THE TRASH SON-IN-LAW'S ULTIMATE SYSTEM

ECHOES AT THE DINNERS TABLE

Chapter 8 – Echoes at the Dinner Table

The Hunt mansion shimmered beneath golden lights, its marble pillars dressed in velvet and silver. Every chandelier was lit, every glass polished to perfection. From the outside, it looked like a celebration of wealth and harmony — but to Liam Hunt, it was a performance drenched in lies.

He adjusted the cuffs of his black suit as he entered the banquet hall. The press cameras flashed, and guests turned to admire the family’s stoic son-in-law, the man whose expression never cracked. Damian stood near the head table, greeting the executives and diplomats who had come to celebrate the Hunts’ “New Partnership Initiative.” The name itself was a farce; Liam knew it was a cover.

His gaze swept the room with military precision. Every table had its assigned guests — investors, tech representatives, a few politicians. But Liam wasn’t there to play the host. He was there for the Hunt system’s latest integration presentation, a digital showcase rumored to carry a signature buried inside the code — Emma’s code.

He’d learned from encrypted fragments in her study that she once worked on a private security framework for the family. She called it “E-03.” The same code had recently resurfaced in Hunt Enterprises’ system updates, meaning someone was reactivating it. And tonight, they were showcasing it to the world.

“Mr. Hunt,” a voice greeted, soft and calculated. “A pleasure to finally meet you.”

Liam turned. The woman stood with a glass of champagne, dressed in an elegant navy gown. Her badge identified her as Ava, one of the Hunt Tech engineers. Her smile was polite, but her eyes — sharp, assessing — reminded him of someone who’d already studied him long before the introduction.

“Likewise,” Liam replied smoothly. “I wasn’t aware the tech division joined the dinner.”

“Special request,” she said, tilting her head slightly. “Some of us were asked to ensure the system runs perfectly during tonight’s presentation. We can’t afford another… glitch.”

Her tone was calm, yet the word glitch lingered like a secret code. Liam studied her, his mind running through data — staff logs, access points, prior encrypted transmissions. Ava wasn’t in any of the original employee files. She was new. Recently inserted.

The hall dimmed slightly as the presentation began. A massive holographic display unfolded above the tables, projecting graphs and coded light patterns that shifted with every statistic. Guests murmured in admiration. Liam’s attention, however, was fixed on the rapid flickers of hexadecimal code running beneath the visuals.

Then he saw it — the pattern.

E-03.

His pulse didn’t change, his breathing stayed even, but his jaw tightened. The same signature Emma had embedded in her private files now shimmered across the public display, hidden in plain sight.

Beside him, Ava’s lips curved faintly. “Beautiful, isn’t it? The system works flawlessly when the right hands maintain it.”

Liam turned his gaze toward her. “And whose hands are those?”

Ava took a sip of champagne, eyes glinting under the amber lights. “Depends on who you ask, Mr. Hunt.”

For a brief second, a server passed between them, and Liam noticed the smallest detail — a silver pendant around Ava’s neck engraved with three dots in a triangle. The same pattern he’d once found on Emma’s research drives. Coincidence? No. Nothing in this world was coincidence.

The guests applauded as Damian took the stage, delivering a practiced speech about innovation and family legacy. Liam barely heard a word. His focus had narrowed to a single question pulsing in his mind — Was this woman a messenger from Emma… or a thief using her shadow?

When dinner commenced, the tension thickened. Crystal glasses clinked, forks scraped porcelain, and laughter rolled across the room — hollow and rehearsed. Liam sat quietly, his demeanor flawless, every movement measured. But his eyes followed Ava as she moved toward the side of the room where the control interface glowed faintly behind a draped partition.

She keyed something into a tablet, and for a fraction of a second, the display lights flickered again. In that flash, another line of code appeared — “E-03 Active. Trust no Hunt.”

Liam’s hand froze around his glass. The same warning Emma had left in her study. This wasn’t coincidence — this was communication.

He rose quietly from his seat, murmuring something about taking a call. Moving through the crowd, he slipped into the partitioned area. Behind the display, the hum of servers filled the small space. Ava was there, her fingers moving over the control board with expert ease.

“Looking for something?” she asked without turning.

Liam stepped closer, his voice even. “You’re using a system that doesn’t belong to you.”

Ava finally looked over her shoulder, her expression unreadable. “Funny. I could say the same about you, Mr. Hunt.”

They stared at each other, a silent war between two people who knew how to mask their true selves.

“Who gave you that code?” he asked quietly.

She tilted her head, the pendant catching the low light. “You already know the answer.”

His tone hardened. “Where is she?”

Ava paused, her lips twitching into a small, cryptic smile. “You’re asking the wrong question.”

Before he could respond, the system console emitted a low beep — a data packet being transmitted. Liam glanced at the screen and caught a fragment before it vanished: “Transfer node—E-03 Initiated.”

Someone — or something — was sending Emma’s encrypted signal from inside the Hunt mansion.

Ava closed the terminal and turned toward him. “If you want to find her, stop pretending to be one of them. You’re wasting time.”

Liam’s eyes narrowed. “And you’re wasting yours by standing here.”

“Maybe,” she whispered. “Or maybe I’m just making sure you’re ready for what’s coming.”

The soft murmur of voices from the dining hall drifted closer — someone was approaching. Ava stepped back, her calm composure intact.

“Enjoy your dinner, Mr. Hunt,” she said quietly. “And remember — not every ghost wants to be found.”

Then she walked past him and slipped into the crowd, leaving behind only the faint trace of her perfume and the echo of that haunting line.

Liam stared at the console, the code now gone from the display. The room outside erupted in applause as Damian announced the partnership’s success, unaware that beneath their celebration, a digital ghost had just spoken.

He adjusted his cufflinks, face blank as ever, and walked back into the glow of the banquet hall. The crowd saw only the perfect image of Liam Hunt — composed, distant, loyal. But behind those eyes, a storm was beginning to form.

The system wasn’t the only thing reactivated tonight. So was his resolve.

Somewhere, somehow, Emma was still out there. And whoever dared to use her code would lead him straight to her — or to the truth that could destroy them all.