Chapter 10

The morning sun poured through the windows of my guest room at the estate.

I woke up feeling different. The deep, crushing grief that usually gripped my chest every morning was fading into a quiet, steady determination. I survived the gala. I looked Julian in the eyes, and I did not break.

I got out of bed and walked to the closet. I pushed past the soft pastel dresses that reminded me of my old life. I chose a sharp, tailored navy blue suit and a crisp white shirt. I tied my long dark hair back into a sleek, tight ponytail.

When I arrived at the Obsidian headquarters, the development floor was already buzzing with energy.

I walked into the main boardroom and set my laptop on the table. Maya was sitting at her security terminal. Her red hair was tied back in a messy bun. She did not smile when I walked in.

"Good morning," I said.

Maya looked up from her glowing screens. She handed me a cup of black coffee without saying a word. I took it, surprised by the small gesture.

"Do not think you won a prize," Maya said in a crisp tone. She tapped her keyboard. "I reviewed your little load test from yesterday. You found a maintenance crack in my firewall. Congratulations. I patched it at three in the morning. You will not get through that door again."

"I know," I replied calmly. "You are very good at your job, Maya."

Maya narrowed her eyes, searching my face for sarcasm. When she found none, she gave a stiff nod and turned back to her monitors. She was still guarded. She still double-checked every line of code I submitted. She did not trust me yet, and I respected her for it. She was protecting her Alpha's empire.

Carter hurried into the room, holding a digital tablet.

"Julian’s engineers are running in circles," Carter announced, pushing his glasses up his nose. "My external trackers show they tried another two hundred password combinations on the locked server last night. They are totally blind."

"They will not crack it," I promised, opening my laptop. "Julian never learned the dynamic root code. Let them panic. We need to focus on our own architecture."

I spent the next six hours buried in complex data structures.

I built new pathways for the Obsidian software, writing code that was faster and sharper than anything Vanguard possessed. I worked with ruthless efficiency.

But as I typed the final sequence for a destructive digital worm, a program designed to slowly drain Vanguard’s processing power on launch day—my fingers hovered over the keyboard.

I stared at the glowing green text on the black screen.

A sudden, cold thought crept into my mind. I was building a weapon. I was creating a system specifically designed to destroy a company I helped build. Julian was a cruel liar, and he deserved to fall. But as I wrote this vicious code, I wondered if I was changing.

Was I becoming like him?

Julian used people to gain power. Now, I was using code to destroy him. Was I losing my own kindness in the process? I felt a brief wave of nervousness wash over my chest. I did not want to become a cold, heartless person. I just wanted justice.

"Are you stuck?" Dominic’s deep voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I jumped slightly. I had not heard him walk into the boardroom. He stood behind my chair, wearing a dark gray suit. His icy blue eyes looked down at my screen.

"No," I said softly, clearing my throat. "I am not stuck. Just... thinking."

Dominic looked at my face. He was incredibly observant. He saw the slight hesitation in my eyes.

"You are hesitating," Dominic stated quietly, so Carter and Maya could not hear. "You are wondering if this makes you the bad guy."

I looked up at him in surprise. "How did you know?"

"Because you are a good person, Sienna," Dominic said. His voice was low and steady. "Julian took advantage of your kindness. But defending yourself does not make you a villain. It makes you a survivor. Write the code."

His words grounded me. The cold nervousness faded away. He was right. Julian threw me into the rain and stole my life’s work. I was not being cruel; I was taking back what belonged to me.

"Thank you," I whispered.

I pressed the enter key, locking the destructive worm into the final launch sequence.

"The architecture is stable," I told the room loudly. "Maya, run a full security sweep on the new data packets."

"Running it now," Maya replied. Her tone was still strictly professional, but there was a hint of real focus in her voice. We were working together.

The clock was ticking. The global launch was only a few days away, and the war was just beginning.