She walked over to her desk and set a glass down near Slayde’s elbow before leaning against the glass paneling, arms crossed."Are you really going to sit in my chair all night, Burgess?" Brec asked with mild amusement. "Or are you waiting for that idiot hacker to gather enough courage to try again?"Slayde didn't look up from the tablet, his thumb sliding down the encrypted code logs. "He won't try again tonight. He knows I'm here."Brec let out a quiet snort and swirled her drink, glancing toward her restless tech team outside. "Well, my boys look ready to throw a collective fit. They think you're just a high-profile suit stealing their spotlight.""Let them think whatever protects their fragile pride," Slayde replied flatly, setting the tablet on the desk with a quiet click. His dark eyes met hers, sharp and icy."Their pride won't stop the next breach. My presence will."**Inside the sleek, high-tech glass walls of Brec Elsher’s private executive office, Slayde sat behind her

Slayde’s dark Maybach glided out of the corporate garage, its tinted windows swallowing the streetlights. Instead of merging onto the main avenue, Viktor pulled into an unlit parking bay two blocks from Brec’s headquarters.The engine quieted to a low hum. Viktor sat still in the driver's seat, adjusting the rearview mirror, while Slayde flipped open a custom, military-grade laptop. A blue glow illuminated the hard angles of his face as he logged into an isolated proxy."He's moving, sir," Viktor reported softly. "The main IT team’s vehicles just left.""Good," Slayde replied, his fingers moving across the keys. "Let him think the stage is empty."Miles away, a man sat hunched in a dark, windowless room before a wall of screens. He wore a heavy black hood, his face obscured in total shadow. Strips of thick electrical tape covered every camera on his monitors, laptop, and external hardware.He knew who he was dealing with. Slayde Burgess wasn't just a corporate giant; he was a mon

Meanwhile, the dark Maybach glided effortlessly through empty downtown streets, city lights painting long streaks of gold across the tinted glass.In the back seat, Slayde slipped his personal phone into his jacket pocket, his expression unreadable."Did you send the message, sir?" Viktor asked quietly from the driver's seat, keeping his eyes on the late-night traffic."I did," Slayde replied smoothly, leaning his head back against the plush leather headrest."Is it wise to offer a position to the man who just tried to breach Elsher's servers?" Viktor inquired, a rare hint of curiosity breaking through his disciplined tone. "He's unpredictable and reckless.""He's desperate, which makes him easily managed," Slayde said flatly, a dark glint flickering in his eyes. "More importantly, he understands how Dominic's network contacts operate on the dark web. When the time comes to completely strip Harlyn and Dominic of their remaining assets, I'd rather have his fingers on my keyboard than a

The morning fog hung thick over the iron gates of the Burgess estate, painting the sprawling stone courtyard in gray.Standing on the cobblestone driveway outside the main gates, the hacker paced like a cornered animal. He pulled his oversized hoodie tighter around his shoulders, his dark circles deep from two nights without sleep. Every few seconds, his eyes darted toward the high walls, half-expecting armed guards to swarm from the trees and tackle him.He had spent three straight hours last night bypassing the estate's optical arrays and looping motion sensors, crawling through a drainage culvert just to reach the inner driveway. It was supposed to be a demonstration of his worth, proof that no security system could keep him out.Instead, he had been standing in front of Slayde’s towering black gates for four agonizing hours.The sun was up now, casting long shadows across the private road, and not a single soul had come out to acknowledge him.‘Did my bypass trigger a silent ala

She gestured dramatically toward the floor-to-ceiling windows, her tone rising with genuine indignation. "He's a hacker! If you bring him into this estate, he could easily bypass Viktor's security, hijack the network, and take control of the house while we sleep!"Beside Slayde, Zayn braced himself. His shoulders tensed under his oversized hoodie, his fingers twitching against his sides. Spending eighteen hours a day behind glowing monitors, speaking only through encrypted text and scrambled voice lines, had left his social skills completely rusted.For a second, his throat locked up. He had no clever comeback, no smooth defense.Then, the sheer nerve of her words registered, sparking a sudden heat in his chest."I'm standing right here, you know," Zayn blurted out, his voice rougher than intended as his dark eyes flashed with sudden defiance. "And for the record, if I wanted to take control of this estate, I wouldn't need to move in first. I could have hijacked your smart locks f