New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 378 A Trap?

Claire leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples in frustration. They'd been at this for hours, staring at the grainy footage from the explosion.

"This is going nowhere," she muttered. Then, an idea hit her. She turned to Matthew, who was tapping away at his laptop. "Can you try to find some surveillance cameras from the road the car drove through? Maybe we'll have better luck."

Matthew nodded. "On it," he already pulled up maps and checked for any cameras that could've caught the car in question. Claire, meanwhile, squinted at the footage again, desperately trying to make out a license plate or any useful detail. But the cameras were ancient, barely functioning. The picture was so blurry it looked like something out of an old spy movie.

"Nope," she sighed, shaking her head. "Can't make out anything on this footage. Who the heck still used this kind of camera in this era?"

"It's probably the local camera that no one notices that it's still working. How come the restaurant you went there doesn't have a surveillance camera?"

Claire sighed. "Adrian booked the whole place don't ask me why, he just did. So basically, our dinner was really private with no one in sight."

Matthew glanced up from his screen. "Well, I'm not having any luck either. There's nothing on the road-either no cameras or they're facing the wrong direction."

They'd been at this for hours, and still nothing. Claire threw her hands up, exasperated. "Great. We're going in circles, It's like the universe doesn't want us to find this car."

Matthew chuckled. "You'll get there, Claire. You always do."

She scoffed, rolling her eyes as she reached for her mug of tea. "Yeah, well, it better happen soon because I'm running on fumes over here."

Just as she took a sip, her laptop chimed with a notification. Claire blinked at the screen, furrowing her brows. "Huh..."

Matthew perked up, noticing the change in her expression. "What's up?"

Claire stared at the message in disbelief. "I got an email."

Matthew raised his brows, finally glancing her way. "From whom? Anything important?"

I

his forehead. "What do you

"No, it's weirder than that. It says, 'Claire Peterson, you managed to change your firewall within 24 hours, and because of that, I wasn't able to penetrate the system. So, I'm sending you this email." Matthew's eyes

a mix of irritation and confusion. "The message goes on: 'That's why I presented you

show? What does

says." Claire looked up from the screen, her expression confused. "And there's an

intrigued. "What kind of

of the exact car they had been looking for-the same one from the footage. But this time, the license plate was crystal clear. She turned to Matthew,

dropped as he stared at the screen. "What the hell? Why would

one who's been trying to break into Metacortex

makes no

through all the trouble of hacking me and then just... hand over this information? Something doesn't add up." She stared at the email, feeling like there was some kind of game being played, but

after a moment of silence. "It

a trap? This could be a setup to throw us off or worse." Matthew shrugged, a small smile playing on

the risks. Then, with a sigh, she nodded. "Fine. Let's

to her surprise, it didn't take long to find a location associated with the car. "Found it." Matthew raised an eyebrow, looking impressed. "That

"I'm good at what I

our mystery hacker is playing fair for

convinced. "Yeah, or maybe they're setting us up

a playful shrug. "I'm down for it.

they were driving down a desolate road, the GPS telling them they were close

she said, glancing around. "But this place looks...

"Yeah, I noticed that

feeling a bit irritated. "I knew it. We're being toyed with. Whoever sent that email probably knew we'd come all the

"We've been driving in circles, Matthew. This