New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 368 2 Birds 1 Stone

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."

grinning slightly despite the seriousness

hallway. She could hear him muttering to himself as he made his

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.

were. Both down.

shake the uneasy feeling in her gut. Whoever this was, they weren't just attacking random targets. This was personal. But why?

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

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

wasn't sure if she should

of the last few hours. Metacortex and Cryptonic,

and how that person managed to find out about Cryptonic makes her feel confused. Claire is deep in thought. It means the person who

waiting. Waiting for

desk, and for a split second, her heart leaped. She snatched it up, hoping for news from Matthew,

into her chair again. "Come on, come on..." she muttered, staring

each one

the

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

minutes, Claire was lost in her own world, running scans, digging through layers of code, looking for anything out

up-if

was going to find

of code that didn't

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