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.

the report and shot a surprised look at Lemira, "You sorted this out on your

"Yeah, it's a piece

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

issue wasn't rocket science; it was more of a mental block. In her past life, 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

face fell on spot. He hadn't expected Orion to be in the mix, looking every

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

he'd never pegged Lemira as the solution to their

huh? Young as she is, dabbling in software development, you should've nurtured that talent. How did you end up

voice, "Because later Ms. Sterling wanted in too, but frankly, she was out of

glass of water, but accidentally choked

caught the words;

he

clueless outsider, you hamstrung your own flesh and blood,

grip on his glass faltered. His voice was hoarse, "I-I didn't