?Chapter 943:


    Standing there in theb, Ste stared at the screens. Her data. Her work. All of it, sshed across the web. She went pale. Her body felt cold. She couldn’t breathe.


    Guilt hit her like a freight train.


    None of it made sense. The institute’s security was supposed to be airtight. So how the hell had someone broken in so clean?


    And the worst part? The thief didn’t even sell the data. They just dumped it. Like the whole point was to burn her down.


    Nearby, one of the IT guys was sweating bullets, his voice hollow. “Whoever did this… they were next-level. Like, insider level. They tore through our firewalls like they knew the system inside out. Hit us exactly where it’d hurt the most.”


    Ste didn’t reply. She just looked up—toward the balcony where Paul stood, staring down at the chaos, his face thundercloud dark.


    Paul stood on the balcony, his eyes unreadable as they locked onto Ste. His voice rang out, low and firm. “Sylvia,e up here for a minute.”


    From below, Sandra flinched. Her gaze darted to Ste, tense with concern. If Paul was calling her out like that… it couldn’t be good. And if there was heat to take, better the whole team took it together.


    But Ste just gave her a small, reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”


    She turned and walked upstairs, her steps steady. As she disappeared from sight, Nina’s eyes sparkled with cruel delight. She didn’t even bother to hide the grin tugging at her lips.


    Finally. Ste had tripped. And this time, she wouldn’t be getting up so easily.


    Her voice rose, sharp and dripping with judgment. “Can you believe this? They handed Sylvia the biggest project the institute’s seen in years, and what does she do? Crashes it. Hard. This isn’t just a little mistake,” Nina continued, pacing as if she were leading a courtroom drama. “The institute’s suffered a massive loss. Data gone. Reputation shattered. And all thanks to her.”


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    Researchers began to crowd in, drawn like moths to a me. The tension in the air turned electric.


    With the data leak hanging over them like a storm cloud, no one knew what to do—and after Nina’s little speech, everyone had a target to me.


    Ste.


    “Told you she couldn’t handle it.”


    “Now what? How do we exin this to the partners?”


    “We’re all gonna pay for her screw-up!”


    It didn’t matter that the truth was still murky. It didn’t matter that Ste hadn’t even had a chance to speak. The crowd had picked a viin—and it was her.


    Downstairs, the mob turned brutal. Upstairs, Ste walked straight into the storm’s eye.


    Paul stood behind his desk, his expression unreadable. He let out a long sigh, his voice low. “This wasn’t your fault.”


    Ste blinked, caught off guard. She’d braced herself for me, for anger—but not this.


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