Chapter 13: Pulling the Plug
The ninety-eight percent marker on the monitor blinked with agonizing slowness as the red emergency strobes pulsed against the damp concrete walls of the server corridor. Every nerve in my body screamed to turn and run, but my feet remained anchored to the cold floor. Ethan stirred against my chest, letting out a faint, distressed sigh, his small fingers clutching weakly at the fabric of my sweater.
"Ninety-nine," Victor murmured, his fingers flying across the auxiliary override keypad to block the incoming firewall breach from Serena's security detail. "Hold your ground, Lily. Almost there."
Serena's footsteps drew closer, the sharp click of her high heels echoing off the metal grating like falling glass. When she rounded the corner, her sleek black blazer dress was immaculate, but her cold, calculating expression had fractured into a mask of pure fury. Marcus stood just behind her, his hand resting inside his suit jacket where a holster was clearly concealed.
"You are making a catastrophic mistake, Victor," Serena said, her voice dropping into an icy register that cut right through the hum of the cooling fans. "That child belongs to the estate. Hand him over, and perhaps I won't have you both charged with kidnapping and corporate espionage."
"The only thing being exposed here, Serena, is your signature on the embezzlement ledger and the medical sedation orders," Victor replied without looking away from the terminal screen. He tapped the enter key with steady precision just as the progress bar hit one hundred percent.
A sharp chime echoed from the mainframe. The cryptographic flash drive automatically ejected, and the unedited security footage from the foyer—alongside the damning financial records—began broadcasting simultaneously to every independent news server, federal regulatory database, and public broadcast monitor linked to the Blackwood Foundation network across the country.
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Serena lunged forward, her hand reaching out to rip the drive from the port, but Marcus suddenly stepped into her path, his expression grim. "It's already uploaded, ma'am. The packet is locked and distributed. We can't pull it back."
Serena froze, her hand hovering in the empty air. The color drained completely from her face as the reality of her total defeat settled over the subterranean room. The public glamour was gone, replaced by the stark, undeniable truth echoing through the open servers.
