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.

surprised look at Lemira, "You sorted this out on your

a piece

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

she'd spent a good chunk of time pinpointing the crux of the issue, which was why she could fix it in a snap this time around. Orion's tone was laced with casualty, "If it was such a simple fix, why couldn't your team handle it, instead of asking a high school grad to bail you

He hadn't expected Orion to be in the mix, looking every bit the

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

pegged Lemira as the solution to

is, dabbling in software development, you should've nurtured that talent. How did you end up burying such potential after just one

Hogan replied in a low voice, "Because later Ms. Sterling wanted in too, but frankly, she was out

reached for a glass of water, but accidentally choked on a gulp. He had never thought things would turn like that,

caught the words;

he launched into

outsider, you hamstrung your own flesh and blood, a truly gifted sister. Try

His voice was hoarse, "I-I didn't think it