Carter-Kane Collective Nonprofit Launch – 10:00 AM
The event hall buzzed with Silicon Valley's elite, champagne flutes clinking under the glow of holographic projections advertising Lila's new initiative: *SecureFuture*, a nonprofit training underprivileged coders. Adrian stood at the edge of the crowd, his tailored suit a stark contrast to the hoodie-clad teens demoing projects nearby.
"You clean up nice," Lila teased, adjusting his tie.
"Still prefer a keyboard to a cocktail," he muttered, but his fingers brushed hers—a silent acknowledgment of the night before.
The lights flickered.
A screen behind them erupted with static, then sharpened into a masked figure cloaked in digital shadows. The crowd froze as a distorted voice echoed:
**"Congratulations, Lila. But empires built on lies always crash. Release Adrian's ledgers... or watch SecureFuture burn."**
The holograms died. Every phone in the room pinged—a video of Li Chen, alive and smirking, spliced with timestamps from *yesterday*.
Adrian's face paled. "That's not Li."
"Then who—"
"Echo," he said, the name a blade.
---
Flashback: Shanghai Server Farm – 3 Years Ago
Li Chen leaned over a teenage girl's shoulder, her fingers flying across a keyboard. "Faster, Echo. Governments fall at this speed."
She glared up at him, her eyes sharp behind cracked glasses. "Why teach me? You don't share power."
Li smirked. "Power's a ghost. Chase it, and it haunts you. But you..." He tapped her screen, where a DDoS attack crippled a bank. "You could be a storm."
The girl—Echo—smiled. "What's my first target?"
"A man who thinks he's a king. Adrian Kane."
---
SecureFuture Headquarters – 3:15 PM
Lila's team scrambled to contain the fallout. Jax traced the hack to a proxy server in Shanghai, while Maya scrubbed *SecureFuture*'s social feeds of Echo's ransomware demands.
Adrian paced, his voice low. "Echo's Li's protégé. He trained her to dismantle me. The ledgers she wants... they're records of my old deals. Names, bribes, bodies buried."
Lila blocked his path. "Why keep them?"
"To remember," he said bitterly. "To never become that man again."
Her phone buzzed—a live feed of Echo, unmasked now, her face pale and angular under neon lights.
**"Tick-tock, Lila. Your pretty charity's donor list? Already leaked. How long before they flee?"**
The screen split: a countdown (00:59:59) and a directory of *SecureFuture*'s private sponsors.
"She's bluffing," Jax said. "The files are encrypted."
"But the threat's enough," Lila said. "Donors will pull out if they think they're exposed."
Adrian gripped her shoulder. "Give her the ledgers."
"No. We fight."
"This isn't your battle—"
"It is now."
---
Underground Data Vault – 6:00 PM
Echo's lair was a labyrinth of servers, glowing like a dragon's hoard. Lila hacked the security grid while Adrian disabled cameras, their synchronized movements a silent dance.
"The ledgers are bait," Adrian warned. "She wants me, not you."
"Then we rewrite the script," Lila said, uploading a decoy file—a virus wrapped in Adrian's encrypted history.
Echo's laugh crackled through speakers.
"Predictable, Kane. But I'll take your toy anyway."
The vault door slammed shut. Lights died.
"Thermal sensors," Lila whispered. "She's herding us."
Adrian's hand found hers. "Stay close."
---
Echo's Message – 6:59 PM
The decoy detonated, frying her systems. Echo's final broadcast fizzed across the dark:
"This was a warmup, Lila. You want to play hero? Save the boy first."
A photo flashed—Eli, gagged and bound in a dim room.
Adrian's breath hitched. "She's not done with us."
Lila gripped his hand, her voice steel. "Then we don't stop."
---
Tomorrow's Headline:
New Cyber Vigilante "Echo" Targets Silicon Valley's Golden Couple.
---
End of Chapter 10
YOU ARE READING
Code of Hearts
RomanceIn the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley, two titans clash in a battle of firewalls, ethics, and forbidden attraction. Lila Carter, the fiercely principled CEO of Carter SecureTech, would rather hack a government server than surrender her parents' l...
