Liam's POVAs we drove into the garage I saw the focus in Sarah’s eyes. She was ready. We took the elevator up and headed straight for the server room.The server room as usual was full of blinking lights and loud fans to cool off the systems. It was cool, clean and full of energy. Technicians stood around screens looking tired and upset. Anna saw me and quickly came over. She looked both glad and worn out.“Mr Carter, thank goodness you’re here.” she said. “We’re making progress but it’s going really slow.”“This is Sarah.” I said while pointing to my friend. “She’s going to help fix the problem.”Anna looked at Sarah with hope in her eyes. “Can you really fix it?” She asked.“I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t.” Sarah said with a smile. “Where’s the main server?”Anna led us to a big screen which was showing a bunch of messy code. Sarah pulled out her laptop, plugged it in and started typing fast. Everyone in the room went quiet while watching her work.After a few minutes Sarah let

Ryan's POVThe cheap rubber basketball hit the clean landscape wallpaper of my office wall. Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. My feet were up on the desk and I stared at the ceiling mindlessly. The sound of the ball hitting the wall helped me stay calm while my mind felt like a total mess.Liam Carter.Just hearing his name made me feel sick. Liam “rags to riches” Carter. His life was like a movie. One day he was just a skinny college kid. The next he was rich and running Carter Enterprises like he was born to do it. And here I was stuck at Blackwood Corp doing nothing important and pretending to care about business reports.I bounced the ball harder with my anger rising. My dad had big dreams of me taking over the company one day. But I didn’t want to run anything. I wanted to be free to travel the world maybe try taking pictures. Anything but looking at boring files and going to long meetings.Thwack.The door slowly opened and Marie my always-scared secretary stood there holding her note

Liam's POV The last paper landed on my desk with a soft sound. I was done. Finally, I leaned back in my chair and the leather made a small noise after all the hours I had sat in it. Carter Enterprises was doing well—better than ever—even with the problems we’d had lately. I looked at the clock. Almost 10 PM. Most of the staff had gone home long ago.I stood up, grabbed my coat and walked toward the exit. When I passed Anna’s desk I stopped. She was still there leaning over her computer, her face lit up by the screen.“Anna?” I said surprised. “Why are you still here? Everyone else is gone.”She jumped and turned around quickly. “Mr. Carter! I… I didn’t hear you coming. Just finishing some work.” Her voice sounded a little nervous.“This late? You shouldn’t work so much. Go home and get some rest. You’ve worked hard.” I kept my voice soft. I was really worried. Anna had always been loyal and great at her job. I trusted her more than she probably knew.She paused then gave a small sm

Liam's POVThe big clock in the lobby of Carter Enterprises ticked loudly. Tick… tock… Every second felt slow and painful. It was 5:58 PM. Just two more minutes until the office closed. Two more minutes before I could start my plan.I watched Anna. She stood very straight while pushing the last few folders into her cabinet. When she closed the drawer the loud sound echoed in the large space. She looked very tired and sad. Her eyes were red like she hadn’t slept in days and had cried a lot. Something was clearly wrong. Why was Anna so upset? What was going on with her?Mr. Henderson the janitor walked by with his cleaning cart and gave me a tired nod. Usually I was one of the first people to leave work. He always smiled and asked if I needed anything. But tonight I had decided to stay late. I needed to know the truth.I looked at some fake documents on my tablet to look busy even though I felt nervous. My stomach was tight with worry. Was I doing the right thing? Was I wrong about Ann

Liam's POVThe world exploded. The staccato bursts of automatic gunfire echoed all around Hans and me ripping through the night air. Blackwood’s men trigger-happy idiots were letting loose a torrent of lead. We scrambled for cover behind a stack of crates, the wooden splinters flying as bullets chewed into the surrounding structure. My heart hammered against my ribs.“Damn it!” I hissed, pressing myself tighter against the cold wood. “What now?”Hans didn't answer, his face grim. We waited for the silence punctuated only by the relentless pinging of bullets impacting nearby. It felt like an eternity. Then a voice cut through the gunfire sharp and commanding.“Cease fire you idiots! Cease fire!”It was Ryan. Ryan's voice is clear and unmistakable.The firing sputtered and died down, replaced by the tense ragged breathing of… well probably everyone. I could hear Ryan chewing out his men, his voice laced with fury.“What the hell do you think you're doing?! I gave no order to fire! What