Chapter 4 - The Puppet Master
The man in the gray suit was Silas Thorne, a ruthless tech billionaire who had spent the last decade trying to crush Ethan's firm.
Silas had always wanted the proprietary predictive algorithm that Ethan had designed, but Ethan had adamantly refused to sell it.
Realizing that Silas was the true puppet master behind Richard, Marcus, and Chloe, Ethan knew he was fighting a multi-front war.
Maya's fingers flew across her mechanical keyboard, tracing the digital footprints of the cash payment Silas had given Chloe.
She discovered that Silas was planning a hostile corporate takeover vote at a massive shareholder gala the very next evening.
If the vote passed, Silas would legally acquire Ethan's company and immediately dismantle the algorithm for his own nefarious purposes.
Ethan and Maya quickly formulated a desperate plan to hack into Silas's mainframe during the gala and expose his illegal market manipulation.
Just as they finished mapping out the architectural blueprints of Silas's headquarters, a frantic, aggressive pounding rattled the cafe door.
Ethan drew a heavy metal wrench from Maya's toolkit, stepping cautiously toward the reinforced glass entrance.
He pulled the metal security grate up just enough to see who was desperately begging to be let inside.
It was Chloe, shivering violently in the pouring rain, her designer dress torn and her face badly bruised.
She collapsed against the glass, sobbing uncontrollably and screaming that Silas was trying to kill her to tie up loose ends.
Ethan stared at the woman who had ruined his life, his hand hesitating heavily on the deadbolt lock.
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Maya yelled at him from the back room, warning him that it was obviously a trap designed to locate them.
But before Ethan could make a final decision, a sleek black SUV pulled up directly behind Chloe, and two men stepped out holding suppressed weapons.
