New beginning: Billionaire love story (Claire and Alex) novel Chapter 368

Claire’s eyes went wide as she listened to her secretary, Sandra, over the phone. “What?” she exclaimed, frowning in disbelief.

Sandra hesitated, then repeated, “The entire Metacortex system is down.”

Claire huffed, running a hand through her hair. “I heard you the first time,” she muttered, trying to make sense of it. “What do you mean the entire system is down?”

Matthew, who had been sitting quietly at his desk, immediately perked up at the mention of Metacortex. His brow furrowed, and he stood from his chair, moving closer to Claire’s desk, clearly trying to catch what was happening.

Sandra’s voice came through the speaker again, this time sounding a little more nervous. “It’s like what happened a few months ago… you know, in the control room. Everything just went dark. IT has no control over it.”

Claire cursed under her breath, rubbing her temples. “Great. Just great.” She paused, eyes narrowing as she processed what Sandra was saying. This fell off, way too coincidental. She thought to herself this is exactly what happened to Cryptonic a few minutes ago.

Claire let out a groan, pacing behind her desk. “Okay. I’ll send someone there to handle it. Just... keep me updated if anything changes.” She ended the call, pressing the screen with more force than necessary.

Matthew, now standing next to her, crossed his arms, concern etched on his face. “What do you mean the Metacortex system is down? What happened at Metacortex?”

Claire sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Exactly what you’re hearing. Just like what happened a few minutes ago at Cryptonic, Metacortex is down too. It’s insane. I don’t get it.”

Matthew’s frown deepened, confusion written all over his face. “That’s impossible. How could it happen to both places at the same time? It doesn’t make sense. It’s like… like someone’s trying to kill two birds with one stone.”

Claire dropped into her chair, one hand on her forehead and the other on her hip, looking as frustrated as ever. “Trust me, I know. It’s a disaster. And I don’t like the timing of this at all. It’s too perfect. Almost like someone’s targeting me.” She sighed again. “I need you to head over to Metacortex, Matthew. I’ll stay here and make sure nothing else goes wrong at Cryptonic.”

Matthew nodded, already shifting into action mode. “Got it. I’ll let you know what I find the moment I get there.”

Claire raised an eyebrow at him. “ASAP, Matthew. I need to know exactly what’s happening over there as soon as possible.”

He gave her a mock salute, grinning slightly despite the seriousness of the situation. “Roger that.”

Claire watched as Matthew grabbed his bag and headed out of her office, disappearing down the hallway. She could hear him muttering to himself as he made his way to the elevator, probably already coming up with a dozen different scenarios in his head.

Once he was gone, Claire headed back to her office sat back in her chair, and let out a long, exasperated sigh. She stared at her computer screen, feeling the pressure weigh down on her. Whoever was behind this had serious skills. They hadn’t just hit one company—they’d managed to breach two. Two systems that she had personally designed to be nearly impenetrable.

But here they were. Both down. Both are vulnerable.

She couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling in her gut. Whoever this was, they weren’t just attacking random targets. This was personal. But why? What did they want from her? Were they trying to ruin her, or was it something more sinister?

Claire stood up abruptly and began pacing the room, trying to burn off the anxious energy bubbling up inside her. Matthew was probably still a good hour away from Metacortex, and the waiting was already driving her insane. She hated being out of the loop, hated not knowing what was going on.

“How the hell did someone manage to break into my system?” she muttered to herself as she paced. “It’s supposed to be unhackable. I built it to be unhackable!” But clearly, someone had found a way. Her creation—her supposedly perfect, hack-free system—had a loophole, and someone had exploited it.