When They Beg, I Rise!

The meeting room was expressly quiet.

It wasn't just Lemira who was shell-shocked; Orion hadn't expected to see her there either.

Thaddeus cleared his throat purposely, "Well, isn't this a full house? Heard there was a snag with the firewall, so I thought I'd pop in to check."

His initial plan was to stir up some trouble, but he hadn't banked on Lemira being the one to crack the code. That put a wrench in his plans.

The manager stood up, offering a respectful reply, "Indeed, just a moment ago, Ms. Langston here ran some tests on the software. Everything's ticking along nicely now. Anything else you reckon needs looking at?" Thaddeus, feigning interest, grabbed the report and flipped through it without really seeing anything.

After all, the firewall fiasco was nothing but a fabricated flaw, a strategic move to put the Langston Group in the hot seat.

After a cursory glance, Thaddeus turned to Orion, "What's your take on this?"

It all hinged on Orion's verdict now.

report and shot a surprised look at Lemira, "You sorted this

"Yeah, it's a piece of

So, all those late nights they'd been griping about were

a snap this time around. Orion's tone was laced with casualty,

be in the mix, looking every bit the

wasn't warm, "Because Lemmy was part of the original project team. She was in

never pegged Lemira as the solution to

nurtured that talent. How did you end up burying such potential after just one project?" Lucian was stumped. Right, why had he overlooked

voice, "Because later Ms. Sterling wanted in too, but frankly, she was out of her depth, just slowing things down. You

it. To cover his awkwardness, he reached for a glass of water, but accidentally choked on a gulp. He had never

caught the

moment, he launched into

you hamstrung your own flesh and blood,

His voice was