Madly Yours (Nora Reed) novel Chapter 759

"I already know who it belongs to, Professor..." Hudson leaned his hands against the desk, his tone casual. "What I want to know now is how to break the password."

"I know." Douglas took a deep breath and buried his face in the laptop to work.

His fingers flew across the keyboard in a rapid clatter, lines of code scrolling violently down the screen.

*Error!*

A string of red failure notices popped up on the display.

Douglas's brow furrowed. Refusing to admit defeat, he punched in another sequence, only to be met with another string of red text.

"..."

Douglas leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. "It's no use. I can't crack it."

Hudson raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just say you've seen this before?"

Douglas glared at him in frustration. "I *have* seen it, but I didn't pay much attention back then. I thought she was just messing around. Who would have thought I'd be dealing with the real thing twenty years later?"

"But I do remember one thing. She said the final stage of this password protocol was tied to biometric data. Retinal scans, fingerprints, something like that... the point is, you can't crack it just by slamming keys. You need a professional hacker for this."

As he spoke, something seemed to click in his brain. "Wait, isn't one of your security guys a hacker? Have him give it a shot..."

Hudson shook his head. "Archer is strictly amateur hour. He's fine for standard encryption, but this is way out of his league."

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he swiped across the screen and initiated a video call. "I'm going to have to call in a favor."

Douglas looked confused. "Who are you calling?"

Before he could finish, the video call connected, and a face filled the screen.

The man looked to be in his late twenties, with rugged features and a jawline sharp enough to cut glass. His eyes were dark and intense, carrying a rough, untamed edge as if he had spent years surviving in the wilderness. A cigarette was clamped between his lips, the ember glowing faintly. Plumes of smoke drifted up, blurring the sharp angles of his profile.

"Hunter?" The man pulled the cigarette from his mouth, holding it loosely between his fingers. His voice was raspy and laced with a lazy drawl. "What made you think to call me?"

"Hunter, I've got a chip that needs cracking," Hudson said, skipping the pleasantries and cutting straight to the chase. "It's heavily encrypted. I need your help."

Hunter popped the cigarette back between his lips and gave a muffled grunt of agreement. "Sure thing. I'll send you a link in a second. Click on it, and I'll remote in and crack it for you."

As he spoke, he casually tossed his phone onto the table. The screen flipped from portrait to landscape. As the camera angle shifted, Hudson suddenly noticed someone else sitting next to Hunter. And it was a very familiar face...

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