chapter533

Grace's words made Lucinda shrink back a little. She tried to explain, Grace, she didn't mean to hurt me."

Grace let out a sigh. "Alright, Lucinda. If you really want to fix things with Lydia, I won't get in the way. Let's just see how she treats you from now on."

Lucinda twisted her fingers nervously, feeling a sudden wave of doubt. What if her sister never forgave her?

Lydia gathered a few things, slung her bag over her shoulder, and hurried out the door. She nearly bumped into Blake, who was just coming home from work.

He noticed her tense expression right away. Lydia, did something happen?"

She forced a small smile. "It's nothing. I'm just going to check on Connor."

Blake hesitated, then asked, "How's his injury?"

"He's a lot better."

"Good. If you need anything, call me."

"I will."

But when Lydia got to Connor's villa, she found out he wasn't there.

Right away, she sensed something was wrong. She turned to the butler, her voice sharp. He's still recovering. Where did he go?"

The butler hesitated. Mr. Jefferson said it was business. We're just staff, so we don't ask too many questions."

Lydia's brow furrowed. How long ago did he leave?"

"About an hour."

Without another word, Lydia rushed back to her car and pulled out her phone to try and track Connor's location. But weirdly, she couldn't get a signal for him at all. It felt like someone had blocked it on purpose.

She sent him a quick message: [You need to get your bandages changed.]

Three minutes passed. No reply. Five minutes. Still nothing.

Lydia couldn't wait any longer. She got out of the car, went back upstairs, and grabbed her laptop. She got to work right away fingers fying over the keyboard. The system she was up against was seriously tough. She could tell it was set up by a top-tier hacker, maybe even someone in the top three.

But this was Lydia. Hacker L. A legend in the field. There was no system she couldn't crack, even if it took a little more effort.

The computer screen glowed in the dim room. Lydia sat still in her black chair, her hands moving fast, eyes glued to the streams of data rushing by, like she was staring down a wild animal about to break free.

The other side didn't give in. They fought back hard, but Lydia's attacks kept coming, wave after wave, pushing at every weak point in their defenses.

What she didn't realize was that she wasn't just up against one person. On the other end, it was a whole team.

Inside the national cybersecurity headquarters, alarms screamed from every firewall, the high-pitched sound cutting through the silence More than a hundred top experts. were at their desks fingers pounding keys, but the attacker just kept breaking through, tearing down their defenses one layer at a time.

The head of the division, Manuel, stood beside one of his best agents, speaking in a low voice. "Shadow, who is this?"

The man called Shadow wore a black cap and a mask, his fingers moving fast over

the keyboard, his eyes shining with a mix of nerves and excitement. "Whoever it is, they're huge."

Manuel's eyes narrowed. "Send a warning. Tell them to stop."

Shadow shook his head. "Already did. They don't care."

Someone this skilled wouldn't care who they were up against. Not even the national network would scare them. If anything, it just made things more interesting.

"Then what do they want?" Manuel asked, frustration clear in his voice.