CHAPTER 15
1340 Words
Chapter 15: “Storm Before the Gala”
A restless wind swept through the city as if the skyline itself sensed the turmoil beneath its glittering surface. Storm clouds pressed low and heavy over the Blackwell Tower the following morning, threatening a downpour that mirrored the mood inside the company’s executive floors.
The gala was just four days away.
And everything was falling apart.
---
Liam strode into the glass-walled conference room, greeted by a dozen stern-faced investors. Their polished shoes tapped impatiently beneath the sleek black table while the rain lashed against the windows behind them.
“Mr. Blackwell,” said Margaret Finn, the lead investor, adjusting her rimless glasses. “We’ve seen the headlines. The leak has compromised the launch of Starfire. If the press preview was a disaster, what assurance do we have that the gala won’t be worse?”
Liam rested his palms on the cool tabletop, leaning forward just enough to assert control without appearing defensive.
“You have my word that Starfire will debut at the gala — live, flawless, and unforgettable.”
Another investor scoffed. “You’re promising too much when the public already thinks your tech is compromised. Should we delay the launch and salvage what we can?”
“No,” Liam said firmly, his voice like steel. “Delaying would signal weakness. Whoever is sabotaging us wants exactly that. We move forward — stronger than before.”
His unwavering tone silenced the murmurs, but Margaret’s sharp gaze lingered on him, assessing.
“You have four days to prove that your word still holds weight, Mr. Blackwell. Four days.”
---
Ava, waiting just outside, caught fragments of the heated exchange through the half-open door. She’d been summoned to present updates on the security overhaul but hesitated as the conversation turned hostile.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket — another text from Ethan:
> Found something in the corrupted code. Sending it now. Check your email.
Her pulse quickened. She slipped away from the door and ducked into a quiet lounge nearby, opening her laptop. A compressed folder sat in her inbox, labeled: “Keyline_ResidualData.”
She clicked it open. Lines of garbled symbols flooded the screen, but embedded within the chaos was a recognizable tag — a hidden subroutine in the code Ethan had isolated.
Ava frowned. “That’s… not part of Starfire’s framework,” she whispered to herself.
The rogue tag bore a signature string she hadn’t seen since her first months at Blackwell Corp — a pattern from an obsolete prototype system that had been discontinued years ago. Few people even knew it had existed.
Her stomach turned cold. Whoever was hacking them wasn’t just an outsider.
It was someone who had once been inside.
---
Liam emerged from the conference room minutes later, his face taut but composed. The investors had dispersed, leaving behind only the echo of their doubts. He found Ava waiting near the glass railing overlooking the lobby below.
“You were listening,” he said dryly, catching the flicker of guilt in her eyes.
“I didn’t mean to,” she admitted. “But I need to show you something.” She turned her laptop to him, pointing at the highlighted string of code. “Ethan traced this to an old prototype we scrapped before the Zenith project. Only senior engineers from that era would have known how to plant it.”
Liam’s brow furrowed as he scanned the data. “Which means this is an inside job.”
“And probably someone who still has a foothold in the company,” she added. “The leak yesterday wasn’t just about the photos — it was a staged distraction. They’ve been inside our system for weeks.”
A heavy silence settled between them, broken only by the distant rumble of thunder outside.
---
Later that afternoon, Ava headed to the design lab to meet Ethan in person. The room was dimly lit, the glow from the holographic schematics of Starfire dancing across the walls.
Ethan looked up from his workstation. “You saw the tag?”
“Yes. We need a list of everyone who had access to that old prototype.”
He hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck. “There’s a problem. I ran the names. Most of them left the company years ago… except one.”
Ava’s stomach twisted. “Who?”
Before Ethan could answer, the lab door creaked open. Samantha stepped in, arms crossed, her sharp heels tapping against the tiled floor.
“What’s going on here?” she asked, her tone suspicious but laced with curiosity.
Ava straightened. “We’re reviewing the code breach.”
“Funny,” Samantha said coolly. “I thought you were supposed to be preparing for the gala fittings. Don’t tell me you’re chasing ghosts now.”
Her words stung more than Ava cared to admit. But before Ava could retort, Ethan’s gaze shifted uneasily between the two women, and he cleared his throat.
“We should talk in private later,” he muttered to Ava.
Samantha arched a brow but said nothing further, exiting with the same click of her heels that had announced her arrival.
---
By nightfall, the storm had broken over the city, sheets of rain battering the streets as lightning flashed across the horizon. Ava stayed late in the lab, reviewing the breach logs while the rest of the staff had gone home.
The building was eerily quiet. Too quiet.
She was so focused on her screen that she didn’t notice the reflection behind her in the glass wall — a shadow lingering at the edge of the dimly lit hallway.
Ava turned suddenly, heart skipping a beat, but the corridor was empty.
She shook her head, convincing herself it was her imagination.
Then her phone buzzed again. Another anonymous message:
> “Stop digging. Or the gala will end in fire.”
Her breath caught. This was no bluff. The threat felt closer now, more personal, like a blade pressed against her back.
---
Meanwhile, Liam sat in his penthouse office, sleeves rolled up as he reviewed contingency plans. The rain hammered against the tall windows, streaking the view of the city below.
For the first time in years, he felt the weight of doubt pressing on him. He thought of Ava — the determination in her eyes even as the walls closed in around her.
He reached for his phone but hesitated again. Every time he tried to bridge the growing distance between them, the storm of their circumstances pulled them apart.
Instead, he opened an encrypted file of the guest list for the gala, scanning names carefully. His eyes caught on one particular entry: Adrian Holt — a former Blackwell engineer, now an independent consultant. Liam’s jaw clenched.
Adrian was one of the last people who had worked on that obsolete prototype. And he was attending the gala.
---
Close to midnight, Ava finally left the building. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but her thoughts were a raging torrent. As she waited for her ride, she noticed Liam’s car parked near the entrance. He stepped out, umbrella in hand.
“You shouldn’t be here this late,” he said quietly, offering her the umbrella as they stood beneath the awning.
“I could say the same to you,” she replied with a faint smile, though her eyes were shadowed by fatigue. “I found something tonight… someone’s threatening to sabotage the gala itself.”
Liam’s expression darkened. “I’ll increase security. No one lays a hand on you or Starfire.”
For a brief moment, the storm outside seemed to fade, replaced by the charged silence between them. But neither spoke of the words unspoken — not about the trust fraying under the strain, nor about the feelings that simmered beneath their guarded facades.
The night closed in around them, the city still shrouded in rain and secrets.
Four days remained before the gala.
And the storm had only just begun.
- Writer
