no matter how good she was. After a few
minutes of deliberation, Nora sent the other candidate's name back to Y. She
started to type a message to explain her reasoning.
When Y responded, "Okay."
Y's simple acceptance left Nora speechless. She erased the
message she had started to type and sent a different one instead. "Aren't
you going to ask why?"
"I trust you to handle this," came the reply.
"I'm currently busy."
"With what?" she responded. As far as she knew, Y
had not taken on any direct commissions for some time. She had always assumed
that he was like her and preferred to do as little work as possible. Had he
become involved with something big? If so, it must be something challenging to
take this much of his attention. She was interested despite herself.
His reply came back quickly. "I'm busy chasing my future wife. Do you have any objections or any man-to-man advice?"
Everyone assumed that she was a man and Nora had never
corrected the assumption. She wondered what advice she could give him. She
thought of Justin and she grinned as she typed, "You have to be thick-skinned.
What are you thinking of yourself now? And you have to have a child with her
first."
"You're absolutely no help."
Nora decided not to reply to that and logged out of the
system. She was pleased with herself for contributing to the Hacker Alliance.
She hoped their new applicant was pleased as well.
Her phone rang with a call from Justin. "What did you
reach for lunch?" he asked.
"I forgot already. Buns, I think. Or maybe some sort of
bread." She tried to think back to the meal she had just consumed. "I
ate so quickly I didn't really pay attention."
"You have to eat more slowly. It's not good for your
stomach to eat so quickly."
"Mr. Hunt, I am a doctor," Nora said bluntly.
Justin was silent for a moment before he responded
Sibling Rivalry and Hidden Talents: Yvonne's Struggle for Acceptance in the Smith Family
Yvonne stared at the email on her phone, the message stark
and unambiguous: "We regret to inform you that your application has been
denied." Disbelief washed over her. "I didn't pass," she
thought, her mind racing. "This is impossible." She took a deep
breath, attempting to suppress her shock and disappointment. "No, they
haven't let me know yet. This is a different email from someone else."
Nora, watching Yvonne's reaction, couldn't help but feel
amused. "A different email?" she thought, noting the unmistakable
black arrowhead logo of the Hacker Alliance on Yvonne's screen. "She must
have just gotten her rejection notice. Yvonne really cares about saving
face."
Florence, unaware of Yvonne's true feelings, simply nodded.
"Yes. I was too eager. I have to be more patient. But you don't have to
worry, Mr. Vaughn. Everyone knows how good you are with computers. You've been
outstanding in everything you've done since you were little. And you don't even
specialize in hacking. It's just something you're interested in. But you've
been like that with everything you've tried. You're proficient in art, an
exceptional writer, and a superb archer. The national team would have recruited
you if the Smiths didn't want you to avoid overexertion. You would have gone to
the Olympics if they had let you. You're truly a genius."
"No, no, Miss Stone," a male voice interrupted.
"With you singing our praises like that, anyone who didn't actually know
Yvonne might think she truly is amazing." Everyone turned to see a young
man with dyed blond hair approaching, a bag slung over his shoulder. He bore a
resemblance to Warren and Quentin, clearly a Smith, though Nora couldn't place
which family he belonged to.
Florence frowned. "Why are you back?" she asked.
The blond man sneered. "That's a strange question. This is my house. Why shouldn't I come back to it?"
"This is Mr. Smith's house," Florence replied
darkly. "Your family has left it."
The young man smiled cheekily, his blonde hair forming a
bright halo around his face. "And you know Mr. Smith didn't kick us out. I
have every right to be here. You're a housekeeper who serves the Smith family.
What gives you the right to talk to me like that?"
"Mr. Louis," she said angrily. "Mr. Ian and
Mr. Joel do not speak to me like this."
"Come now," Louis said, brushing his hair away
from his face. "Uncle Ian and Joel are polite to you because they had a
good upbringing. But I'm different. I've always been the wild child in the
family. Even so, your last name is Stone and mine is Smith. Why don't we ask
Uncle Ian if you have the right to kick me out? Or we can get Joel's thoughts
on the matter."
Florence sputtered, trying to think of a comeback.
"Louis?" Yvonne broke in. "Did you come back to collect this
month's money? It should have already been deposited into your account. You
didn't need to come to the house."
Louis snorted. "I couldn't help it. You only gave me
$1,500 this month. How long do you think that's going to last?"
"Joel specifically instructed me to do that,"
Yvonne replied. "He's doing this for your own good. He said you need to
settle down. The rest of the money is saved in a different account for now.
"Don't use Joel to pressure me," Louis said.
"I know what you're like. You said this came from him, but you must have
said something to cause him to decide this."
Yvonne bowed her head. "Yes, I admit we spoke about it.
I told him that you didn't do your job, and instead hung around and played
video games with Chester every day. I did it for your own good."
"For my own good, Yvonne. The others don't know you
like I do. Everybody spoils you since you're the only daughter in the family.
But I know your secret. Everybody says that you can learn anything you want
with just a little work, and they call you a genius. In front of outsiders, you
act as if everything in your life is so easy. I know that you practice like
crazy when no one is watching. Remember in school, we used to skip classes and
goof off together, and you still ranked top of the class.
I would think you're a genius, too, if I hadn't seen you
staying up all night studying." He shook one finger at her. "Don't
think I don't know what you're planning. You're just trying to make me give in
to you. It's not going to happen. Even if I die of poverty or starve to death,
I won't bow down before you. You've got everyone else in this family wrapped
around your finger. But not me. You're just an adopted daughter. But you want
to control me. Dream on."
Yvonne kept her face emotionless during Louis' tirade, but
inside she seethed with resentment. Her adopted father had never pushed her
into anything. Since she was young, he had told her that he only wanted to see
her happy. She had known that everybody praised geniuses, so she had
deliberately cultivated the image that she was exceptional. In school, she had
always acted bored and spent her free time playing with the other children. At
night, however, after everyone else had gone to sleep, she studied hard to make
sure she came first in every class. Gradually, her teachers had started to call
her a top student, then a talented girl, and finally a genius. Their words had
given her confidence, and her future with the Smith family had been assured.
This had all gone on until one night when Louis had caught her studying and
realized her secret. From then on, he had actively gone against everything she
said or did, and he no longer treated her as the exceptional person she knew
she was.
Yvonne had learned how to deal with him, though.
"Louis," she said, motioning to Nora. "This is your cousin Nora.
Why don't you two get to know each other?"
Louis laughed. "Why should we get to know each other?
Women are terrifying creatures, and I know I won't like her unless, of course,
she's very rich."
Yvonne ducked her head, hiding her expression. "How
could Nora be very rich?" she thought. "But this works out. If Louis
is determined not to like Nora, then they can't support each other against
me."
Nora raised her eyebrows and looked from Yvonne to Louis.
"The Smith family is actually very interesting," she thought.
"We've got Quentin, who acts like an overgrown teenager full of himself
and always wanting to fight. Warren's a fool. He acts fierce in public but is
nice in private. And now here's Louis. He looks like he's a couple of years
younger than me, though he acts like he's not well-educated. He seems like he
might be competent."
Louis looked back at her. "You want me to acknowledge
you as a cousin, Nora?" he asked. "Then why don't you lend me your
allowance this month?"
Nora raised her eyebrows. "We've just met, and he's
borrowing money already," she thought. She was thinking of a comeback when
Yvonne spoke first.
"Louis, I know you only got $1,500, but your food and
lodging are paid for. Why isn't that enough money?" she asked.
Louis replied indignantly, "I need money for the
internet cafes. I need money to buy new gaming equipment. I need money to buy
new avatars in my games. $1,500 won't even last me two days."
Yvonne sighed. "Nora has even less money than you
do," she explained. "She was living with the Andersons, and before
she returned to them, she was living in California."
Louis looked at Nora in disdain. "But you're hot. At
least you're easier on the eyes than Yvonne."
"Excuse me!" Yvonne exclaimed.
Louis only shrugged. Yvonne frowned. "Nora's bank card
was delayed this month, so she doesn't have any money. So no, she can't lend
any to you."
"No money?" Louis' eyes widened. "Yvonne,
what's wrong with you? It's fine if you bully me, but why are you bullying a
guest who's just arrived? I'm a guy. I don't need fancy clothes or expensive
coffee. Money doesn't matter as much to me. But how can you let her go
empty-handed? Are you jealous of her? Because she's better looking than
you?"
Louis thinks I've done this on purpose, Yvonne thought. And he's right. It's not that I don't want Nora to have money. I just want her to know her place. And if she doesn't have any money, it'll be harder for her to get out of the house and meet people. But I can't believe he would say something like that and make me look so petty.
Her expression turned cold. "I'll get Nora spending
money tomorrow, and in two days, she'll have a bank card with her money for the
month. But don't think you're going to get any more money, Louis. Everyone's
monthly allowance is decided by Joel. Ask him if you think you need more. Don't
ask me."
Louis hitched his bag up on his shoulder and looked at
Yvonne. "Fine. You win." He turned to leave but after taking two
steps, he turned back and came to stand in front of Nora. He eyed her
critically.
"What?" asked Nora. She glanced down at herself. She felt she was dressed appropriately. Technically, she was wearing pajamas, but they were made of fine linen. They were breathable and comfortable, and Lily had arranged to have them specially made for her. Most of her clothes were similar. Without a word, Louis opened his shoulder bag and took out his wallet, which was fat with bills.
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