Cassandra joined him, her hair tied back, a small folder in her hand. “We finished the trace,” she said.Nathan turned. “And?”“It’s bad,” she said quietly. “The leak came from inside — the Zurich communications branch. We identified the account. One of the mid-level managers. But…” She hesitated. “The account was registered under someone else’s credentials. Someone higher.”Nathan’s expression darkened. “How high?”“Board level.”He looked at her for a long moment. “Liam’s fingerprints?”Cassandra nodded slowly. “He’s feeding someone. Money, blackmail, something personal — I don’t know yet. But this isn’t just a hacker war anymore. He’s found a way back into the boardroom.”Nathan stepped back inside, setting down his coffee untouched. “Then we root him out. Quietly. If I expose the traitor too early, Liam will pivot again. This time we trap him before he can move.”Cassandra followed him to the table. “We’re already running silent surveillance across all internal networks. Hayes sec

“Traffic analytics from the Brussels server just spiked again,” Cassandra murmured. “Triple the normal load. Same irregular patterns we saw before Liam’s first attack.”Nathan’s jaw tightened. “He’s trying again.”Mr. Hayes stepped into the room, still dressed in his evening robe, his age showing in the lines around his eyes but his mind sharp as ever. “If Liam’s involved, he’s not doing it alone this time. That pattern—it’s distributed, decentralized. Whoever’s funding him has serious infrastructure.”Nathan turned toward the glowing map, where red dots blinked across France, Germany, and Italy. “We’re not just fighting a rogue son anymore,” he said quietly. “We’re up against a network.”Down in the control center beneath the mansion, technicians worked feverishly, the air alive with the clicking of keyboards and low murmurs. Cassandra descended the glass staircase, her heels clicking in rhythm with the rising tension. She paused beside Oliver, the head of Nathan’s cybersecurity team

The world moved quickly after the collapse of Dane Consortium.By the end of the week, headlines flooded every global network—“Hayes Telecom Claims Historic Victory,” “Nathan Hayes Expands Global Holdings,” “Corporate Titan Redefines Digital Power.”But in the Hayes mansion, the air was thick with something quieter—anticipation. The war with Morgan Dane had been won in numbers, but Nathan knew victory wasn’t the same as safety. Every empire had its shadow, and Liam’s ghost still haunted the circuits of his servers.He stood in the command room again, the glass wall reflecting rows of data screens that pulsed like veins. Cassandra entered behind him, her steps measured, her hair pulled back sharply.“Phase Zero remnants resurfaced in the Zurich node,” she said. “Our analysts found fragments of the neural code nested inside a government data vault.”Nathan turned slowly. “So it’s still alive.”“Barely,” she replied. “It’s copying small strings of its own framework. Like a creature refus

Nathan watched the live feed from Hayes Tower as the fog thickened over the Geneva satellite hub. Every movement of Liam’s team was tracked, mapped, and anticipated, but Nathan knew that anticipation alone wasn’t enough. Liam had become unpredictable, a living chaos intertwined with the remnants of Phase Zero.Cassandra stood beside him, her tablet filled with streaming data. “They’re trying to bypass the perimeter sensors,” she said. “Using electromagnetic pulse disruptors. It’s subtle, but effective.”Nathan’s jaw tightened. “Then we neutralize it before it reaches the hub. Activate countermeasures.”Far below, on the cold tarmac, Liam’s team moved with practiced precision. He had learned from every previous failure. Each operative carried sleek, custom devices designed to manipulate security protocols, some even capable of mimicking Hayes Telecom credentials. Liam himself was at the center, his eyes scanning the horizon, calculating the distance to the control room inside the hub.

The morning light filtered through the glass walls of Hayes Tower, but Nathan felt no warmth. He sat at the command console, eyes fixed on the live network map that sprawled across multiple screens. Cassandra moved behind him, adjusting displays and feeding real-time intelligence from European and Asian nodes.“We’ve got movement in Prague,” she said, voice tight with tension. “Not a full strike yet, but someone is probing the local exchanges. He’s testing again.”Nathan’s hands hovered over the keyboard. “He’s still trying to find the weak point,” he muttered. “We’ve contained every attempt, but the patterns are becoming more sophisticated. He’s learning from our countermeasures.”Cassandra glanced at him. “Every time we block him, he adapts. This isn’t just digital warfare anymore—it’s psychological. He’s trying to make us overreact, make mistakes.”Nathan leaned back briefly, rubbing his temples. “Then we don’t react. We anticipate. We don’t chase the distractions. We reinforce the