NovelBarAstrid glared at Chad, her patience thinner than the crust on a frozen pizza. Maddox's computer was about as useful as a chocolate
teapot—underpowered and always freezing up.
After a tense moment of silence, Astrid said, “Fine, dig up what you can. If the results satisfy me, I'll let you off the hook... for now.”
She'd deal with Chad later. There were scores to settle once this mess was sorted out.
With her final word hanging in the air, Chad booted his brother from the room with a swift kick and hunkered down in front of the
computer.
The others didn’t know Chad, but Maddox did. In matters related to the gaming company, Chad usually took charge, but Maddox
had dealings with Chad during a business collaboration once. Chad was a shark in the boardroom, a wizard in business and tech
circles, but in front of Astrid, his usual bravado was nowhere to be seen. Astrid was someone nobody dared to mess with.
As Astrid watched the clock on the computer screen, Chad was sweating bullets.
Wade, the cheeky younger brother, taunted, “Big bro, can you even handle this? | thought you were really good at this. Needto
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtstep in? | bet | could run circles around you.”
Chad snapped, “Zip it, Wade!”
After shushing his brother, Chad dove back into the digital fray. Seconds ticked by until, finally, he unearthed the opposing side's
information and exhaled a sigh of relief, sending everything he'd found to Astrid.
Astrid and Eshowed no surprise at the nand evidence before them. Maddox, however, was taken aback—it wasn't his
nemesis they'd uncovered but Jay Lampard.
Jay, the General Manager of International Trade at the Morgenster Corporation.
Once the evidence hit the public domain, there was no way for Jay to wiggle out of it.
The chat went wild.
[Who the heck is Jay? Can anyone give us the lowdown?]
[I know him—that's Johnnie Lampard's old man!]
[Just Googled him. Jay's the cousin of the big cheese, Chief Lampard! What's he plotting?]
[Guys, the depths of the elite are beyond our wildest. Rumor has it Jay's gunning for Mr. Lampard's chair, and then...you know,
stirring up trouble.]
[He always looked like such a gentle giant. Goes to show, can't judge a book by its cover.]
Watching the live stream, Jay's face becgloomy with each passing comment. In a fit of rage, he hurled his coffee mug at the
TV, roaring, "Can't you do anything right? What am | paying you for?"
The sound of shattering porcelain sent his henchmen to their knees.
The lead man whispered, "Sir, we never anticipated their hacker skills. They broke through our defenses in minutes. We even hired
a top international hacker, but he couldn't hold a candle to their guy."
Jay's thoughts turned to his son, lying in the ICU with an uncertain fate, and his rage trembled through him. "What about the dirt
on Astrid? How's that coming along?"
The man stammered, "We've hit... a dead end."
"A dead end?" Jay stood, kicking the man over, "Karl, you spent a big sum of money for a hacker and you're tellingyou've got
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmnothing? Astrid couldn't have vanished into thin air after high school. It's impossible there's no trace! You said we had the best
hacker in the business, no?"
Karl scrambled up from the floor, continuing, "Sir, as you saw today, that man works for Astrid. If he's that good, he's surely
covered her tracks. To find anything about Astrid's missing years... unless..."
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