The Silver Crescent Prince

"What is this?" Jason asked with a tight expression on his face. "Some kind of a childish gimmick?"

Dawn let out a small laugh. She sat down on the armrest of the couch and said, "You are still the same – irrational, arrogant and jumping to conclusions. Why would I play a gimmick with you?" She paused to see the contortion that was beginning to form on his face. She was enjoying it. "Jason, you were my most esteemed client on the blog who took all my advice to invest money in the market exactly the way I told you to." 

That was true. He had invested a lot of money in the market and all on her advice. His fist turned into a ball. He felt like punching her. But it wasn't untrue that she really gave fantastic suggestions. Almost ninety percent of his investments showed profit. "If I knew that it was you who was giving me recommendations, I would have never bothered." 

"I know that you have profited a lot from my advice. You never lost an opportunity to email me or read whatever I wrote on my blog." Dawn looked up at him with her chin high up. She really wanted to expose his relationship with Azura but how would that help her at the moment, so she refrained from it. She wanted him to come out with it. "And your software company did show a lot of improvement." 

Jason's mouth dropped. "How do you know about the software company?" He had used her father's money to create that with Helena's help. 

"This is where I am going to ask you to open that manila folder," Dawn said, pointing at it. 

Suddenly Jason grew apprehensive. His dread increased. He offered a flash smile that didn't reach his eyes and nodded his head. In a strained voice he said, "If this is a claim to your father's property, then forget it. You are gone." He swallowed his saliva and realized that it had gone dry. He scoffed at her while creating a mental tally as what could go wrong. His hands went to the thread of the manila folder. Unwinding it roughly, he opened it. There were some documents inside, which he took out. "What is this?" he asked, turning the documents upside down. 

He was about to throw them, when Dawn said, "If I were you, I would read each and every sentence of these documents."

"What the fuck are these?" he demanded in frustration and straightened them. As he read the first lines, his body and mind became numb. An empty feeling in his stomach made him dizzy. Every muscle felt tight and jumped for action but he couldn't move a finger. There were too many thoughts in his mind, each one worse than the last. His heart rate accelerated and he found himself facing the same Dawn who had insulted him so many years back when he had just entered their lives. His chest heaved uncomfortably. 

Dawn looked at his changing expressions, which went from hatred to unease to anxiety and then nervousness. Her smile grew further. Oh, how she enjoyed his pathetic state. 

Others in the room stopped doing what they were as they watched the two of them. 

"That is why Jason you should read the documents fully and then react carefully," Dawn said with a very calm and cold voice. 

It was her perfect composure that worried him a lot. He flipped the page and his eyes became wide with fear. He continued to turn the pages until he reached the end. Jason lifted his face to look at her. "How do you know?" his voice cracked.

"Your software company has collected all the personal details of the users and you were looking for the highest bidder to sell their information. You have breached their privacy and breaching privacy is a serious crime. It can lead to embarrassment, loss of employment or employment opportunity, business opportunity and also puts an individual to physical safety risks or identity thefts. I am not even talking about financial loss or theft. A violation of trust and confidence is a criminal and punishable offence."

Jason's face became pale. If this information leaked to the media or to the cyber crime police, that he had secretly snooped around and stolen private information of his company's users, then he would have to pay millions in damage. The last he had heard was of a company who had traded names, addresses and phone numbers along with their social security details were slapped with a 17 A class action lawsuit for security breach. They ended up paying $2 to $7 million to each claimant. Jason ran a finger through his hair. Why the hell did he even come to meet DW? He had thought that he would get more investment advice and was about to introduce DW to Helena. He was shaking like a dried leaf on an autumn day. Once again in a hoarse voice he asked, "How do you know? Also I haven't sold it."

Dawn smiled and laughed again. "I just reported your company's nefarious activities to the cyber crime police." She glanced over her shoulder and called, "Mr. White and Mr. Alvarez." Two hefty men walked to her. "You had sent emails to prospective clients, which show the clear intent of purpose." 

"Good evening Dawn," said Alvarez and smiled at her. The girl had come up to be such a confident and bold personality that he couldn't help but get impressed. She had come too far and he would do everything to help her. She had approached him a few days back with her plan. He was genuinely happy for her. After that he had contacted Mr. White and things fell in place seamlessly.

Mr. White was wearing glasses. His curly hair was neatly combed and he was wearing blue jeans with a blue shirt whose sleeves were rolled up. "Miss Dawn," the man acknowledged her. 

Dawn turned her head back to Jason and said, "Mr. White is a member of the cyber crime police squad. I had filed a written application against your company and Mr. White was given the charge of investigating it. Your company is going down." She pointed at Alvarez and said, "This is Alvarez, police station chief of Bainsburgh." 

Jason looked at the two as a line of sweat formed on his forehead. He scratched his chin and rubbed his nose in an attempt to hide his nervousness. "So this is how you are going to get back at me Dawn? Huh?" he mocked her. "That's pretty low." 

She snickered, "Hell, you are such an ass!" 

"Dawn!" Jason shouted. 

She folded her arms across her chest and appeared very composed. She picked another manila folder. "This one contains lawsuit papers against you, which I haven't signed. If you like I am going to sign the papers and give them to Mr. White here. He will do the rest. However—" Dawn stopped and pursed her lips slightly.