Chapter 3

I lifted my head. After two days without food, my lips were cracked, and my vision kept fading in and out.

Joseph tossed a document in front of me. "Sign this."

Across the top were the words "Patent Assignment Agreement Without Compensation." There was a signature line for Noah in the bottom-right corner.

"Talk Noah into signing it, and I'll have you moved to a private room. You don't want these lunatics staring at you every day, do you?"

I looked at the agreement and scoffed. "Joseph, do you really think you've won?"

He crouched in front of me and grabbed my chin. "Why wouldn't I? Lillian, you still don't get it, do you? Those hacking skills you're so proud of are useless in here. Noah's life is in my hands too. You don't have a choice. Give in."

I met his gaze. "Is that so? Have you checked the company's financials lately?"

Joseph's gaze faltered. "What are you talking about?"

I gave a faint smile. "Nothing. Just a warning. You might want to watch your back."

He let go of my chin with a sharp shove. "Enough with the mind games. I'm running out of patience. Rebecca and I are getting married tomorrow. If you still won't sign, I'll make sure Noah never picks up a paintbrush again."

He stood and straightened his suit. "Put her in isolation. No food or water unless I say otherwise."

Two attendants dragged me into the isolation room at the end of the hall.

The metal door slammed shut, plunging me into complete darkness. I couldn't see or hear a thing, and the silence felt suffocating.

It was the most brutal place in the psychiatric hospital. Three days in there was enough to break an ordinary person.

But I wasn't ordinary.

I closed my eyes in the dark.

For three years, I'd fended off countless cyberattacks for Joseph and strengthened Stout Group's entire security system.

He thought the cybersecurity team he paid a fortune for had done all the work. He had no idea I was the one who'd spent night after night writing the code.

I knew the system inside out, so I knew exactly how to bring it down. And this time, I'd make sure nothing was left.

Lines of code ran through my mind. This was my gift to Joseph, three years in the making.

The Trojan had been lurking deep inside Stout Group's systems for a long time. Now it was spreading through the network like cancer, eating through every data node.

The door to the isolation room suddenly swung open, flooding the darkness with harsh light. I squeezed my eyes shut on instinct.

"Bring her out."

The attendants hauled me into the hallway, where Rebecca stood holding a cheap bridesmaid dress.

"My wedding is tomorrow. Joseph decided to let you attend so everyone can see just how generous the Caldwells are."

She threw the dress in my face. "Put it on. Tomorrow, you're going to stand there and watch me become Mrs. Stout."

I didn't take it, and the dress dropped to the floor.

Rebecca scoffed. "What, you don't want to? You don't get a choice."

She shot the attendants a look. "Put it on her. Drag her to the wedding tomorrow. I want everyone there to see her humiliated."

The attendants picked up the dress and forced it onto me.

I didn't fight them.

Being dragged to the wedding was exactly what I wanted. I'd been disappointed that I wouldn't get to watch Joseph go bankrupt in person, and now the perfect opportunity had landed right in my lap.

I looked at Rebecca. "Tomorrow's wedding is going to be one you'll never forget."

She lifted her chin smugly. "Of course it will. Tomorrow, I'll be the happiest woman in the city. And you? You'll be at my feet, right where you belong."

The next day, the wedding was held at the city's largest five-star hotel. The ballroom was packed with elegantly dressed guests mingling over drinks.

Two burly bodyguards flanked me in a corner of the ballroom. In the cheap bridesmaid dress, I stuck out like a sore thumb.