Sebastian turned back toward the massive screens, thinking rapidly. Then suddenly..

"Creedfly." Damien looked up immediately.

"Our branch in Torodo," Seb said quickly. "Keep an eye on it." Realization crossed Damien’s face instantly.

"You think they’ll hit that too?"

"I’m not taking chances." Seb moved quickly back toward the desk.

"Tell them to intensify security immediately," he ordered. "Every firewall. Every access point. Every server." His voice sharpened. "I don’t want a single bug entering that system." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Got it." Damien immediately began typing the email. Within seconds, emergency alerts were being sent across international offices.

The room remained tense. Heavy.

Outside the glass office walls, employees still rushed around desperately trying to control the damage already spreading through the company.

Meanwhile, Seb paced back and forth across the office like a trapped animal trying to think three steps ahead.

"Set an emergency board meeting first thing in the morning," he ordered. Damien checked the time briefly.

It was already three in the morning. Still. "Okay." At this point nobody was going home anyway.

Now it was no longer about preventing disaster. It was about surviving it. Damage control.

That was all they had left. Seb stopped pacing for one brief second and pressed both hands against the desk, staring down at the floor.

Think. Think. Think.

Then suddenly his phone rang again. Mother. Sebastian answered immediately, irritation still thick in his voice.

"What is it, Mother?" On the other end, his mother sounded confused.

"Sebastian... what happened?" His brows furrowed instantly.

"What are you talking about?"

"I can’t access my VIP card," she said sharply. "They’re saying there are insufficient funds."

Seb straightened immediately. "What?"

"It keeps declining."

"That’s impossible."

For the first time that night. Actual shock crossed his face. "Mother, let me call you back."

He ended the call instantly and rushed toward his desk. Damien looked up immediately from his laptop.

"What happened?"

Seb ignored him. Fast. Too fast.

His fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard as he accessed one overseas account after another. Then suddenly. He froze. The screen showed one number.

0.00

Seb blinked once. Then opened another account.

0.00

Another.

0.00

Another. Nothing. All empty.

Every single offshore account he secretly kept hidden across multiple countries. Gone. For a second the entire world around him went silent.

Seb stared at the screen like his brain refused to process what he was seeing. Then suddenly. A laugh escaped him.

Not amusement. Shock. Pure disbelief. Damien slowly stood up from his chair. "Seb..."

"Where the fuck did all the money go?" Seb roared. He slammed both hands violently against the desk, the sound echoing through the entire office floor.

Outside the glass walls, employees stopped moving. Because for the first time since they had ever known Sebastian Creed.

Their boss looked truly terrified. "Seb... we need a backup plan." Damien’s voice sounded much more serious now. Much less confident.

Because the situation had officially crossed from dangerous into catastrophic. Seb didn’t even look up from the screens. "I know that," he snapped.

His fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard again, pulling up encrypted accounts, hidden wallets, offshore routes, and emergency reserves.

Nothing. Still nothing. Damien stepped closer. "What about the reserve funds?"

Seb finally looked at him. And for the first time that night, Damien saw something terrifying in his friend’s eyes. Fear.

Real fear. "This was the backup plan," Seb said quietly. Damien froze.

Seb laughed bitterly under his breath and leaned back in the chair, dragging a hand through his hair roughly.

"These are my personal funds," he muttered. "Not the company’s." Years. Years of hidden investments. Secret accounts.

Emergency reserves are spread carefully across different countries and systems. Money even government investigators could never fully trace. Gone. All of it. Damien slowly sat down.

"Jesus..."

Seb immediately started typing again. Faster this time.

His screens filled with code as he launched tracking programs, breach analyzers, recovery attempts, and hidden access protocols.

Nothing worked.

Every trail vanished seconds after appearing. Every route looped into dead ends. Whoever did this had cleaned everything perfectly. No fingerprints.

No leaks. No mistakes. And that terrified Seb more than the money itself.

Because only someone extremely skilled could erase themselves this completely. Seb’s breathing became heavier.

"No..."

He typed another command aggressively. Still nothing.

"No, no no—" His fist slammed against the desk again. "How?" he muttered.

More code flashed across the screens. Blocked. Redirected. Deleted.

Like the hacker had predicted, every single move he would make before he even made it. Damien watched silently now.

Because there was nothing left to say. Sebastian Creed.

The legendary dark web ghost who built empires through technology and manipulation. Was losing a war inside his own world.

And he had absolutely no control over it. Suddenly, Seb shoved away from the desk so violently that the chair rolled backward.

"WHO THE HELL IS DOING THIS?" he roared. The sound echoed across the entire executive floor. Outside the office, employees visibly jumped.

Inside the room, Damien stayed completely still. Because Seb had officially lost it now. The calm genius strategist was gone.

What remained was a furious man watching his empire collapse piece by piece while an invisible enemy stood somewhere in the dark, laughing at him.

–

Julian never slept.

The entire night passed with him sitting beside Amara’s hospital bed, his laptop open on the small table nearby while endless messages and reports moved across the screen. The dim light from the laptop reflected against his tired face.

Outside the room, guards still stood watch through the silent hours of the morning. Inside, the only sounds were the soft hum of machines and Amara’s steady breathing while she slept.

At exactly three in the morning, Julian’s phone vibrated quietly. He immediately glanced toward Amara first before answering.

"What should I tell your mother, boss?" a voice asked from the other side. Julian leaned back slightly in the chair, lowering his voice. "Tell her it’s done." A pause followed.

"And thank you for coming to me with my mother’s request."

The man on the other end sounded hesitant. "Are you sure she won’t suspect anything?" Julian’s eyes darkened slightly.

"Don’t let her suspect anything," he said calmly. "You know how aggressive she can be." Even now, there was faint amusement in his voice when talking about Madam Vale.

"Wait for my signal before continuing with the plan."

"Yes, boss." Julian was about to say something else when movement from the bed immediately caught his attention.

Amara stirred softly in her sleep. Instantly, everything else stopped mattering.