CHAPTER 11: PROJECT HADES

CORA'S POV

"Rejected."

I clicked the button without a second thought.

The request vanished from my screen.

Across the conference room, David nearly choked on his coffee.

"You rejected him again?"

I didn't bother looking up.

"Yes."

David stared at me and smirked.

"Cora, that's the seventeenth request this year."

"Seventeenth this year," I corrected. "One hundred and thirty-two overall."

His eyes widened.

"You counted?"

"I count everything."

David groaned dramatically and dropped into the chair opposite me.

"That's terrifying."

I smiled.

"That's what Diamond says."

The conference room buzzed around us.

Analysts studied data streams.

Programmers argued over lines of code.

Financial experts monitored global markets.

Several giant screens displayed stock prices, cyber threat alerts, and project updates from companies spread across four continents.

Seven years ago, I had arrived at Horizon Pack with a single suitcase and a shattered heart.

Now I own half the building.

Life was strange.

A notification suddenly appeared.

NEW REQUEST RECEIVED

David immediately pointed at the screen.

"No."

I laughed.

"Yes."

His shoulders slumped.

"Daniel again?"

"Daniel again."

"That man needs a hobby."

I opened the request.

Unlike the previous ones, this wasn't a formal proposal.

It was a video message.

Interesting.

David noticed my expression.

"What is it?"

"He changed tactics."

"Meaning?"

"He's very desperate."

I clicked play.

The video began.

Daniel appeared on the screen.

For a moment, I barely recognized him.

Age hadn't been kind.

The confident Alpha who once ruled Ash Moon Pack like the world belonged to him looked exhausted.

There were lines around his eyes.

Stress etched into his face.

His shoulders seemed heavier somehow.

Like life had finally started collecting debts.

I waited for satisfaction but then I felt nothing.

The video ended.

David leaned forward.

"Well?"

I shrugged.

"He looks terrible."

David grinned.

"Well deserved."

I laughed.

"You really don't like him."

"He made you cry."

"Fair."

"Repeatedly."

"Still fair."

David pointed triumphantly.

"Exactly."

A moment later, the conference room doors opened.

Diamond entered carrying a tablet.

His silver eyes immediately landed on my screen.

"Daniel again?"

I blinked.

"How do you keep knowing these things?"

"Because this building belongs to me too."

David snorted.

"Control freak."

"Professional oversight."

"Control freak."

Diamond ignored him and sat beside me.

"Any different from the others?"

"A video."

His eyebrow lifted.

"Interesting."

"That's what I said."

Diamond glanced at the screen.

"Still refusing him?"

"Obviously."

"Thumbs up."

I rolled my eyes.

"You two are petty."

"We know."

They answered together.

I laughed despite myself.

Some things never changed.

Then every screen in the conference room flashed red.

The atmosphere instantly shifted.

My smile disappeared.

So did David's.

Diamond straightened.

"What happened?"

I opened the alert.

A massive financial transfer report filled the screen.

Thousands of transactions.

Hundreds of shell companies.

Offshore accounts.

Corporate entities.

The sheer volume made my stomach tighten.

"That's strange."

David moved closer.

"What?"

I enlarged the data.

My pulse quickened.

A familiar name appeared.

PROJECT HADES

The room fell silent.

For years, we'd chased that name.

For years, every lead ended in a dead end.

Every trail vanished.

Every witness disappeared.

Project Hades was a ghost.

Yet somehow, it always resurfaced around the people hunting me.

Diamond's expression darkened.

"What did you find?"

I began sorting the transactions.

Lines connected across the screen.

Patterns emerged.

The deeper I dug, the worse it became.

Corporate transfers.

Security contracts.

Hidden payments.

Bribes.

Money laundering.

Millions.

Then billions.

All connected to one company.

Ash Moon Security.

Daniel's company.

David swore.

"No way."

I kept reading.

The evidence looked overwhelming.

Too overwhelming.

Which was exactly what bothered me.

Something felt wrong.

I zoomed in.

Then again.

My eyes narrowed.

The dates didn't match.

The payment schedules didn't match.

The transaction routes didn't match.

It looked convincing on the surface.

But underneath?

It was sloppy.

Deliberately sloppy.

As though someone wanted investigators to find it.

Someone wanted Daniel blamed.

I leaned back slowly.

"He's being framed."

David frowned.

"Cora."

"I know what it looks like."

Diamond remained silent.

I pointed toward the screen.

"Daniel is guilty."

David blinked.

"What?"

"I said he's guilty."

The room remained silent.

"We already proved he laundered money."

I clicked another file.

"And we uncovered evidence linking his company to trafficking operations."

Another file appeared.

"He's absolutely a criminal."

David folded his arms.

"Then how is he being framed?"

"Because this isn't his work."

I highlighted several transactions.

"Look at these."

Diamond leaned closer.

I continued.

"Daniel hides his crimes."

My fingers moved across the keyboard.

"These don't hide anything."

The room grew quiet.

"Whoever created these records wanted them discovered."

David's expression changed.

Understanding dawned.

"Someone built a trail."

"Exactly."

I opened another file.

"And they wanted that trail leading directly to Daniel."

Diamond nodded slowly.

"Which means somebody is using him without his knowledge."

"Yes."

The realization settled heavily in my chest.

Daniel wasn't innocent but someone bigger was moving pieces behind the scenes.

My fingers resumed moving.

"If I'm right, then whoever created this also manipulated the attack records."

Data flooded the screen.

Thousands of files.

Millions of lines.

Patterns hidden inside patterns.

Then suddenly, I froze.

My blood ran cold.

"No."

Diamond immediately noticed.

"What?"

I pointed toward the monitor.

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Then David whispered,

"Holy hell."

A familiar sequence sat buried deep within the code.

A signature.

A digital fingerprint.

One I'd spent years searching for.

One I'd never been able to trace.

One that always disappeared before I could catch it.

I zoomed in.

My heartbeat accelerated.

It was definitely there.

The same pattern.

The same structure.

The same invisible mark.

After nine years.

It had returned.

Diamond's face became unreadable.

"Are you sure?"

I swallowed.

"Yes."

David looked stunned.

"But that's impossible."

"I know."

The signature belonged to a ghost.

Someone who should have been dead.

Someone who vanished nearly a decade ago.

Someone connected to Project Hades.

Someone connected to the night my life changed forever.

Memories flashed through my mind.

A computer screen.

Encrypted systems.

A desperate escape.

A stranger trapped behind digital walls.

Diamond.

I pushed the memories aside.

This wasn't the time.

My focus returned to the screen.

If this signature was active again then everything's changed.

The attacks.

Project Hades.

Daniel.

Even the people hunting me.

Nothing made sense anymore.

A soft chime interrupted my thoughts.

Then another.

A new message appeared.

My stomach dropped.

The sender was unknown.

The room fell silent.

I opened it.

Five words appeared on the screen.

WE KNOW YOU FOUND IT.

Nobody spoke.

A second message arrived immediately afterward.

THIS TIME YOU LOSE.

Ice flooded my veins.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop.

David's face hardened.

Diamond stepped closer.

His expression had become deadly calm.

The kind of calm that appeared right before violence.

I stared at the words.

For years, our enemy had hidden in the shadows but suddenly they were intentionally issuing a challenge.