Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 91 - Chapitre 100

Kylie's POVI appeared in the conference room exactly at midnight. The overhead lighting was switched off, and the only sound was computer hums. Michael, our Chief Legal Officer, and Elena, our Head of Security, stood near the long table. On the large screen, Jackson and James accessed through secure link.I cleared my throat. "Thanks for showing up at this hour. We have very little time. The consortium is preparing for its next move. We must be ready."Michael sat down and powered up his laptop. He was serious. "Kylie, we've frozen accounts we knew about. But the consortium accelerated at least a dozen new shell companies over the last twenty-four hours. We need more comprehensive legal authority.".Elena nodded to him. "On my side, I've updated firewall rules and blacklisted their known IP blocks. But they have proxy chains that change every day. We need rules that adapt in real time."Jackson's face appeared on screen. He spoke in a measured tone. "I can have alerts placed in our s

Jackson's POVI crouched over my console after midnight, my eyes locked onto the encrypted signal stream. There was silence around me except for the hum of the servers and the pounding on my keyboard."Team," I grumbled into my headset, "reading more chatter on channel Alpha-7. Breaking from their norms. Looks like they're concocting something new."Maria's voice crackled back. "On it, Jackson. I'll cross-check against our blacklist.""Elena," I went on, "monitor the front cameras. Let me know if anything moves outside.""Got it," she replied.I leaned in closer to the screen. The code was silky—packets moving through a dozen proxies. "Alpha-7 is pinging at irregular intervals. It could be a meetup or an asset drop."Arun, our cyber analyst, spoke up. “I’ll trace the last three hops. Give me ninety seconds.” I kept my eyes on the screen. Ninety seconds felt like hours. “Got it,” Arun said. “The last hops resolve to an IP block near the old warehouse district.” I frowned. “That’s

Kylie's POVI woke to the soft calling of my name, spoken by Anna, my nurse. Early light cut through heavy drapes, and the ache in my bones made my head spin."Kylie," Anna whispered, "I am sorry. Your mother passed away an hour ago. She clung to your hand until she passed." she said bringing back memories.My heart skipped. I sat up so abruptly I almost fainted. "Mother. dead?"Anna nodded, tears streaming. "She was at peace. Dr. Lim says she passed away suddenly."I clapped my hand over my chest. "I should've been there. I."Anna put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "You were here. She knew you loved her."I slammed my eyes shut, guilt and grief crashing. "I'm so sorry, Mama."Anna returned. "Take your time. I'll go speak with Jackson."I staggered out of the bed and down the hall. Jackson was at the other end, eyes on the floor. He noticed me coming, relief and agony crossing his face. He rushed to meet me."Kylie," he said, "I heard." He held me tight.I rested my head on his sho

Kylie's POVI walked the deserted corridors of the Wilson headquarters, my heels echoing on marble. The silence rang more hollow without Mother's guiding presence to direct me to where I was supposed to go. I lingered before the door to her old office and took a deep breath. So much history in this building—triumphs, covert strategizing, her calm voice when I lost my self-assurance.I opened the door and went inside. Light poured over the highly buffed desk where she spent countless hours. I placed my hand on its chilly surface and hovered there waiting for her to glance up at her papers and smile at me. Instead, the desk was vacant—just like she was.I walked around the room, seeing the leather armchairs, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the photos framed on the wall of Mother and me at board meetings. Something was out of place on her desk: a cream envelope bearing my name, in beautiful script. My heart skipped. I reached out to pick it up.Time had stood still.I sat in Mother's seat

Kylie's POVI shut down my laptop, my eyes burning from too many hours of typing reams of reports. Tomorrow morning's board meeting would be hell, I could just tell, but for now I just had to go home. The after-hours filing in my small corner office had been a success…no one, nothing had disturbed me. I leaned back, stretched out and tucked away my notes, while in my head repeating Mother's last words to me over and over: *Lead with compassion. Protect our legacy. Trust your heart.*Leaning my notebook on my elbow, I turned off the desk lamp and crept quietly out into the empty hall. My heels clanged off the tile floor. The building was empty except for the faint security lights and the subdued whir of the elevator at the far end of the hall. I crossed my arms over against the cold that had crept into the air.I touched the down arrow at the bank of elevators and sent Jackson a text: **"Just left office. Headed to the car."** In a couple of seconds, his message buzzed in: **"Safe driv