Chapter 7
The lobby of Apex Systems suddenly felt entirely too quiet, as the low murmur of nearby employees and visitors faded away under the weight of the confrontation. Maya stood her ground, her spine rigid, refusing to shrink back under her father's intense glare.
"I’m here to speak with Marcus Vance, Dad," Maya said clearly, her voice cutting through the ambient hum of the building. "And you know exactly why. You're trying to push through a fraudulent internal report before anyone realizes the security breach originated from your own basement network."
Her father’s face flushed a deep, angry crimson. He stepped closer, invading her personal space with an aggressive posture that clearly mirrored the night he threw her out. "You ungrateful, lying little hypocrite!" he shouted, drawing shocked gasps from nearby bystanders. "You stole proprietary source code, compromised our client database, and now you have the absolute audacity to show your face in my workplace?"
Clara stepped firmly between Maya and her father, her eyes flashing with righteous indignation. "Lower your voice, Robert! Everyone in this lobby can see right through your pathetic little cover-up. We both know your son is the one who ran those scripts, and you're letting him destroy Maya to save your own reputation!"
The mention of his son seemed to strike a raw nerve. Her father’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he pointed a trembling finger at Clara. "Stay out of this, Clara. This is a family matter, and it’s an internal corporate security issue. Security, escort these trespassers off the property immediately."
The two guards who had accompanied him stepped forward, their expressions stern and uncompromising, reaching out toward Clara’s arm. Maya reacted instantly, stepping back and pulling the encrypted thumb drive from her pocket, holding it up high where everyone—and the overhead security cameras—could clearly see it.
"Back off!" Maya warned, her voice ringing with absolute authority. "I have the unedited routing logs on this drive right now. The exact MAC address of the device that uploaded the malware points directly to the home study, logged under administrative override credentials belonging exclusively to my brother. If you touch us, I will walk out those doors and hand this drive directly to the federal cybercrime division."
Her father froze, the color draining slightly from his face as the bluff—or the terrifying truth of her possession—hit home. The absolute confidence he usually projected began to fracture under the sudden threat of a federal investigation that would tear his entire career apart.
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Before he could formulate a response, the private elevator doors at the end of the lobby chimed softly, and a tall, silver-haired man in a sharp navy suit stepped out, observing the chaotic scene with sharp, analytical eyes.
"What is the meaning of this commotion?" Marcus Vance asked, his voice carrying effortlessly across the marble room.
