Chapter 191: Chapter 192: The Mysterious Call
"Could be. The timing also interests me. 3PM to 7 PM....that’s four hours of sustained access to your network. Someone who could work uninterrupted for four hours in the evening. Someone with privacy and security."
"An office," Harold said. "Someone working late in their office."
"Exactly. And one more thing." Reeves pulled up the virus code again. "This is personal. I can tell from the way it’s written. The elegance of it, the precision, the way certain elements are almost... artistic. This wasn’t a job. This was someone who enjoyed taking you down."
Harold sat back, his mind racing. An office in Manhattan with institutional-grade internet. Working from 3 PM to 7 PM. Someone with both the skills and the personal motivation to destroy him.
Aria Chen. Working late at Mont Senai Hospital. With access to their high-speed network. With every reason to want Harold destroyed.
"Can you prove any of this?" Harold asked. "Can you trace it definitively to a specific person?"
Reeves shook his head. "Not definitively. The hacker was too good. What I’ve given you is circumstantial....a profile, a location range, some technical details. But actual proof? A name? An IP address that leads back to a specific person?" He shook his head. "That’s beyond what’s technically possible given how well they covered their tracks."
"So they get away with it."
"Probably. Though..." Reeves hesitated. "There is one possibility. If you had a suspect in mind, I could analyze their digital footprint. Look for evidence of the skills and tools needed to pull off something like this. It wouldn’t be proof they did it, but it might be proof they could have done it."
Harold considered this. He couldn’t bring Reeves to the hospital to analyze Aria’s office computer....that would be too obvious, too risky. But maybe there was another way.
"How long would you need access to someone’s computer to determine if they had the capability?"
"Depends. If they’re careful, they won’t have evidence sitting around on their primary machine. But everyone leaves traces. Browser history, download patterns, the software they use, the way they organize files. Give me an hour with someone’s computer, and I can tell you if they’re capable of advanced hacking."
"What about a phone?"
"Phones are trickier but possible. Same principle applies....looking for apps, browsing patterns, technical sophistication in how they use the device."
Harold nodded slowly, a plan forming. He couldn’t prove Aria hacked him. But he could prove she was capable of hacking him. And sometimes, that was enough.
"Thank you, Mr. Reeves. Send me your bill."
After Reeves left, Harold sat alone in the conference room, thinking.
He couldn’t stop the federal prosecution. Couldn’t save his company. Couldn’t undo the damage Aria had done to his empire.
But he could make sure she paid for it.
THAT EVENING - HAROLD’S PENTHOUSE
Harold sat in his study with a glass of scotch, watching the evening news coverage of his company’s collapse. Every major network was leading with the story. "The Fall of Ashford Industries." "A Modern Robber Baron’s Crimes Exposed." "How One Data Breach Revealed Decades of Corporate Corruption."
They were calling him a villain. A criminal. The face of corporate greed and corruption.
And they weren’t wrong. Everything in those files was true. Every crime, every bribe, every violation. He’d built his empire on the backs of exploited workers and poisoned communities and destroyed competitors.
But he’d done it successfully for twenty years. Had been careful, methodical, untouchable.
Until Aria Chen decided he needed to be stopped.
His phone rang. An unknown number. Harold considered ignoring it, then answered. "Yes?"
"Mr. Ashford." The voice was unfamiliar, male, with a slight accent Harold couldn’t place. "We should talk about your Aria Chen problem."
Harold sat up straighter. "Who is this?"
"Someone who shares your concerns about Miss Chen’s... activities. Someone who has resources you might find useful."
"I’m not interested in mysterious phone calls from people who won’t identify themselves."
"Not even if I can give you proof of what she did? Not circumstantial evidence or technical analysis, but actual proof that would stand up in court?"
Harold’s grip tightened on the phone. "What kind of proof?"
"The kind that shows she’s not the innocent medical prodigy everyone thinks she is. The kind that reveals her true nature. The kind that would make even Damien Blackwood question who he’s really in love with."
"Why would you help me?"
"Because Aria Chen destroyed something of mine once. And I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to return the favor." The voice paused. "I’ll contact you again in three days. In the meantime, consider this a down payment on our future cooperation."
The line went dead.
Harold stared at his phone, his mind racing. Who else had Aria Chen destroyed? Who else wanted revenge badly enough to reach out to a man whose empire was burning?
He didn’t know. But he was definitely interested in finding out.
His phone buzzed with an email notification. The sender was anonymous, the subject line blank. Harold opened it carefully, half-expecting malware.
Instead, he found a single photograph.
It showed Aria at MIT, several years younger, sitting at a computer in what looked like a dorm room. But the important detail was visible on her screen—lines of code that looked remarkably similar to the virus that had destroyed Harold’s company.
Not identical. But similar enough to suggest she’d been developing these skills for years.
Below the photo was a single line of text: "She’s been doing this longer than anyone knows. And she’s better at it than anyone suspects."
Harold saved the email to an encrypted drive, then poured himself another scotch.
Harold had lost his company. His reputation. His freedom.
But he’d be damned if he went down alone.
If Aria Chen wanted to destroy him, fine. He was destroyed.
But he’d make sure she lost something precious in the process.
He’d make sure she lost Damien.
And that revenge....that would be worth every year in prison.
