บท 75: Job interview (3)

Without a word, Sarah got her phone and texted Eve.

In less than fifteen minutes Sarah kept another report on the table in front of Jeff. "You need to improve security."

Sarah glanced at Aiden and mischievously winked.

Aiden's gaze was locked on her, full of admiration. He wished to pull her close to him and kiss her until she runs out of breath. He told himself to be patient. 'Soon…'

Jeff looked through the report speechless. He confirmed that the data is correct, after all, those are projects he signed. 'What speed! With her on-board we can clear all the backlog in no time and take on even larger volume of projects!' Jeff had dollar signs spinning in his mind. 'I can't show my excitement. It will make her ask for unreasonable benefits if she sees that I really want to hire her.' Jeff thought how lucky it is that Aiden found her. 'I need to be more flexible, she is a real gem, and I must get her on-board.' Jeff had an internal struggle ongoing.

Sarah observed Jeff's changes. 'This is priceless.' She found the most pleasure when she proved someone wrong by showing her skills.

Jeff cleared his throat and revealed a huge smile before exclaiming: "You are hired!"

Seeing that Jeff is completely hooked, Sarah showed her dazzling smile. "I'm flattered that you are interested in hiring me. I look forward to see what your company can offer to get me interested in working for you, CEO White."

Aiden could not hold himself back and laughed. "Suddenly I'm concerned about my job security." Seeing that Jeff gave him a stern look, he suppressed his joy and looked at Sarah. Smile was lingering on his face. He was very proud to have Sarah as his girlfriend. He found her brilliance dazzling, and he could not look away. Sarah's appearance, intelligence, personality, everything about her pulled him in, and he was completely enchanted.

Sarah looked at Aiden and their eyes met. Everything in the background faded, and it was just two of them, looking at each other, with desire to come closer growing each moment.

Both Sarah and Aiden reminded themselves that they are in a public place, and that Jeff is right there at the table.

Sarah bit her lip using the pain as a reminder to force herself to look away. 'How can I think of making out with him at a time like this?' She took a deep breath before looking at Jeff.

"Call me Jeff, Miss Hill." Jeff said with a smile bringing her back to reality as soon as he noticed that her attention is back at him.

"Jeff…" She repeated with a smile. "You can call me Sarah."

He nodded in approval. "Here, Sarah, let's start from this contract as a baseline. Look at it and let me know what changes you want to make." He enthusiastically pushed a stack of documents to her.

Sarah looked. It was a new employee contract. Her official title in the company would be 'security software engineer', she checked main points... base salary, benefits, annual bonus, performance bonus. As she went through the contract everything looked fine, or she didn't care about it. But she didn't find the point she cared most about... the one where she gets the right to refuse projects she does not want to work on. She frowned.

Jeff noticed that she is not pleased. For a second he racked his brain, and his eyes flashed as he found a solution to sweeten the deal for her. "To this, company will also add a penthouse apartment in LA. It's located close to the office, fully furnished with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Apartment is fully owned by the company, and it's yours."

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. 'This is not what I had in mind.'

Even Aiden was surprised by his brother's generosity.

Seeing that she is not responding, he added. "And a car. Company will get you a new car of your choice."

Sarah didn't respond. 'That is not what I had in mind either.'

Aiden frowned. 'Hey, she is getting much better deal than me. Brother, we will talk about this later.' But he was happy that his brother acknowledged Sarah to such a degree.

Seeing lack of response from Sarah, Jeff was getting desperate. "Is there is anything else on your mind? Feel free to let me know. Everything can be put on the table and discussed."

Sarah nodded. "I want to be able to select projects I'm working on."

Jeff frowned slightly. "Yes, Aiden mentioned this. Can you tell me the reason behind this condition?"

"My understanding is that you are the only one who makes decisions what projects we will take on. I don't know what criteria you use when you make such decisions. That is why I want to have right not to be forced to work on something I'm not comfortable with."

Her main concern was if she needs to work on something immoral. She is aware that type of work is highly likely illegal. But even with that, she wants her conscience to stay clean, that she knows that she is doing things for a good cause, even if it's illegal.

Jeff thought for a second before responding with an example. "If I little girl is missing, crying in a dark cellar and we get paid to find her, is that the case where you will question if you are comfortable with the assignment?"

Sarah thought that his example is not really what she was thinking about, but it can still be used to make her point. "In this particular case, I would want to know who wants us to find the girl. Is it a concerned family member, or a pedophile who wants to take advantage of the situation? It's not about if I want to find the girl, but who will get the information about her location."

"That is noble of you. But you can't save everyone." Jeff failed to understand her point.

"I can try. Every time I prevent a bad guy gets his way; I save someone. Once that happens, for that one who is saved, world becomes a better place." Sarah didn't give up.

Jeff looked at her, having hard time processing what she said. 'What does that have to do with making money?'

Aiden cleared his throat. "Can I make a suggestion here?"

Jeff looked at him. "As her boyfriend, or as my brother?"

Aiden frowned. "As a team lead!"

Jeff approved and gestured that he can speak.

Aiden looked at both Sarah and Jeff. "As much as we had projects that could be in the gray area, we never worked on anything that could be considered as supporting people with clearly evil intentions. How about we add a process where for each project we take a vote before signing on it?"

"Who will get the right to vote?" Jeff was not comfortable with giving up control.

"Three of us. Two out of three is needed for outcome to be accepted." Aiden was confident that there will be no objections. And in this way, he can also be involved in the process. This was something that troubled him since Sarah mentioned that he only executes on tasks without thinking about them.

Jeff thought about it, before turning to Sarah. "Are you OK with this? If you are outnumbered two to one, you will work on the project even if you have objections?"

Sarah thought about it. She does not know Jeff well, but she trusts Aiden. She nodded in agreement.

Jeff found this acceptable and smiled. "Is there anything else?"

Sarah shook her head. "That is all."

"Great!" Jeff got his phone. "I will get my assistant to add the apartment and the car to your contract, and we can sign it right away. The voting on the projects is a process and it's outside of scope for your contract. Agreed?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes."

Jeff stood up walked away while talking on the phone.

Aiden leaned towards Sarah. "Welcome to the team."

"Thank you." She could not help but smile.

"You just got a free apartment and a car because you have pretty eyebrows." He teased.

"No. I got them because I impressed your brother." Sarah confidently responded.