Love in the Limelight (Astrid and Elio) novel Chapter 491

The title "Boss" threw everyone for a loop.

Viewers in front of their screens were utterly baffled. [What's going on? Boss?]

[Is this dude part of our Astar crew? Man, this is a total disgrace. Just look at him, it's like our stock plummeted! Especially with those red undies!]

[Hold up, are these two clowns throwing shade at Astar? That can't be right, it's crystal clear Astar knows this Aaron or whatever!]

[Just look at that guy's face! He looks like he's about to burst into tears, LOL, I can't even!]

[What the heck happened here? We're all on pins and needles!]

[Seeing these two looking all shabby, they don't seem like they'd know a cyber legend like Aster. I mean, Aster's a god among hackers back home!]

[It's like Astar wants to smack that guy.]

The online crowd was having a blast, but Chad was wishing he could vanish.

He had wondered who could crack his firewall so swiftly. If it was Boss, then it all made sense.

Just a regular operation.

Chad was still clueless about what had gone down, but he knew speed was of the essence in owning up to his mistakes. That way, Astrid might just go easy on him.

With the live-streaming audience watching, Chad grabbed some eye drops, turned away to squeeze out a few tears, then spun back and hoisted up his little brother, launching into a sob act, "Boss, it's all this little guy's fault, messing around online and dragging you into it. My bad for not keeping a tighter leash. If I'd known he was gunning for you, I'd never have handed over that firewall!"

By this point, Wade didn't dare hide anything. His brother's glare was lethal. If he didn't spill the truth, he was in for a public thrashing.

Swallowing hard, Wade confessed, "There's this dark web market that specializes in doing things for people. I picked up gigs there all the time. My client found me and asked me to get someone inside Serenity Peaks to spook the place. Said I'd get a cool ten grand if it worked out, seventy percent for me, thirty for the ghost."

"I thought it was easy money, so I agreed. Then, to avoid being tracked, I bought a firewall from my hacker bro. I thought it was foolproof, but who knew... it'd all blow up in my face..."

Wade's voice trailed off, and Chad was itching to throttle him.

Boss's punishments were notoriously brutal; Chad couldn't bear to go through that again.

Holding back tears, Chad pleaded, "Boss, I didn't mean for any of this to happen. Please let me off the hook this time. Just give me five minutes, and I'll track down the person behind this for you, okay?"