2026-09-16 19:06:54Every single page was filled from top to bottom with neat, sharp handwriting. There were complex math rules, drawn-out network maps, and lines of clean code.
Rose flipped through the pages, her eyes stopping on the dates written at the top.
[October 14, 2:40 AM: Main firewall attacked by foreign hackers. Adding secret security lock to push bad files away.]
Rose’s hands began to shake. That was the exact night three years ago when Humpton Tech almost died from a giant hack attack.
She had woken up the next morning to find the problem gone, thinking Brandon had fixed it from his own office.
She quickly flipped to the very last page of the final book.
[November 11, 4:15 AM: Aegis Core system overloaded with too much data. Fixing system errors by hand. Core is now safe for the live test.]
The date was just four days ago. The neat, sharp handwriting across all four books was completely identical: it was undeniably Henry's.
A wave of dizziness hit Rose. Her hands shook so much that the pages made a loud rustling sound in the quiet basement.
"How can this be?" Rose thought, her mind spinning in total shock. "Did Henry understand our code all along? Could he the one who was helping me to..."
Before she could finish the thought, heavy steps came running down the stairs.
Eleanor rushed into the light, her eyes wide with panic. "Did you find the notes, Rose?! We only have fifty minutes left!"
Eleanor saw the books in Rose’s hands, grabbed the top one, and flipped through it with hungry eyes. "Is this the company code?!"
Eleanor looked at the pages, seeing the drawings of Humpton Tech's secret systems.
Her face instantly twisted with ugly disgust.
"A thief!" Eleanor shrieked at the top of her voice, making the room ring. "A dirty, ungrateful thief! Look at this, Rose! Look at what this bum was doing in our basement!"
Rose looked up, her chest tight. "Mother... what are you saying?"
"Are you blind, Rose?!" Eleanor yelled, shaking the open book in the air. "Henry was sneaking into our office files at night, copying Brandon’s genius work and our trade secrets into these books!"
Eleanor pointed a shaking finger at the dates on the page, her eyes full of venom. "He was writing down everything our company did! He was planning to steal our work and sell it to other companies to destroy us!"
Brandon walked down the stairs, his eyes landing on the open books. A cold fear shot through his heart when he saw the pages.
He recognized the handwriting from the sticky notes left around the office. This was the real source code! This was the secret core that his fake files couldn't run!
If Rose found out Henry was the real genius, Brandon's life was over. He would be ruined and thrown into prison before sunrise.
Brandon jumped forward, putting on a face of pure shock.
"My God..." Brandon gasped, holding his chest with his good hand. "Now it all makes sense! It all fits together!"
Rose turned to him, her voice shaking. "What makes sense, Brandon?"
"Don't you see, Rose?!" Brandon cried out, pretending to be heartbroken. "Henry wasn't just a bitter ex-husband! He was a corporate spy planted in your house!"
Brandon grabbed another notebook, pointing at the code. "These are my private drafts! I thought I lost my design notes months ago, but Henry was secretly copying them down while cleaning the study!"
Brandon leaned close to Rose, talking fast and loud. "Why do you think he showed up at the gala tonight, standing right beside Chairman Victoria Vance?!"
Rose froze as a terrible memory flashed in her mind: Henry whispering into Victoria Vance's ear, followed right away by the sudden pause of the whole gala.
"He didn't come to beg for a job," Brandon lied with total confidence. "He stole my master key, locked our servers from the outside, and went straight to Chairman Vance to badmouth our company!"
"He told Chairman Vance that our code was fake," Brandon said with fake tears. "He wanted the board to pause the gala so our servers would die during the test, ruining your family's name out of pure, jealous revenge!"
"Yes! That is exactly what happened!" Eleanor yelled, hitting the desk with her hand. "That ungrateful beast wanted to bankrupt us! He wanted to watch my daughter cry in the dirt while he laughed with Chairman Vance!"
The small doubt in Rose’s heart was burned away by pure, wounded pride.
Her stubborn mind refused to believe that the quiet husband she had treated like dirt could ever be smarter than her. It was a thousand times easier to believe he was a thief than to admit she had been a blind fool for four years.
All her hesitation died, replaced by a dark, burning rage.
"Henry Smith..." Rose gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw ached.
She gathered all four heavy notebooks, holding them tight against her chest like proof of a crime.
"I gave his sick sister a bed for four years," Rose whispered, angry tears running down her cheeks. "I gave him food, I gave him clothes, and the whole time, he was stealing my company's work to stab me in the back!"
"He thought he could use my family's code to impress Victoria Vance and ruin my life!" Rose yelled, her eyes full of fire. "I will never let that criminal destroy my company!"
Rose checked her watch. Time was running out fast.
They had less than an hour before the city board called Humpton Tech to the stage.
Rose pulled her phone from her bag and dialed an urgent number.
"Director Vance of the Economic Crimes Bureau," Rose spoke into the phone, her voice cold as ice. "This is Rose Humpton, CEO of Humpton Tech. I have found hard proof of corporate theft and stolen trade secrets against my company."
She marched toward the stairs, her heels clicking hard on the concrete. "Send an armed police team to the Vance Private Sanatorium right now! The thief has our stolen data, and we are going to arrest him this instant!"
Holding the notebooks tightly, Rose rushed out into the stormy night, completely unaware that the books in her arms were the real proof of Brandon’s fraud, and that she was walking straight into her own doom.
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Ch 38
Hundreds of camera flashes went off all at once, lighting up the marble foyer in blinding white light.Reporters leaned forward in shock, whispering in wild excitement as they pointed their microphones toward Henry. The entire crowd of business leaders held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.Brandon puffed out his chest, smiling like a hungry wolf. He kept his finger pointed right at Henry’s calm face, making sure every single television camera captured the moment."Do not let this fraud fool you!" Brandon barked loudly, his voice echoing off the high stone walls. "He wore cheap clothes and washed pots in the Humpton villa for four years! Now he puts on a fine suit to trick the state!"The journalists began shouting over each other, their voices rising in a noisy storm. "Is this true?!" a reporter yelled into his microphone. "Did he really steal the files from your company?!"Brandon laughed with cruel delight, stepping closer to the cameras. "Every single word is tr
Ch 37
The silence inside the Grand Celestial Hall was heavier than lead.Five hundred of the wealthiest elites in the world stood frozen beside their crystal banquet tables, staring at the shattered white jade tiles beneath Henry’s boots. Nobody dared to breathe. Even the weeping members of the Mo and Qiang families choked back their sobs, terrified that a single sound would draw the Supreme Architect’s eyes toward them.Elena Long stepped forward slowly, her silk heels clicking against the cracked stone. Her face was pale with worry as she looked at the blood-red reflection fading from the dome above."Henry," Elena whispered, placing her trembling hand gently on his sleeve. "Four years ago, when the Mediterranean sea transport went down, the International Maritime Bureau confirmed there were no survivors. How could the Black Serpent have pulled your mother out of the wreckage without your satellites detecting it?"Henry stood motionless, his dark eyes cold and bottomless."Because the rad
Ch 36
The marble tiles beneath Henry’s boots cracked further, sending spiderweb fractures across the center of the white jade stage.Inside the Grand Celestial Hall, not a single billionaire or foreign diplomat dared to breathe. Five hundred elites stood frozen around their banquet tables, staring up at the darkened holographic dome where the image of Henry’s mother had just vanished.On the steps of the dais, Patriarch Mo Zhen lay unconscious in a pool of his own blood. Beside him, Victor Mo was pressed face-down against the cold floor under the heavy combat boot of a Sovereign Guard, his broken teeth staining the jade crimson.Matriarch Bai Hansheng did not dare to lift her head from the floor. Her designer silk robes were soaked with cold sweat as she pressed her forehead against the bottom of Patriarch Long Tianji’s throne."Supreme Architect!" Matriarch Bai’s voice trembled so violently it echoed through the silent dome. "The Bai family swears eternal loyalty to the Directorate! Tonigh
Ch 35
The autumn wind swept through the narrow, crooked alleys of the Old District, carrying with it the bitter scent of coal smoke, rotting vegetable leaves, and damp earth. Unlike the towering glass-and-steel monoliths of the capital's central business district, where automated mag-lev transport hummed softly between fifty-story skyscrapers, the Old District remained a forgotten scar upon the city's underbelly. Crumbling brick tenements leaned toward one another like tired old men whispering secrets, their paint peeling away in long, gray strips that resembled dry skin.In the damp basement kitchen of a dingy noodle shop named Old Chen’s Hearth, the air was thick with the suffocating steam of boiling pork bone broth and rancid frying oil.A rusty fluorescent tube overhead flickered erratically, casting a sickly, greenish-yellow hue over the rusted stainless-steel sink piled high with greasy ceramic bowls, cracked soup spoons, and encrusted iron woks.Rose Humpton stood before the sink, he
Ch 34
The private Gulfstream jet bearing the dragon crest of the capital's Long family sliced through the stratospheric clouds like a silver blade. Below, the sprawling patchwork of fields, mountains, and provincial rivers melted away into a seamless blanket of white frost. Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was a masterclass in luxury. Polished mahogany panels, hand-stitched leather reclining seats, and crystal decanters filled with amber-hued century-old scotch defined a level of wealth that made provincial billionaires look like common peddlers.Elena Long sat across the aisle from Henry, her fingers resting lightly on a sleek titanium tablet displaying encrypted military and financial feeds from the capital. Despite her initial formal introduction on the tarmac, she had discarded her heavy crimson wool coat, revealing a tailored charcoal-gray executive suit that emphasized her sharp, commanding presence. Yet, every few moments, her hazel eyes flicked up to study the man seated opposite he
Ch 33
The massive double doors of the grand amphitheater stood wide open, letting in the sharp, bitter draft of the winter wind. Outside, the blue lights of fifty state police cruisers spun lazily against the slate-gray sky, casting long, fractured shadows across the marble steps where Brandon and Conrad Thorne had just been dragged away in handcuffs.Inside the vast hall, the air was still heavy with the ozone scent of short-circuited servers and the collective, stunned silence of a thousand elites. Not a single person dared to move from their seats. The television cameras, their lenses still fixed on the raised center platform, hummed quietly as they broadcast the historical downfall of Thorne Telecom to forty regional networks and millions of home viewers across the province.Academician White was the first to break the stillness. With shaking hands, the seventy-year-old pioneer of national telecommunications stepped out from behind the judge's table, his white hair ruffled by the draft.
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