All Chapters of Restart My Life: The CEO's Second Chance: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Leah's POV: Sabotage in MotionLeah tiptoed into the computer lab. The place was shadowed and still. Desktops lined the walls, unlit monitors and the electric buzz of the machines kept the silence in check. She listened for a moment, ensuring that no one was around. Satisfied that she was alone, she strode to the desk that Shylie always worked at. Her fingers danced lightly across the keyboard. She was practically typing a song. She knew this program nearly as well as Shylie did by now. All those hours spent watching, listening, and reading had given her what she needed. "Excellent," Leah muttered to herself, as she pulled a floppy disk from her backpack. Inserting it into the drive, she got to work. Code appeared on the screen. Text that made no sense to anyone. To Leah, it was the key to opening any door. She coded a few glitches, broke some formulas that had once been perfect, altere

(Shylie's POV)The TANiX Labs building was nondescript from the outside. Gray walls, steel doors, and windows that only mirrored the overcast sky. Bored pigeons strutted in the alley. Walk by, and you'd never guess what was on the other side.But when she entered the TANiX Labs, Shylie felt her heart seize. There was so much energy here. Noise. Purpose. All around her. Giant servers whirred from the clustered alcoves. Dry erase markers squeaked over the crowded whiteboards. The hiss and clatter of keystrokes filled the open space, metal struck hard and fast against the black plastic. Ideas lingered in the stagnant air, magnetized to the walls in half-drawn schematics, magnetized to the boards in frantic scrawl, flickering over the chunky monitors in live code.Students dotted the open floor. They were of all ages. Some already looked like they'd failed a thousand times before. They de

(Elias's POV)Silence was the best source of information. Elias had learned that early in his career, early in his life. He had proven himself on it and made a name for himself on the strength of it. The quiet was easy to fill if he didn't watch. Let people talk. He needed to stop that, now. He pulled his chair back and angled it so he could sit in the corner, arms loose at his sides, and still see everything that was going on.Shylie Reed, on the other hand, paid no attention to her surroundings. Sat at one of the massive oak desks that every campus lab seemed to have at least one of, a blocky monitor sat in front of her. The green text on the black screen blinked with an even rhythm, and she leaned toward it, brow furrowed, as her fingers tapped with an evener rhythm. Every once in a while she would pause, not out of uncertainty, but as if she were rewinding a sequence in her head before pushing the next s

(Elias's POV)The second mentorship session was understated to say the least. There were no slides, no projection screen illuminating the wall, no slick handouts to shuffle around the table. Just the glass-walled observation room, stark and bare, the air heavy with silence before anyone even spoke.Elias was across from Shylie. She had her hands folded neatly on the table, chin slightly up, face placid in a way that would have been unusual for her age if Elias did not already know her. He could see she was waiting for him to get on with it, and he did not disappoint."Today's test is not quantitative," Elias began. His voice carried in the quiet, despite the low volume he used. "It is not technical. It is moral."Shylie raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Her expression was the same as before, though Elias could see she understood what he meant. She had been expecting something of the sort

(Elias's POV)Elias was sitting behind his desk with the blinds closed except for a vertical sliver of light slicing across the room. He was sitting back in his chair, listening to the ambient noise of the building and staring out of the blinds. His office was quiet. Too quiet, in fact. It was the sort of silence that dredged up memories he usually managed to lock away.He'd spent the better part of a decade trying not to think about it, but it had a way of creeping back.The door opened without a knock. Frank was there, leaning over the desk as he had the first time Elias had ever seen him. He was older now, but he'd never left the service the way Elias had. An old friend.Frank dropped into the chair facing Elias's desk and leaned in, the same nervous energy he'd always had since their first tour together."You look like shit," Frank said, and it was the same blunt and sarcastic friendli