Chapter 14: The Ambush
The attack began at exactly 3:00 PM, right before the stock market closed.
Inside the Solmere penthouse, sirens began to blare. The massive digital screens that lined Charlotte’s command center flashed violently with red warning alerts.
"Boss!" shouted David, the head of Solmere’s cybersecurity division, typing frantically on his keyboard. "We have a massive security breach! Someone is using a Class-A override code to access our offshore development accounts!"
Charlotte stood up, walking swiftly to the screens. "Lock them down."
"I can't!" David panicked, sweat pouring down his face. "The codes they’re using bypass our internal firewalls. It’s an old backdoor planted by your uncle’s administration. They are draining the accounts! Fifty million... a hundred million... it’s all hemorrhaging into untraceable Vanguard routing numbers!"
Marcus drew his weapon, as if he could shoot the computer screens. "It’s Cross. He’s gutting the company’s liquidity."
"If we lose our offshore capital, we default on our international construction loans," David warned, his voice cracking. "The stock will plummet. Solmere will be bankrupt by tomorrow morning!"
Charlotte’s private cell phone rang. It was an unknown number.
She answered it, putting it on speakerphone for the whole room to hear.
"Hello, Charlotte," Alexander Cross’s smug, triumphant voice echoed through the chaotic room. "I told you the market hates a vacuum. And you left the door wide open."
"You’re committing massive cyber-theft, Alexander," Charlotte said, her voice strained, bordering on panic. "The SEC will trace this back to you!"
"No, they won't," Alexander laughed confidently. "The money is bouncing through fifty different shell accounts before it hits Vanguard. You’re bleeding out, Charlotte. But I’m a generous man. Surrender your shares to me right now, step down as CEO, and I’ll stop the drain. You can walk away with a few million to live comfortably in exile."
In the background of the call, Charlotte could hear a woman laughing hysterically. It was Vanessa Sterling.
"Give up, you street rat!" Vanessa shrieked through the phone. "You took everything from me! Now you have nothing!"
Charlotte closed her eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath as the screens around her continued to flash red, the millions draining away by the second. The empire her mother built was being dismantled in front of her eyes.
"Well, Charlotte?" Alexander pushed. "Do we have a deal, or do I bankrupt your mother's legacy?"
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Charlotte opened her eyes. The fake panic completely vanished from her face, replaced by a smile so terrifyingly cold that even Marcus took a step back.
"Oh, Alexander," Charlotte whispered into the phone, her voice dripping with lethal calm. "Did you really think I didn't know about the backdoor?"
