Chapter 6

I stared at the black terminal window on the laptop. My fingers rested on the keys. The boardroom was totally silent. The glowing screen reflected in my eyes. I typed the final string of numbers.

I hit the enter key.

For three seconds, nothing happened. Carter leaned closer to the screen. Maya crossed her arms and frowned.

Then, the black screen filled with fast-scrolling green text. Folders unlocked. Security walls dropped. Passwords bypassed themselves.

"I am in," I said quietly.

Carter let out a deep breath. "You bypassed the Vanguard central server in less than thirty seconds. Julian told the press his firewall was unbreakable."

"Julian is a liar," I replied. I typed another command. "He only knows what I taught him. He does not know how to read the root code. I am locking the development server right now."

"Wait," Maya said sharply. She walked over and stood right next to me. She stared down at the screen with cold eyes. "You are just locking it? Why not crash it right now? If you want to hurt him, you should delete the whole thing."

"If I crash it today, he has enough time to hire a new team to rebuild it before his public launch," I explained. I did not look at her. I kept my eyes on the screen. "If I lock the development server, his current team cannot upload any new updates. They will spend the next three weeks trying to pick a lock that has no keyhole. When launch day arrives, their system will be weak and outdated."

Maya let out a dry laugh. "That sounds like a very convenient excuse."

I stopped typing. I took my hands off the keyboard. I turned my head and looked directly into Maya's eyes.

"What do you mean?" I asked calmly.

"I mean, you were married to the guy for five years," Maya said. She did not back down. She challenged me openly. "You slept in his bed. You ate his food. You lived a very high-end life while our team worked in the shadows. Now you show up here, lock a server, and tell us to wait? How do we know this is not a trick?"

"Maya," Carter warned softly.

"No, Carter, think about it," Maya continued. She pointed a finger at me. "Julian needs a scapegoat. He just told the news she tried to steal corporate funds. What if she is here to steal our data and give it to him? What if this is a Vanguard trap?"

The air in the boardroom grew very cold. I felt my chest tighten. I understood her fear. To them, I was the enemy's wife. I was a wolfless omega with no real pack loyalty.

I stood up from the chair. I was much shorter than Maya, but I did not lower my chin.

"Julian threw me into the freezing rain last night," I told her. My voice was steady and low. "He watched me lose my child in a hospital, and then he replaced me with a pregnant mistress. I do not have a high-end life. I have one suitcase and the clothes I am wearing. I want him destroyed more than you do."

Maya stared at me. Her expression did not soften easily. "Words are cheap. I trust code. And right now, I do not trust yours."

"Enough," Dominic said.

His deep voice cut through the tension like a sharp knife. He walked over to the table. He did not yell. He did not release his dominant Alpha energy. He just looked at Maya with icy blue eyes.

"Sienna is the Lead Architect," Dominic stated clearly. "You will follow her directions. If she says we wait, we wait. If you question her loyalty again, you can pack up your desk."

Maya tightened her jaw. "Yes, Alpha." She took a step back, but I saw the lingering doubt in her eyes. She did not trust me yet.

Dominic looked down at the laptop screen. "Is the server locked?"

"Yes," I answered. I typed one final command to hide my digital tracks. "Julian cannot access his own updates. His engineers will start panicking in about ten minutes."

"Good," Dominic said. He closed the laptop. He looked at Carter. "Set up a secure workspace for Sienna on this floor. Give her full access to the Obsidian database."

Carter nodded quickly. "Right away, Alpha."

The engineers filed out of the room. Maya gave me one last cold look before she walked through the glass doors.

I stood alone with Dominic. The news broadcast on the television was finally turned off. The room was quiet again.

"She has a right to be suspicious," I said softly. "I would not trust me either."

"Maya is a very paranoid person," Dominic replied. He picked up his coffee cup. "She is my best security expert because she trusts no one. You will have to earn her respect."

"I will," I promised.

"Julian will notice the server lock very soon," Dominic said. He walked toward the door and I followed him. "He will try to find you. He wants to keep you quiet."

"He thinks I am a weak omega," I reminded him. "He thinks I am crying in an alleyway."

"He will realize his mistake soon," Dominic said. "Come with me. I have something for you."

I followed Dominic down a long hallway. The Obsidian offices were very modern and sleek. Dark gray walls, glass doors, and bright silver lights. Everyone we passed bowed their heads respectfully to Dominic. They cast curious glances at me, but nobody dared to speak.

Dominic opened a door at the end of the hall. We stepped into a large, beautiful corner office. It had huge windows overlooking the city. A large mahogany desk sat in the center. Two glowing monitors waited on the desk.

"This is your office," Dominic told me.

I looked around in total shock. "My office?"

"You are a Lead Architect," Dominic said simply. He walked over to the desk and picked up a small black box. He handed it to me. "Your old phone is useless. Julian tracks it. This is a secure Obsidian phone. Only my number, Carter's number, and Maya's number are saved inside. No one can trace it."

I took the box. "Thank you."

"Do not thank me," Dominic said. He put his hands in his pockets. "I expect results. Carter will bring you the Obsidian source code in ten minutes. I want you to find every weak spot in our system by tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "That is hundreds of thousands of lines of code."

"Are you incapable of doing it?" Dominic challenged me. His blue eyes sparkled with a dark, testing energy.

"I will have it done by midnight," I countered.

A small, dangerous smile touched Dominic's lips. "I like your confidence, Sienna. Get to work."

He walked out of the office and closed the door.

I stood alone in the beautiful room. I walked over to the large windows and looked down at the busy city streets. Somewhere out there, Julian was celebrating his fake success. He was drinking champagne with Scarlett. He thought he had won.

I sat down in the leather chair. I opened the new phone and placed it on the desk. Then, I turned on the monitors.

It was time to build a weapon.