It Should Have Been Like This (The Revised Version)

Chapter 65: Breakthrough at Midnight

Lavender's viewpoint

I sat on the edge of the bed, silently observing as my eldest and youngest sons engaged in a technical discussion, while Rominic paced around, on the phone with his lawyer. I must admit, I didn't fully comprehend the intricacies of the scientific jargon that Zayne had spewed out, nor Rominic's precise response. Fortunately, Zach stepped in to help me interpret the situation.

The general gist was that Zach had been scouring through the secure cloud Rominic had created, searching for any useful information, but had come up empty-handed after a prolonged effort. However, Zayne then decided to take a closer look and noticed something Zach had overlooked.

Apparently, Zayne had discovered that there was something locked away within the cloud, but he had been hesitant to share his findings, not wanting to raise false hopes. This had occurred nearly two weeks ago. Today, Zayne finally cracked the secure layer and revealed that Rominic had an AI system integrated into the cloud. While the AI's primary function had been turned off, its automatic backup program had remained active, dutifully recording everything that passed through the cloud.

I already knew about the existence of this AI, named Alya, as Rominic had originally created the cloud to be linked to his main AI system. However, during his recent panic, he had neglected to mention it. I had assumed that he had simply upgraded the cloud and removed Alya. Rominic then admitted that he had indeed upgraded the cloud after a failed attempt to hack into Alya's mainframe. To ensure that any future intruders would not have access to his most critical documents, he had decided to remove Alya. But he couldn't bring himself to delete his creation, which had been with him since he was sixteen years old. Instead, he had stored Alya's data within the cloud, but kept it securely locked away.

The rest of the technical explanation was a bit beyond my understanding, but the general gist was that Alya, being an advanced AI with a developed personality, had refused to be entirely turned off and had continued to exist as a backup system. And thanks to Alya's presence, Rominic was able to trace the IP address of the hacker, gain access to their system, and uncover the evidence of the transaction between the hacker and his rival company.

In other words, the problem had been resolved.

Zachary was clearly enamored with his younger brother, Zayne, continuously praising the little genius, even though they were only three hours apart in age. As I sat and observed, I couldn't help but smile, not having much else to occupy my attention.

Suddenly, the sound of soft footsteps caught my attention, and I turned my head to see Serenity standing in the open doorway. She was hugging the stuffed animal that Rominic had bought for her, and she was rubbing her eyes, her body swaying back and forth. I remembered that Serenity was a light sleeper, and the commotion must have woken her up. Considering how long it took for her to wake up, she must have been thoroughly exhausted from her swimming class and the subsequent task of helping me with her father's dinner and the candles.

"Come over here, sweetheart," I said with a warm smile, stretching out my hand to her. She nodded wobbly and began taking unsteady steps towards me. Zach immediately left Zayne's side and walked over to Serenity, lifting her up in a princess carry and bringing her to me.

"There we go!" I exclaimed playfully as I settled Serenity on my lap. "Did your father's noise wake you up?"

"No, it was actually Zayne's," Serenity replied, her gaze fixed on Rominic, who was grinning from ear to ear, his energy exuding pure happiness. "I heard him screaming as he ran to your room, but I was so tired that I couldn't move a muscle and fell back asleep. Is everything alright? Did Daddy like the candlelight dinner and massage that much? His lips are going to tear if he keeps grinning like that."