New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 371 Precaution

Adrian leaned against Sandra's desk, flashing his signature charming smile. "Hey, Sandra," he greeted smoothly, his tone casual. "Claire's out for a business meeting, right?"

Sandra looked up, slightly surprised, and then gave him a polite smile as she tapped her keyboard. "Let me check." She clicked through Claire's schedule for the day, her eyes narrowing in concentration. After a few moments, she looked back up. "Actually, Claire doesn't have any business meetings today." Adrian's smile faltered, but only for a split second. "Oh, she doesn't?"

"Nope," Sandra confirmed, swiveling her chair back to face him. "Nothing on the calendar."

"Well, thanks for checking," Adrian said smoothly, regaining his composure. He gave Sandra a wink and headed toward the elevators, but his mind was already spinning. If Claire wasn't in a meeting, then where was she? And more importantly, why had she lied to him about it?

As he stepped into the elevator, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of confusion mixed with concern. Claire wasn't the type to lie, not to him at least. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, thinking it over as the elevator began its slow descent. Why would she lie? What was she hiding?

On the other side of town, Eligos was reclining in his office chair, watching multiple screens flash data across them.

A smug grin spread across his face as he leaned back, puffing on a tobacco pipe he had lazily hanging from his mouth. Cryptonic had been caught completely off guard earlier, thanks to him. It had been glorious, really-a sudden, well-executed attack that left them scrambling. Then Metacortex followed, and Eligos found himself practically giddy with the success of his day.

"If only I could see Claire's face right now," he mused out loud, blowing a puff of smoke toward the ceiling. "That would really be the icing on the cake."

His eyes remained fixed on his monitors, keeping an eye on Claire's digital footprint. She was likely scrambling now, trying to patch up the holes he'd made. But he wasn't worried. He had spent years perfecting his hacking techniques, including a secret software that allowed him to slip past Cryptonic's defenses without even leaving a trace for her to follow. Eligos smirked, still feeling the thrill of outsmarting her.

"Well, well, Claire," he murmured, tapping ash from his pipe. "What game should I play with you next?" He chuckled, amused at the thought of keeping her on her toes. He had the upper hand now, and he wasn't going to let it go so easily.

Meanwhile, back at Metacortex, Claire was anything but amused. Her office was a mess of coffee cups, scattered notes, and her two monitors glowing in the dim light as she worked furiously, trying to secure the systems. After the internal attacks on both Metacortex and Cryptonic, she hadn't slept in over 24 hours.

of to make sure this didn't happen again. Eligos had struck

her jump slightly. She glanced at the screen. It was a text

of town, so I can't do our date this weekend. How about we do

back in her chair. She really didn't want to leave her desk right now, not with everything that was going on. But... she did feel bad. Adrian was sweet, and she had already lied to him earlier about her schedule. He trusted her, and she didn't want to take that for

This time a follow-up message from

go and see Adrian? She sighed again, feeling guilty.

time, Adrian sent a smiling emoji with a heart. Claire couldn't help but chuckle as she saw it. It was

Claire," she

the phone down

at Cryptonic dealing with the fallout there, just as she had requested. She wanted to be at Cryptonic herself, handling things in person, but she couldn't afford to delay her own

buzzed again, and she glanced at

there in 20 minutes. Can't

the right call. She'd just have to make sure

his phone for the hundredth time, half expecting another cancellation or excuse. But there was nothing-just the text from Claire telling him to come pick her up. He smiled to himself as he climbed out of the car, his heart racing a little. It had been a long time since

for a date.

elevator up to Claire's floor. As the doors opened, he saw her waiting by her desk, looking a little tired but still as

small, tired smile. "Yeah, just finishing up. One sec." She typed

Adrian's arm rested comfortably

made their way down to the lobby,