Crescent (ILLICIT #2)

I looked up to see the Estelle building, fully admiring it. I'd been dreaming of working here since I graduated from Harvard. In Harvard, Estelle and Lemiere had been praised by a lot of people for their security and defense technology. Estelle was based in Europe while Lemiere was based in America and Canada.

I applied to Lemiere for a job, but I didn't get in. There were a lot of people applying because who didn't want to work for the Gold Lifes? It was everyone's dream to meet them in real life and actually learn from them.

Instead of giving up, I decided to go to London and apply for the job in Estelle. Estelle was currently run by the youngest Prince of Denmark, Adrian Nielsen. He was known to be smart, strict, and ruthless when it came to his job. I was completely nervous because this was one of those jobs that really required skill and knowledge.

I walked into the building with my sweaty hands, completely nervous for the interview. I walked to the visitor’s desk, and the woman who was in charge looked at me, waiting for me to say something.

"I'm Leah Morris, and I'm here for the job interview," I said.

"Which department are you applying to?" she asked as she pointed at the glass in front of me so I would put both of my hands on there.

"Security and defense technology." They scanned my fingerprints, and then she pointed a small camera at me.

"Ms. Morris, this is your visitor’s card. Go to the 16th floor, and you will find Mitchell there to assist you," she said, and I thanked her, taking the visitor’s card with me and walking towards the lift.

I waited on the line because there were a lot of employees working here, and I felt a little nervous seeing all of them. They looked really professional, and I really hoped that I could get this job.

"Excuse me. Please step aside." Suddenly, I was gently pushed to the side. People were standing against the wall, making way for someone. Was it Adrian Nielsen himself?

"I guess you're going for a job interview here?" I turned to see a beautiful blonde woman standing beside me. She was holding 6 cups of coffee, and I gave her a nervous smile.

"I'm really nervous," I whispered.

"What department are you?" she asked as she hugged all the coffee cups tightly before someone could squeeze them.

"Security and defense tech."

"Really? That's awesome. Usually that department works with Adrian Nielsen himself. That's what I've heard. I'm Aubrey, by the way," she said in her thick British accent.

"I'm Leah, and I hope that's the case," I said, and she turned her head towards the entrance door.

"Princess Aria is here. I guess she's coming back to London for good now," Aubrey said, and I saw Princess Aria walking into the building. She was the definition of a goddess. She was so beautiful that it really made my confidence go down.

She was talking to her secretary, and guards were protecting her as she walked towards the lift. After she got into the lift, I got into another lift for my interview. I thanked Aubrey for wishing e good luck, and she proceeded to walk away with her 6 coffees.

I pressed the 16th button and took a really deep breath. My heart was pounding so fast, and I couldn't even calm myself. As soon as I got out of the lift, I saw a lot of people already waiting for the interview. There were about 40 to 50 people, and it made my confidence go down.

"Hello, I'm Mitchell, and can I get your name?" I turned to the man who was holding 2 iPads at the same time.

"I'm Leah Morris."

"Oh, you're American," he said when he heard my accent. I gave him a smile, and he checked if my name was on the list. He turned to his secretary, and they both gave me the number 17. He told me to sit and wait until my turn.

I sat down near the window and tried to calm down. I decided to listen to music and just try to practice my speech if the interviewer asked me questions. After 2 hours of waiting, they called my name. I followed Mitchell to a small meeting room, and there were 3 interviewers.

I smiled and greeted them politely. They asked me to sit down and started asking me questions. I tried my best to be as professional and as honest as I could be. They were impressed with my resumé and the fact that I had graduated from Harvard. In fact, Harvard really admired Lemiere and Estelle for being this good in development, especially for programming.

I'd worked with a lot of big companies too before, but I wanted to really dive into the real deal. That was why I came all over from New York to London. One of the interviewers asked me to wait outside the door for a couple of minutes because they wanted to make a quick call.

I hoped this was a good sign because I really wanted this job. Imagine being able to work in this company. It was just a dream come true. After waiting for about 20 minutes, Mitchell told me to go inside again.

I walked into the room nervously and sat down. I looked at them, smiling awkwardly.

"This is a quite rare case, Ms. Morris, but we saw you are one of the top who applied when we received your resume last month. You got the job," she said, and I couldn't help but squeal for a second.

"But…Here's the catch for you. We will be doing a lot of tests regarding your mental health tomorrow. We want to make sure that you're capable of doing this job and not being a threat to our company," the man beside her said, and I smiled, nodding.

"I will gladly take the test."

"And one more thing…you're not going to work in security system development, but you will work as a software engineer with Mr. Nielsen himself." I was more than speechless at this point.

"If…you pass the test tomorrow."

Yesterday, I went for a really long test with Estelle. I was wondering if all the employees went through all of this because it was a really long and exhausting one. I would get the job if I passed the test, and I was pretty nervous. I bet they had really high standards when hiring someone, and I was not blaming them for that.

Now, I was here again at the Estelle office building. waiting for the results patiently. I prayed that I would get this job and be the happiest person alive. I would be able to send my parents lots of money too from this job.

"Ms. Morris,” Mitchell called, and he gestured to me to go in. I knocked the door before walking in, and today, there was only the woman interviewer. I smiled, greeting her, and she gestured for me to sit down.

"We got your results, and we can finally announce that you got the job," she said, and immediately, tears filled my eyes. I couldn't believe that I got the job—my dream job for the past 4 years.

"But…" she said, and I wiped my tears quickly. She pushed the contract to me and gestured to me to read it. "Read it, and if you agree to all the rules, the job is yours," she said, and I looked down to the contract. I started to read it slowly, one by one. Apparently, I couldn't say anything to anyone about my job. I couldn't even say what I was working with. I couldn't even say a word about what I was doing, what I was seeing, and what I heard in the ILLICIT HEADQUARTERS.

I froze when I saw those two words. I looked up to my interviewer, and she gave me a nod.

"Since you're from America, you might not know the ILLICIT that well, but let me explain to you shortly. The ILLICIT is the most famous company throughout Europe—without anyone knowing who runs it. It contains security systems, technology related products, weapons, airlines, textile, and many more. This company is owned by some people, and the public doesn't know who they are." Honestly, I'd heard about the ILLICIT before. Just like the Gold Lifes in America, but they were from Europe, and no one really knew who they were. People tried to guess, but mostly, they were wrong.

"This is a very rare case, but after we saw your resumé, we wanted someone like you to be involved in the software engineering team. So…if you're done reading the contract, you can decide if you want to get in or not."

"But I haven't read it all," I said, and she nodded.

"I'll give you one hour to think, and then we will proceed to talk about what's next." She got up from her seat and walked out, leaving me in the small meeting room alone. I read the contract again, and it was basically a strict rule that I couldn't say anything about my work.

After reading the contract again and again about 4 times, I called Mitchell, and he called my interviewer to see me. I sat down, and she walked in with a pen.

"So…what's your decision, Ms. Morris?" she asked as she put the pen in front of me. I grabbed it and signed it as my answer. I pushed the contract slowly to her, and she checked my signature before proceeding to take her phone out.

"Christy, I want you to assist her there," she said, and she got up from her seat. "I'll be seeing you more often, Ms. Morris." She smiled widely, and I shook her hand before she walked out from the room. "Take care of her," she said to a woman who I assumed to be Christy.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Morris. I'll be the one who drives you to the ILLICIT HEADQUARTERS." My eyes widened when she said that, and I followed her to the lobby. She told me to get into her car, and I got in. I put my seatbelt on and put my bag under my feet.

"I know you have a lot of questions about the situation, Ms. Morris. You can ask me as we're going towards the place. It will take about 45 minutes of driving," she said, and where should I begin?

"ILLICIT…how many people are there?" I asked curiously, and she chuckled.

"I might be working with them, but I never know how many they are or who they are," she answered in a playful tone.

"So does it mean that Mr. Nielsen is a part of ILLICIT?" I asked curiously.

"Some people assume he is a part of ILLICIT, but some people assume that he owns the shares to the company. Only a few people know who they are, and we won't be one of those people. We will be working with them, but I don't think you will know exactly who the members are."

"That's crazy. How can they keep it so private?"

"No one knows why, and a lot of businessmen are really going out there telling people that they're a part of the ILLICIT." She laughed.

"They might be telling the truth," I said.

"They won't reveal themselves, Ms. Morris. They will always hide in the dark, and you will know why. You'll work with them anyway. You'll understand," she said, and I was starting to get nervous.

"You should prepare yourself."

"Prepare for what?"

"You'll be amazed to see the headquarters. They’re beautiful and really luxurious," she said, and I started to imagine what the headquarters would look like.

"So…what's the purpose of the headquarters if they never show themselves? Are they just for showing off?" I asked curiously as I thought about how they never revealed themselves.

"If you think they only have one, you're wrong. These people are loaded. They have 5 other buildings in France, Italy, Greece, Denmark, and Switzerland. I personally love the France one. It's crazily cool." Who were these people? This made me wonder what it looked like.

"And…if you end up meeting with Mr. Nielsen, you better not drooling over him. He's really…charming." Everyone knew that he was charming. It was not a secret anymore that the whole of Europe wanted him. We heard about him in America a few times since he came here a lot. Princess Aria actually stayed in America for quite some time.

"I'll try."