4.
Sam blew out a long breath as she tried to hide her frustration. She was on the phone with Lily, again, trying to end the third such conversation in the last hour. She knew that Lily cared about their friend, but Andy was a big girl who was more than capable of handling a woman. Even if said woman was Miranda Priestly.
"Besides given the current circumstances, it's Miranda who needs looking after," Sam thought to herself as Lily started up again.
"Lils you know how Andy is. She trusts her instincts and you know they have never failed her," Sam said before Lily could build much momentum.
Lilly was silent for a long moment as she digested Sam's words. They both knew Andy's history when it came to her unnaturally strong intuition. They both also knew about the guilt Andy still carried about her supposed failure to convince her parents that they couldn't trust her uncle Robert. She hadn't known just how far her father's younger brother would go in service of his own selfish ends. She'd just sensed that he was a danger to them all. Because of that bitter experience, the woman now trusted her instincts above everything else in business and when it came to her personal life.
Sam trusted Andy completely and strongly believed in the older woman's instincts.
Finally, Lilly relented and agreed to give Andy the space she needed to work things out for herself. Sam ended the call wondering when Lily would learn to truly trust Andy as much as she did.
The truth was that she agree with Andy. The fact that all of the bad things that had happened to Miranda were done deliberately and with malicious intent, could not go unchallenged. Sam was certain that Andy's instincts were telling her to protect Miranda and her girls at all cost.
Sam had her own gut feeling and right now her gut was preparing her to go on the attack. Before she could search and destroy, she needed to establish the facts including the full list of those involved. Destroying a woman's life was no small thing and she was keenly interested in finding out why. She knew that to get the proof she required meant digging in some places that did not take kindly to being hacked.
Her skills were usually more than enough to keep ahead of any network admin on the planet but she had learned a hard lesson with the Red Sox prank. The fact that she was drunk off her ass at the time was hardly an excuse. This time she planned to take no chances, which meant an upgrade to her normally rigorous security protocols.
To that end, she logged on to her preferred hacker forum. She chose the particular message board she was looking for and began scanning through the conversations.
"Bingo," she thought as spotted a user she knew with a similar need. She launched a private room and invited the hacker Invictus to join.
Athena: Hey Invictus you up for a hardware swap
Invictus: Hey, Athena, love the new avatar
Sam looked at her signature owl avatar now sporting a new white, green, and blue color scheme and blushed furiously. Her blush deepened as she recalled making the change after a, particularly good weekend with Mia.
Athena: Yeah, I thought she could use an update, anyway
Athena: Hardware swap!
Invictus: I'm in
Athena: Usual place
Invictus: Give me three hours.
Athena: Done
Sam checked her watch and realized that if she got moving she would have time to stop by Miranda's old building before she did the hardware swap with Invictus. Usually, there were a number of ways she could get her hands of an untraceable computer including several online companies that now accepted coin. Unfortunately, she did not have the time to wait for shipping. Another upside to this solution was that it provided an extra layer of anonymity. She had no intention of joining lesser skilled hackers in federal prison.
She grabbed her leather jacket and helmet before she stepped into her private elevator. The dedicated elevator, that was large enough to accommodate a Steinway, was a major selling point for the apartment. She, in fact, liked the place so much she'd put in an offer for the whole building. The upside, other than the tidy profit she made from rent payments, was that she could come and go in complete privacy. She stepped in and chose the button that would take her into a section of the underground parking deck that was sectioned off just for her. The other stop led to a discrete side street entrance she could use when on foot.
She stepped off the elevator and walked over to her newest acquisition with a little smile on her face. The Harley-Davidson LiveWire was a nice ride. The only real downside to the powerful electric motorcycle was its orange color scheme. Thanks to her friends at Black Magic her bike had been transformed into a beast.
The little hellion edition, as they'd had dubbed it, was faster, had greater range and a black on black color scheme that even her big sister had to admit was badass.
She hopped on, opened the garage door, then pulled out into traffic. It did not take long to reach her first destination. She walked into the retail giant, that she normally would not be caught dead at, and headed straight for the checkout line. There she used cash to purchase 30 one hundred dollars apple gift cards with cash. The cashier looked at her quite suspiciously but she completed the transaction as they both knew it was within company policy.
She quickly left the store and turned left towards the midtown Apple store just a few blocks away. There she used the gift cards to buy the latest MacBook Pro matching Invictus' specs to the letter. The gift cards were a convenient way to get around Apple's less than friendly attitude towards paper currency. She pulled the laptop and cords out of the box and slipped the new machine into a protective sleeve. She ignored the odd looks she got as she ditched the box on her way out of the store. She walked back out to her bike then slipped the MacBook into the custom leather saddlebags she'd commissioned specially for the hellion. She put the bike in gear and pointed it in the direction of Hell's Kitchen.
She pulled her bike to the curb in front of a rather run-down mid-century walk up. She quickly located the building super and inquired about Miranda's belongings. When he told her he had no idea who she was talking about she tried again.
"How about Miriam Princhek."
"Yeah I've got her stuff but she owes me two-month rent. If you want her stuff it'll cost you $2500," he responded
Sam couldn't help but laugh before she replied, "I know for a fact you ain't getting $1250 a month for this dump and second there is no fucking way you'd let a tenant get two months behind on the rent."
Sam could tell that she'd hit home with her statement. Furthermore, she could tell that he decided to ignore her insult about the place being a dump. Instead, he seemed pleased with her supposed compliment of his business acumen.
Knowing she had him in the right frame of mind she said, "I'll give you $400 cash take it or leave it."
The man eyed her up and down before he decided that the street smart young woman wasn't bluffing a bit.
"Deal," he said before they shook to seal the deal.
The man then led her toward a storage room on the lower level near his office. What she saw there broke her heart. The thought that all of Miranda's life could be reduced down to a single box of items felt wrong to the young woman.
"You sure this is it?" Sam asked. She lived in 211, I could ask the new tenants for you.
"For another hundred I'm sure," Sam pointed out. The look on the man's face said it all. She rolled her eyes as she paid him his money then scooped up the box and left without a backward glance. She wanted to get away from the greedy little shit before she decided to kick him in the balls. She was certainly wearing the right boots for the job.
She also decided that if she needed access to Miranda's old apartment, then she would just pay the current occupants the money instead of this asshole. As she hit the street she called the moving company she engaged to move Miranda's things and canceled. As she transferred the contents of the box into her saddlebags she came across an older version of the iPhone and a few items she could tell was important to the older woman. Sam slipped the MacBook out of the sleeve then placed the handful of important items into the sleeve. She slid the remaining items into the other saddlebag then dumped the empty box in the building's dumpster. She got back on the hellion eager to get the hell out of Hell's Kitchen.
As she stepped into Grand Central Station she checked her phone and was pleased to see an email message from Invictus. The message contained a locker number and the seven digit code for the lock. She strolled through the huge station slipping into and out of the crowds of people.
"This place made for an ideal location for this type of exchange," Sam thought as she allowed the crowd to carry her to the luggage lockers.
She slipped past the lockers a few times before she felt certain that neither Invictus or anyone else was watching. Finally, she made her way to the chosen locker and entered the code. She opened it up and removed her chosen hardware before depositing the MacBook and closing the door.
She didn't need to look at the laptop in her hand to know that her fellow hacker had provided her a clean Alienware M15 that would match her specifications. Without any further hesitation, she moved back into the crowd and let it carry her towards the entrance. Back at her bike, she stowed the new hardware before heading towards Andy's house.
Andy opened her eyes and was surprised to see how much later in the day it was. She could not remember the last time she'd slept this much.
"You are a bad influence," she chastised her silent companion. She slipped out of bed before walking to the other side. She took a moment to look at the sleeping woman hoping that she would wake soon. After checking her vitals she set up her phone once again so she could keep an eye on Miranda while she headed downstairs.
As soon as she got downstairs she could tell that Sam had come and gone. Despite the fact they were no longer officially dating they still had access to each other's homes. Given their busy schedule, they tended to only see each other for nonbusiness purpose late at night. She knew that something had changed recently with Sam. It wasn't just the fact they had not been intimate lately but there was just something different about the younger woman. A lightness in her eyes that made Andy happy for her friend even if she wasn't yet ready to share.
She walked over to her kitchen counter and grabbed the note that Sam left for her.
Andy
Miranda had fewer things than I expected. What she did have is on the counter. I left a few of the more important items in the laptop sleeve including her cellphone. I'm headed out to start our latest research project so I probably won't be reachable for several hours. Email the Athena account if its an emergency. When I'm done I'll drop by and you can introduce me to your Miranda.
See you soon love Sammy.
Andy smiled at her friends note. She loved Sam and was glad to have the capable young woman on her side as she embarked on this potentially dangerous endeavor. She suspected that all of the effort taken to ruin Miranda's life was part of a larger goal. While Sam looked into the connections between the men who likely conspired against Miranda, Andy was planning on doing some digging of her own. The question she kept coming back to was, why had the Elias Clark board not intervened when the stock dropped too drastically. Even as the owner she would have a hard time justifying her continuation as CEO if her company's stock had suffered this kind of loss.
There was no internal debate this time as she felt an immediate need to go through Miranda's stuff. As Andy looked at the small pile, she wondered how such an extraordinary life could be reduced to just a handful of items. She started by opening the laptop sleeve and retrieving the items inside. She sat Miranda's dead cell phone aside. She would try charging it when she went back upstairs. The next item that came out was a picture of Miranda and her girls. She touched the picture imagining what the three were like back then. The pretty redhead girls looked so much like their mother including the hint of mischief she spotted in the eyes of all three of the Priestly girls.
Andy was a firm believer in the power of symbols and to her, the picture of Miranda and her girls did not just represent the woman's past but a future that would give the woman something to hold on to and to fight for.
She carefully placed the picture on the counter then walked into her study. She quickly spotted what she was looking for. She picked up one of the many pictures she kept of her parents and carried it back to the kitchen. She lovingly removed the picture of her parents and replaced it with the picture of Miranda and her girls. Finally, she placed the picture of her parents in the back of the frame as she sent a silent message to her parents' spirits asking them to look after Miranda's girls until she could do it herself.
She gathered the remaining items and took the lot back to her bedroom. She placed the elegant silver picture frame on Miranda's nightstand before spreading the remaining times across the ottoman. She sat back on her favorite chair then plugged in Miranda's phone. She was pleased to see the white apple logo flash indicating the phone wasn't dead. She sat the phone down then turned her attention back to the small pile of items. The next thing she picked up was a copy of Miranda's magazine. As she flipped through a Runway magazine for the first time, she had to admit being impressed with what she saw. It was more than just the sheik clothing draped upon gorgeous models, there was real beauty here. Beauty that rose to the level of art she concluded.
"Huh," she thought to herself having never embraced the idea of fashion as real art.
When she got to the letter from the editor page, she eagerly read Miranda's words. It quickly became clear that this was her first edition as editor. Miranda's words were just as elegant and savvy as the magazine she produced. She smiled as she pictured the pride the older woman must have felt upon seeing the culmination of years of hard work come to fruition.
"And pride cometh before the fall," her father's voice announced in her head.
"Fuck, that," she responded to the old adage.
Miranda had every right to feel pride in all she had accomplished. Andy certainly felt pride about what she had done since becoming CEO. She had not just increased sales but there was also the Alice and Richard Sachs Foundation that gave opportunities for orphans like herself, Lily, and Sam. Many of those children were not lucky enough to have a loving family member or family friend to care for them. Thinking of Sam's adopted mother instantly made Andy's stomach rumble.
"There was nothing like Mrs. R's lasagna," she thought before deciding to go with the next best thing. She grabbed her phone and ordered her usual from Nino's. On second thought she ordered double plus a few other times in the hopes that her silent guest would be able to eat soon.
With that accomplished, she resumed her review of the things that Miranda valued enough to hold on to. Next, she picked up a clipping from the New York Times Style section. The article was about the need for diversity in fashion models. The article made a compelling case to embrace the beauty inherent in many different ethnicities and body types. The article read as something that Andy herself could have written. She was a firm believer in everything the writer advocated for.
She thought about how different she Sam and Lily were. She loved Lily's beautiful brown skin and had envied her curls for years. As for Sam, she obviously found the woman's mixture of African American and Italian features quite pleasing. The article must have struck a similar chord with Miranda as the next clipping featured a follow-up article singing Miranda's praises. The formidable editor had apparently challenged the industry to stop designing for just one size and body type. Miranda also drew praise for hiring models with a broader array of nationalities and body types.
Andy could not help the smile that appeared on her face as she thought of Miranda advocating for her size 6 ass. Not that she was the least bit self-conscious about what Sam often referred to as the extra junk in her trunk. She told Sam that she didn't care for the reference, but in truth, she liked knowing that her ass aroused the younger woman. She briefly wondered if Miranda liked a little extra junk as she read on.
Her attention was drawn away from the article as an unfamiliar ringtone filled the air. She looked towards Miranda's phone as she recognized Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow that was streaming through the phone's speakers. She picked up the phone as it continued to belt out the tune. In a flash of intuition, she felt a sudden need to answer. She accepted the call before pressing the phone to her ear.
"Mom."
AN: I generally am not a big fan of the cliff hanger but it felt like the right place to end the chapter. Plus I had a crazy couple of days last week so this was all that I was going to have ready to post. As for the story, things are proceeding with Sam's investigation and Andy is finding more and more things to love about Miranda. Will Miranda feel the same? I'll give you one guess on that one. I also left a few more clues about Sam's mystery woman and a couple of clues pointing towards the other fandom we will see later. If you have a guess feel free to PM and I will let you know if you are right or wrong. Let me know what you think about the story.