After Hours Penetration

Chapter 5

Rhys slips of Vosstech after he was done for the day. his Calder facade shed like a second skin. The drive to Le Marais is swift. The morning traffic parting for the tinted Mercedes that whispers of power unadvertised.

R Cooperation's headquarters hides in plain sight. It's a restored Haussmann building, facade unassuming but inside, the nerve center of Europe's largest business pulses, it ranges from tech, logistics and finance. It tentacles reaching from Silicon Valley proxies to Shanghai shells.

Rhys built it from the ashes after his mother's death. He worked day and night to put each brick together while Julian climbed his already prepared ladder.

Four years of rejections. each time Vosstech bid for partnership with R cooperation. That dream of Julian is crushed under Rhys's stamp, making Julian lose millions in missed synergies and stalled expansions.

Julian's failures, chalked up to market bad luck or whatever but he never suspected the half-brother he abandoned, was the one pulling strings from the dark.

His personal elevator opens directly to the penthouse boardroom. The walls of smoked glass overlooking the labyrinthine streets below. The air smells of fresh espresso and polished walnut.

Elliot, his secretary which was a lean man in his late twenties, wearing wire-rimmed glasses and the unflappable calm of someone who's seen empires rise, greets him with a tablet in hand. "Morning, Mr. Voss. The Asia logistics review is queued for 8:30. Coffee's ready."

Rhys nods, shedding his coat as he takes his seat at the head of the obsidian table. "Any information from the usual suspects?"

Elliot taps the screen, pulling up a flagged contract. His voice is precise and neutral. "Vosstech submitted another partnership proposal overnight. It's about a joint venture on the Hanoi supply pivot. According to last year reports, they handle Asia ops while we provide the European distribution backbone. Projected to stabilize their Q3 losses by 15%, if signed."

Rhys's lips curve in a cold arc, the name Voss igniting the familiar burn. Julian had always been persistent, chasing everything he ever wanted and even trying to curry favor with the ghost of R Cooperation. Four years of this dance, four years of his bids being rejected on technicalities, business proposals, joint contract and so much more but all that always ends up in dust because of Rhys and Julian doesn't know the puppet master wears the face of his lowly analyst Calder. He doesn't see the half-brother whose mother's death, he greatly contributed to.

"Reject it," Rhys says, voice like tempered steel. He extends his hand and Elliot passes the digital stamp. It was a sleek fob that imprints the irrevocable "DECLINED" across proposals.

Rhys presses it to the tablet, the seal blooming red on the screen."let it hit their desk by noon", Rhys orders.

Elliot nods, archiving the file with a swipe. "Noted. That makes it five in a row for them. Their margins are thinning but this one's projected to sting, especially with the audit rumors filtering in."

"Good," Rhys replies, leaning back as the boardroom doors open to admit the Asia team. The meeting unfolds then starts with discussions about projections dissected, empires expanded.

Back across the city, Vosstech's 47th floor crackles with midday tension. Julian's office is a storm cloud with papers strewn like wreckage, his pacing carving furrows in the Persian rug. The rejection email pings into his inbox at 11:50, flagged urgent from R Cooperation's legal arm.

*Proposal JV-Hanoi-2023 Declined. Reasons: Risk misalignment in regulatory compliance (Asia ops). Strategic priorities diverge. No appeal process. Voss Global Ltd. advised to seek alternative partners.*

Julian's fist slams the desk causing the crystal decanter to rattle. "Son of a—" He yanks the phone from its cradle, dialing Eleanor's extension with venom. "Eleanor! Get in here. Now."

She arrives under two minutes, tablet in hand, her expression schooled to neutrality despite the fresh shadows under her eyes. The office door slams behind her.

"R Cooperation—again," he snarls, shoving the printout across the desk. Ink still warm, the red DECLINED stamp mocking from the header. "Four years they have strung us along, and now this? On the Hanoi pivot, of all things? What the hell is in those audits that's scaring them off?"

Eleanor's gaze flicks to the page, her lips thinning. She has seen the data lags, the buried scans surfacing in fragments and Caler's warnings echoing in her mind.

"Julian, the environmental flags are severe. If R's intel picks up the non-compliance... they are of gold standard. They don't touch anything that smells of fines."

He rounds the desk,his face flushed and veins standing at his temples like cracks in porcelain. "Gold standard? They are bleeding us dry! This rejection tanks Q3 that's another 20 million in projected losses." His voice rises, echoing off the glass walls. a man unaccustomed to doors slamming in his face. The silver at his temples catches the light, aging him in real time. "Call their liaison. Demand a review. I want the names of people in charge and who's blocking this?"

She hesitates, hazel eyes steady but laced with caution. "It's automated, Julian. There are no names. And pushing this further,well... it could blacklist us permanently."

"Blacklist?" He laughs, bitter and sharp. He collapses into his chair, his fingers raking through his hair and the mask of control fracturing. "Everything's fracturing. Tokyo's screwing us, Hanoi's already has lawsuit waiting, and now this. Find Calder and tell him to dig deeper on those audits. If there's a leak, heads will roll."

Eleanor nods, retreating as the storm brews. The door clicks shut, leaving Julian alone with the rejection, his fists clenched on the desk. Losses, again but the unseen hands has already started stripping his empire layer by layer.

Calder once again returns to the 47th floor, slipping into his office unnoticed. The rejection's ripples will hit soon with emails being sent and meetings scrambling. He leaves a coffee outside Eleanor's door with dash of milk,before settling at his desk.

The notebook opens.

Under the previous entry:

*Day 4: Met my team and stamped Voss rejection .

Julian's losses 20M more. And He is angry, How perfect.