Chapter 9 - Decoding the Past
Back on the 42nd floor, the rain battered the massive glass windows as Emily plugged the flash drive into her workstation. The screen flickered with encrypted files containing financial records dating back nearly a decade.
Dante stood behind her chair, watching the lines of code scroll past with an intensity that felt heavy in the quiet room. "Can you break the encryption?" he asked, his hand resting on the back of her ergonomic chair.
"Please," Emily scoffed lightly. "Moretti uses standard AES-256 encryption with a weak salt hash based on his mother's birthday. It'll take me five minutes."
True to her word, within three minutes the desktop unlocked a hidden folder labeled Operation Phoenix. Emily opened the primary document, her eyes widening as she read the detailed transcripts inside.
"Dante, look at this," she whispered, stepping aside so he could read the monitor.
It was an internal memo detailing the exact blueprints of the car bomb that killed Clara nine years ago. Moretti hadn't just ordered the hit; he had paid one of Dante's own inner circle to plant the explosive device.
The name at the bottom of the memo was Arthur Sterling, Dante's current chief financial officer and closest advisor. Arthur was the man who had comforted Dante at the funeral, holding his shoulder while whispering empty condolences.
May you like
Dante's breath hitched in his throat as the betrayal cut deeper than any physical wound could ever manage. The stone facade cracked completely, leaving behind a raw, bleeding humanity that he had buried for nine long years.
Emily reached out hesitantly, placing her hand over his clenched fist resting on the desk. Her touch was warm, steady, and grounding amidst the storm of rage consuming his soul.
