<b>Chapter </b><b>463 </b>
At the Lawson <b>Group</b><b>, </b>Carmen apuded. “Ms. Lawson, you have guts. Running such a hugepany and still being able to let go <b>of </b>your <b>sister </b>like it’s nothing.”
Elizabeth smiled sweetly. <b>“</b><b>What’s </b>the point <b>of </b>keeping something that has no value?”
<b>Carmen </b>agreed <b>with </b>that<b>. </b>She only bothered <b>to </b>please <b>people </b>who <b>were </b>worth her time<b>. </b><b>“</b>But honestly<b>, </b>Ms. Lawson<b>, </b><b>isn’t </b>that a little shady?” Carmen asked.
<b>You </b>said <b>you’d </b>be on <b>my </b>side, but now <b>you’re </b>announcing your engagement <b>to </b>my brother<b>, </b><b>Bryan</b><b>.</b>” She didn’t know what this was all about.
Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. <b>Her </b>good<b>–</b><b>for</b>–nothing dad had somehow <b>dragged </b>home an illegitimate son, and that guy <b>was </b>always hanging around, sucking up and <b>ying </b>the fool. Looking at him annoyed <b>her</b><b>. </b>
Her dad was also <b>a </b>troublemaker. He <b>transferred </b>his shares <b>to </b>his illegitimate son and <b>even </b>bribed manypany shareholders to put the illegitimate son into thepany.
Hence<b>, </b>working with Carmen could make her a fortune if all went well, but she still feared that things would <b>go </b>south. Elizabeth would walk away with nothing. <b>Worse </b>yet, there <b>was </b>an extra threat. Everyone <b>was </b>watching <b>her </b><b>every </b><b>move</b><b>. </b>Failure wasn’t an option, <b>so </b>she needed more than one safety. Hence<b>, </b>she had a fake engagement with Bryan. <b>It </b><b>was </b>her insurance policy.
“That’s a whole different story. With you, it’s all about how much of the Wilson Group <b>I </b><b>can </b><b>get </b>my hands on. <b>As </b>the thing with Bryan? That’s just me ying my <b>cards </b>against Turner Group,” Elizabeth said with a <b>sly </b>smile.
“Then let me ask you, <b>if </b>one day my brother and I end up fighting for control<b>, </b>whose side <b>are </b><b>you </b>taking?” Carmen pressed.
“Simple. I’ll always back whoever brings more to the table,” Elizabeth replied, tapping her fingers on the table. <b>“</b>You can’t bet everything on just one horse<b>, </b>can you?”
Carmen didn’t say anything, but her smile faded. ‘She’s a yer<b>, </b>alright,‘ she thought. <b>“</b>Trying to <b>have </b>it both <b>ways</b>? <b>Not </b>afraid of biting off more than she can chew, huh?<b>” </b>
It had been over a month since <b>Grace </b>incited a <b>crazy </b><b>fan </b>to throw acid. Patrick had mostly healed and was back to work.
His skills were top–notch among the programmers at thepany, and since he’d done Aubree and Birgitte a <b>great </b>favor, Aubree gave the green light, and Birgitte promoted him to <b>a </b>higher position.
But <b>ever </b>since Patrick returned, Birgitte had been avoiding him, sometimes on purpose<b>, </b>sometimes not. She still hadn’t fully processed his confession at the hospital<b>, </b>and after everything that happened with Hugo, she wasn’t in the mood to start anything <b>new</b>.
Better to throw herself into work, at <b>least </b>that <b>was </b>a future she could count on.
Aubree had wrapped up her business in Südlichen Strand and rushed back for her finals. Since the results were out, she was relieved to see she hadn’t failed <b>a </b>single ss.
The interesting part was that she heard Alvin would be taking up a finance major next semester. That instantly reminded her of how Alvin had helped Carmen before<b>, </b>and she couldn’t help but wonder<b>, </b>‘Just what is Alvin nning?”
But before she could think it through, she got caught up in something else.
“Ms. Miller<b>, </b>you’re here.”
When Aubree rushed to Südlichen Strand at night, the Bree Technology building was brightly lit, and everyone in the tech department worked
overtime.
“What’s the situation?”
“This time it’s serious. Our servers got mmed and crashed. Tons of people can’t log into the backend right now,” one of the techs reported to Aubree.
Birgitte’s <b>face </b><b>was </b>grim. Meanwhile, Patrick, who’d just been promoted to tech director, was leading the team, working around the clock to get things back online.
“How bad is it?<b>” </b>Aubree asked.
This is the worst hacking attack we’ve ever seen. They’ve been probing us for a while and figured out exactly where we’re weak. Even after we tried to shore things up, it didn’t make a difference!” the tech replied. They broke through their firewall almost instantly, and the servers were exposed to
attackers.
2:30 <b>PM </b><b>d </b>
“There’s already a buzz online. Many users can’t log in Honestly, we might not be able to fix this anytime soon. The attacks haven’t stopped, and we re scrambling to keep them from taking <b>over</b>. Moreover, we’re trying to patch things up at the same time. We’re stretched thin here.” The tech was overwhelmed
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