Jane''s words echoed in Leslie''s mind. Reese had already quit ckOak, made arrangements at the hospital, and tomorrow she and Sebastian were starting medical tests. Leslie changed the subject.


    "But Reese really is nning on having a second baby with Sebastian.


    "If Sebastian really did those things to her, there''s no way she wants this kid for real. She has to be up to something.


    "Doesn''t your mom''s side of the family have connections in the medical world? I''m sure you know people at all the big hospitals.


    "Instead of threatening me, maybe you should find out what Reese is really after.


    "Once you figure it out, you can tell the Ratcliff family everything. Or use it to negotiate with Reese-maybe she''ll back off your family."


    Tara felt a spark of hope. Leslie actually made sense.


    "I got it."


    She hung up. Leslie''s eyes turned cold.


    You brought this on yourself, Reese.


    Whatever Reese was plotting, it was obvious she never meant to actually have another child with Sebastian. Tara would dig up the truth soon enough. And when that happened, Leslie smirked, let''s see how Reese exins it to the Ratcliffs. Sebastian hated nothing more than being lied to.


    With a scandal like this, Reese would have toe back to ckOak sooner orter. de was in its final development phase; they needed her.


    Leslie knew she had to make her move now. Once Reese was back and on guard, her shot at getting de''s core data would be gone.


    She grabbed her phone without hesitating and dialed an encrypted number.


    When the call connected, she kept her voice low, tinged with urgency and steel. "It''s me. Start the job I mentioned. Don''t wait.


    "And remember-keep it clean. No traces. No one can know it''s us.


    "If you screw this up, you know what will happen."


    A voice on the other end, masked and robotic, replied, "Understood. We won''t let you down."


    It was well past midnight, but the lights in ckOak''s R&Db were still zing.


    Matthew lounged in his chair, fingers flying over the keyboard, the ck of keys rapid fire in the silent room. Multiple monitors glowed before him-one showed thepan


    streamed live security footage, and the third disyed an encrypted


    interface for the de project''s core


    data.


    "I gave Leslie too much credit," Matthew muttered, rubbing his tired eyes. "She


    isn''t bold enough to go for it this soon."


    He had set this trap for weeks, just waiting for Leslie to bite.


    Suddenly, red warning lights began shing across the server racks, apanied by a shrill rm. On his main screen, a giant red alert window popped up.  fo


    "WARNING! Unknown IP detected. Attempting to breach firewall!"


    A tiny red dot skittered across thework map, darting past defense protocols and hammering away at the firewall''s weak spots. Whoever was behind this was good-really good. In just minutes, they''d already broken through two securityyers. and were getting dangerously close to the core server.


    Matthew narrowed his eyes and sped up his typing. The sharp tter echoed through theb.


    "So you finally showed up. You want de''s core data? Not a chance. Let''s see you try to walk away from this."