Chapter 4 - Into the Shadows
Julian didn't fight the expulsion. Fighting meant playing by their rules, in a court they paid for. Instead, he vanished.
He moved his mother to a modest clinic outside the city and took a job at an underground server farm. For three years, Julian Vance ceased to exist. In his place, a digital alias was born: Cipher.
Operating in the shadows of the dark web and anonymous financial forums, Julian activated the backdoor he had planted in Preston’s code. The Sterling firm had launched the algorithm, making millions. But Julian was slowly siphoning fractions of cents from thousands of their trades, routing them through untraceable offshore accounts.
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He wasn't just stealing money; he was learning their entire financial infrastructure. He knew their clients, their weaknesses, and their illegal tax loopholes.
By the time Julian was twenty-five, he had quietly amassed a fortune of fifty million dollars. He used it to establish Vanguard Holdings, a ghost company registered in Delaware. He was ready to step out of the shadows. He was ready to go hunting.
