New beginning: Billionaire love story

Claire's eyes went wide as she listened to her secretary, Sandra, over the phone. "What?" she exclaimed, frowning in disbelief.

Sandra hesitated, then repeated, "The entire Metacortex system is down."

Claire huffed, running a hand through her hair. "I heard you the first time," she muttered, trying to make sense of it. "What do you mean the entire system is down?"

Matthew, who had been sitting quietly at his desk, immediately perked up at the mention of Metacortex. His brow furrowed, and he stood from his chair, moving closer to Claire's desk, clearly trying to catch what was happening.

Sandra's voice came through the speaker again, this time sounding a little more nervous. "It's like what happened a few months ago... you know, in the control room. Everything just went dark. IT has no control over it."

Claire cursed under her breath, rubbing her temples. "Great. Just great." She paused, eyes narrowing as she processed what Sandra was saying. This fell off, way too coincidental. She thought to herself this is exactly what happened to Cryptonic a few minutes ago. Claire let out a groan, pacing behind her desk. "Okay. I'll send someone there to handle it. Just... keep me updated if anything changes." She ended the call, pressing the screen with more force than necessary.

Matthew, now standing next to her, crossed his arms, concern etched on his face. "What do you mean the Metacortex system is down? What happened at Metacortex?"

Claire sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Exactly what you're hearing. Just like what happened a few minutes ago at Cryptonic, Metacortex is down too. It's insane. I don't get it."

Matthew's frown deepened, confusion written all over his face. "That's impossible. How could it happen to both places at the same time? It doesn't make sense. It's like... like someone's trying to kill two birds with one stone."

Claire dropped into her chair, one hand on her forehead and the other on her hip, looking as frustrated as ever. "Trust me, I know. It's a disaster. And I don't like the timing of this at all. It's too perfect. Almost like someone's targeting me." She sighed again. "I need you to head over to Metacortex, Matthew. I'll stay here and make sure nothing else goes wrong at Cryptonic."

Matthew nodded, already shifting into action mode. "Got it. I'll let you know what I find the moment I get there."

Claire raised an eyebrow at him. "ASAP, Matthew. I need to know exactly what's happening over there as soon as possible."

He gave her a mock salute, grinning slightly despite the seriousness of the situation. "Roger that."

Claire watched as Matthew grabbed his bag and headed out of her office, disappearing down the hallway. She could hear him muttering to himself as he made his way to the elevator, probably already coming up with a dozen different scenarios in his head.

Once he was gone, Claire headed back to her office sat back in her chair, and let out a long, exasperated sigh. She stared at her computer screen, feeling the pressure weigh down on her. Whoever was behind this had serious skills. They hadn't just hit one company- they'd managed to breach two. Two systems that she had personally designed to be nearly impenetrable.

But here they were. Both down. Both are vulnerable.

She couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in her gut. Whoever this was, they weren't just attacking random targets. This was personal. But why? What did they want from her? Were they trying to ruin her, or was it something more sinister?

Claire stood up abruptly and began pacing the room, trying to burn off the anxious energy bubbling up inside her. Matthew was probably still a good hour away from Metacortex, and the waiting was already driving her insane. She hated being out of the loop, hated not knowing what was going on.

"How the hell did someone manage to break into my system?" she muttered to herself as she paced. "It's supposed to be unhackable. I built it to be unhackable!" But clearly, someone had found a way. Her creation-her supposedly perfect, hack-free system-had a loophole, and someone had exploited it.

Claire wasn't sure if she should be furious or grudgingly impressed.

She stopped pacing for a moment, her mind racing as she replayed the events of the last few hours. Metacortex and Cryptonic, both targeted within minutes of each other. It had to be deliberate.

No one just hacks into Metacortex and Cryptonic out of boredom. Moreover, Cyrptonic is much more secretive than Metacortex and how that person managed to find out about Cryptonic makes her feel confused. Claire is deep in thought. It means the person who hacked into Cryptonic is also a member of Cryptonic on the website.

Her fingers twitched, itching to start piecing things together, but without more information, she was stuck waiting. Waiting for Matthew to get to Metacortex. Waiting for some kind of clue to fall into her lap.

Her phone buzzed on the desk, and for a split second, her heart leaped. She snatched it up, hoping for news from Matthew, but it was just an alert from the IT team. No new developments. Still locked out.

She groaned in frustration, tossing the phone back onto the desk and collapsing into her chair again. "Come on, come on..." she muttered, staring at the screen, willing to give her answers.

Minutes passed, each one feeling

longer than the last. Finally, she

couldn't take it anymore. She opened her laptop, fingers flying, across the keyboard as she pulled up every system log and access point she could think of. If there was even a hint of how they get in, she was going to find it.

For the next twenty minutes, Claire was lost in her own world, running scans, digging through layers of code, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She'd built this system

free ground up-if there was a

flaw, she was going to find it.

And then... there. A tiny blip, something so small she almost missed it. A line of code that didn't belong. Her eyes narrowed as she zoomed in on the details. "Gotcha," she whispered.

It wasn't much, but it was a start. Whoever had done this had left a fingerprint, and now that she had it, she could start tracing it back. It would take time, but at least now she had a lead.

Claire felt a strange mix of emotionsnoveldrama

bubbling up inside her. Part of her

was annoyed-angry that someone had the nerve to mess with her systems. But another part of her? A small stubborn part was almost... impressed. Whoever did this wasn't some random hacker. They were skilled. Talented. And if Claire was being honest, she couldn't help but respect that.

"Alright, mystery hacker," she muttered under her breath. "You've got my attention. Let's see what you've got."

Just then, her phone buzzed again. This time, it was Matthew.

"Claire," his voice crackled over the line. "I'm at Metacortex. You're not gonna believe this."

"What is it?" she asked, standing up again, her heart pounding in her chest.

"It's bad. Really bad. Whoever hit us... they left a message." His voice sounded grim.

Claire frowned. "A message again? What kind of message?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then Matthew's voice came through, lower this time.

"It just says...Game begins."