The Grand commander's Return; Ex-wife's fatal Mistake

Chapter 3: Last Chance at redemption

Declan turned the corner and bumped into his direct IT supervisor, holding a heavy metal toolbox and an armful of blue server cables.

His face was red with stress.

"What are you doing loitering round? The board presentation is about to start downstairs in Conference Hall A!" the supervisor snapped, shoving a heavy toolkit against Declan's chest.

"Brody Cromwell and Miss Nala are presenting the Aegis Core to old Mr. Cromwell and the senior investors right now!”

……………..

The atmosphere inside Conference Hall A of Cromwell Capital was suffocatingly tense.

Around a massive thirty-foot polished mahogany table sat twelve of the most powerful financial figures in the city, including old Chairman Cromwell, Brody’s stern, ruthless father who sat at the head of the room with his hands resting heavily on a silver-headed cane.

Nala stood near the front projection screen, her heart hammering against her ribs as she adjusted her jacket. Beside her, Brody stood with an easy, arrogant posture, clicking through slides on a sleek glass presenter tablet.

In the dark control booth at the rear of the room, Declan stood behind a wall of glass monitors, wearing a plain gray technician vest as he connected heavy optical cables into the rack.

"Gentlemen of the board," Brody’s voice boomed softly over the room's hidden speakers, full of practiced, aristocratic charm. "What you are looking at today is not just a standard firewall upgrade. Sawyer Dynamics and Cromwell Capital have successfully integrated the Aegis Core, an architecture capable of processing thirty million banking transactions per second with zero latency."

A murmur of quiet approval rippled through the board members. Old Chairman Cromwell leaned forward, his sharp eyes narrowing. "And the security logic, Brody?”"

"Unbreakable, Father," Brody declared smoothly, flashing a dazzling smile as he gestured to Nala.

"Miss Sawyer and I personally verified every layer of the architecture. It is completely immune to external breaches."

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience. Nala’s eyes shone with glowing pride, her hand resting against the heavy diamond necklace Brody had bought her.

Suddenly, the main ninety-inch display screen on the conference wall flickered violently.

BZZZZ-CRACKLE!

The smooth blue flow charts turned into jagged, broken red lines, and a harsh electronic buzz echoed through the speakers.

[CRITICAL ERROR: KERNEL BUFFER INSTABILITY DETECTED]

Gasping sounds rippled through the board members. Chairman Cromwell’s face darkened into a terrifying glare, his grip tightening on his silver cane.

Brody’s arrogant grin instantly froze. Cold sweat burst across his forehead as he furiously tapped his presenter tablet, but the screen remained locked on the flashing red warning.

"What is the meaning of this, Brody?!" Chairman Cromwell’s deep voice echoed like thunder. "Is this the 'unbreakable' system you want my fifty million dollars for?!"

"No! Father, wait! It's... it's just a minor display sync error!" Brody stammered, his face turning pale as he wiped his damp neck.

BANG!

The heavy glass door of the rear control booth slammed open.

Nala burst into the room, her face flushed with extreme panic as she began barking wild orders at the terrified technicians. "What are you doing?! Reset the primary server! Clear the visual cache right now! Do you have any idea what is happening out there?!"

"Miss Sawyer, the main kernel buffer is locked!" the lead technician stammered, his hands shaking over his keyboard. "We can't force a reboot without dropping the whole network!"

“What?” Nala turned frantically, Then, her eyes landed on Declan standing quietly in the corner, holding a diagnostic terminal.

Nala froze. A sudden, heavy silence fell between them inside the roaring control room. She looked at his cheap uniform polo, at the faded crew badge.

“Declan, you know this backend code better than anyone, why are you just standing there? Fix it!”

“Why should I?”Declan asked softly, leaning against the wall without a care in the world. "According to the affidavit I signed today, Brody built the Aegis Core from scratch. He’s the genius. Let him come handle it”

Nala’s breath caught in her throat. She rushed over to him, her eyes shining with fake, desperate tears as she grabbed his arm.

"Declan, I did what I had to do for our future! Taking the patent... putting it under Cromwell Capital ... it was the only way to get the fifty million dollar injection! I did it for us! If this demo fails, Sawyer's Dynamics is ruined!"

Declan looked at her hand on his arm, then slowly met her eyes. The sheer hypocrisy of her words hit him like a cold blade.

I did it for us.

"You didn't do it for us, Nala," Declan said softly, stepping back so her hand slipped uselessly off his sleeve. "You did it for status. You did it to please Brody"

"Declan, please!" she pleaded, her voice rising in panic as the murmurs from the boardroom grew louder. "Just fix it! I'm begging you!"

Declan didn't answer. He turned to the main terminal and leaned over the keyboard, his long fingers moving across the keys with blinding, mechanical speed.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Enter.

Declan executed four precise command lines. He didn't clear the core architecture; he merely patched the temporary memory leak just enough for the screen to unfreeze, restoring the visual display so the live demo could proceed.

FLASH!

The red warning text on the massive screen vanished instantly. The display restored itself into a brilliant, flawless sapphire diagram, showing processing speeds soaring to 100%.

A massive collective sigh of relief echoed through the board room.

Brody let out a ragged breath, quickly wiping his forehead before flashing another dazzling smile to the board. "As you can see, gentlemen! The Aegis Core's automated self-healing protocol just instantly corrected a simulated traffic surge! It proves our total resilience!"

Chairman Cromwell stared at the screen for a moment, then slowly nodded in approval. "Impressive. The board approves the fifty-million-dollar injection."

Applause broke out across the hall.

Inside the control booth, Nala let out a massive sigh of relief, leaning against a server rack as she clutched her chest. She looked up at Declan, a relieved, condescending smile returning to her face.

"Thank you, Declan," Nala said softly, reaching out to pat his shoulder as if rewarding a loyal pet. "I knew you still cared about me. I knew you wouldn't let my company down when it mattered most."

Declan didn't smile. He reached out, grabbed a portable diagnostic tablet from the console, and turned the screen directly toward her face.

"I didn't do it for you, Nala," Declan said, his voice flat and razor-sharp. "And if you think Brody is saving your company, look at this."

Nala blinked, looking at the small secondary diagnostic monitor Declan was holding in his hand.

While patching the visual display for Brody 's presentation, Declan's background diagnostic probe had quietly bypassed Cromwell Capital ’s external firewall, penetrating deep into the hidden data logs of Brody 's personal server.

"What... What is that? Why is our core connected to an offshore IP?"

"Brody didn't just take my code, Nala," Declan whispered, looking straight into her horrified eyes with lethal calm. "He sold out the entire national grid to cover his family's debt. And by partnering with Sawyer Dynamics'... he just made you his accomplice."

Nala stumbled back, her hands shaking violently. "No... no, Brody wouldn't... that can't be true"

Declan closed his terminal with a quiet click, slipping the diagnostic phone back into his pocket. He looked at Nala one last time, her eyes filled with denial.

“My job here is done. See you at home.”

Nala stood frozen in the control booth, completely speechless as Declan disappeared into the hall's corridor.