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.

software bypasses, recorded sections of their defenses-everything she could think of to make sure this didn't happen again. Eligos had struck out of nowhere,

making her jump slightly. She glanced at the screen. It

I've got a meeting out of town, so I can't do our

with everything that was going on. But... she did feel bad. Adrian was sweet, and

a follow-up message from Adrian,

this? Or... should I go and see Adrian? She sighed again, feeling guilty. Adrian wasn't the kind of guy to play games. She quickly texted back, "Yeah, I'm free. You can pick me up at the

smiling emoji with a heart. Claire couldn't help but chuckle as she saw it. It was cute, and it made her feel

she muttered

putting the

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 work at Metacortex any longer. Otherwise, the paperwork would start piling

again, and she glanced

minutes. Can't wait

call. She'd just

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

for a date.

he saw her waiting by her desk, looking a little tired

One sec." She typed something quickly on her keyboard and then grabbed her bag. "Okay, I'm

Adrian's arm rested comfortably

their