Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 46

Chapter 46

“Lion, you’ve messed with the wrong person,” Stella said in a flawless, lazy, and mocking tone. When Stella exposed the masked man’s hacker codename, Lion’s eyes instantly went bloodshot with rage.

Lion was ranked fourth among hackers worldwide, and he was the boss of Cosmos Syndicate, the most elite hacker alliance

in Monterra.

He used to dominate the scene, with tens of millions of fans across several platforms. As soon as he started his stream, his die-hard fans rushed in, but they immediately sensed something was off. Lion seemed clueless that he was live.

Then, the iconic tune of the Clusia National Anthem started playing. All of Lion’s fans could see their idol hammering away at his keyboard, while his custom-built, pride-and-joy computer was out of his control.

“You bitch!” Lion shouted as he slammed his fist on the desk again, gasping for breath and staring wildly at the camera. His crazy, out-of-control look scared the hell out of his fans.

Stella’s lips, hidden behind her mask, curled into a faint, mocking smile. She watched with cold indifference as the world’s fourth-ranked hacker lost it, just like how he’d once arrogantly threatened people’s lives with his death command.

“There’s an old saying in Clusia: make an example of one to warn the rest. Today, you’re the example,” Stella said coolly.

As soon as she spoke, every smart device in Lion’s apartment that was connected to Wi-Fi started going haywire.

The high-end speakers and TV blared like something out of a horror movie, the lights flickered on and off like ghosts were messing with them, the AC switched between blasting hot and freezing cold, and even the faucets started running water on their own.

Lion tried to shut everything down, but nothing worked. In a fit of rage, he grabbed a chair and started smashing it into all the appliances in his apartment, leaving chaos in his wake. His fans in the livestream were left stunned, watching in disbelief.

[Are Clusia hackers really this badass?]

[What kind of trouble did Lion get himself into this time?]

The place was trashed. Panting heavily, Lion finally managed to quiet the chaos in his apartment, leaving everything in

ruins.

Lion grinned wickedly, “You really think you can mess with me? Do you even know who’s got my back?”

The Cosmos Syndicate had not reached the top of Monterra’s hacker world overnight. There were powerful hands operating behind the scenes. Lion believed that if Stella provoked them, she would never escape unscathed. And now, Stella laughed.

“I couldn’t care less about which country is backing you, or who you think is pulling strings for you. But let me make one thing clear. Sebastian of the Gray family is not someone you can touch without paying the price,” Stella said coldly.

As soon as she finished, her smile faded, and her gaze turned cold and ruthless, like a gangster sizing up his prey. ‘He dared to make a move on Sebastian today. Now he can deal with the fallout himself, Stella thought.

At that moment, Haliville Hospital was silent. The patients’ familles, who had been gripped by fear, now watched as the once-arrogant hacker was humiliated, looking like a wreck. All their pent-up frustration vanished, replaced by pure relief and satisfaction.

Out in the hallway outside the hospital room, Carlos was stunned by what he saw. Sophia, usually the picture of gentle composure, had her usual mask slip. Her real emotions flickered across her face for once, stormy and conflicted.

Who the hell was sticking their nose in Sophia fumed inside. ‘All that act was for nothing. Because of the voice changer, nobody suspected the masked girl was Stella.

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Stella barely glanced at the commotion outside. She was totally focused on the screen in front of her and Lion. Suddenly, six encrypted files flashed onto the screen, visible to everyone.

They looked like resumes, but some sections had been blacked out, likely because the information was too sensitive to be disclosed.

[What’s up with those blacked-out sections?]

[This feels major.]

[No way, is that Lion’s real info?]

“I’ve got the personal info of six core members of the Cosmos Syndicate hacker alliance,” Stella’s voice was icy. Lion was stunned into silence.

Under his mask, Lion’s face was slick with cold sweat. Everyone in Cosmos Syndicate lived in the shadows, would do anything for a buck, and after all the dirty work they’d done, the last thing they wanted was their personal info leaking out.

“How do I know you’re not bluffing?” Lion snapped, refusing to back down.

The Cosmos Syndicate was the top hacker crew, and every one of its core members was a legend in the scene. There was no way anyone could break in and expose them as if it were child’s play.

Stella smirked, keeping quiet. She tapped the spacebar, and the last file’s blacked-out sections disappeared, laying everything bare. It was Cosmos Syndicate’s sixth core manager. Lion’s eyes went wide with terror.

It felt like a noose was tightening around his neck. Someone commented: [Holy shit, check the news!]

Almost the instant that comment appeared, Lion’s phone started ringing. Barely a minute after the info dropped, that sixth core member was already taken out at home.

“What do you want?” Lion managed to ask.

Only now did Lion truly understand what kind of monster he had provoked. For the first time in his life, death felt so close he could almost taste it. His breathing grew shallow, and a numbing cold spread through his entire body.

“I want you to answer a question live on stream,” Stella replied, her voice casual, almost lazy.

She rested her chin on one hand, radiating an effortless, streetwise swagger. But with the voice changer, her words rang out like the tolling of a death bell, signaling the end was near for everyone watching.

“Seven years ago, about that Eelware program killed thirty-five thousand people worldwide, was that Cosmos Syndicate’s doing?” Stella asked.

Back then, Eelware threw the whole world into chaos, hacking into people’s pacemakers and frying their hearts in three seconds flat. Lion stared, lost for words, his mind racing.

Stella didn’t even bother to push him. She coolly unlocked the fifth core member’s info, her indifference sharper than a knife.

Lion’s eyes darted everywhere, panic written all over his face. “No, it wasn’t,” he stammered, voice shaking.

The chat on YouTube and TikTok went quiet in unison. All those fans who used to hype him up suddenly clammed up, not daring to say a word.

Stella snickered. “Congrats, you got it wrong.”

As Stella hit the spacebar again, a video from seven years ago popped up. Cosmos Syndicate’s six core members, all with wild, cocky grins plastered on their faces, were popping champagne and celebrating as if they owned the world.

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And just like that, the black bars over the last four members’ info vanished, laying it all bare for the world to see.

“From this moment on, Cosmos Syndicate is history. The hacke scene is about to be turned upside down,” Stella declared. Staring at Lion, who now looked like a beaten cur, Stella’s tone was pure ice.

“I’ve used these exact methods to humiliate people from countries all over the globe,” Lion shouted. He tore off his mask, his face drained of all color, but the hatred in his eyes burned so ficely that it leapt off the screen.

“The second you mouthed off at Mr. Gray, you basically volunteered to be the sacrificial lamb,” Stella said.

Her voice, warped by the voice changer, rang out for all to hear. Anyone who messed with Sebastian was as good as dead.

“Big Ben.” Stella said flatly. Big Ben didn’t hesitate and covered Lucas’s eyes, shielding him from what was about to happen.

A gunshot echoed from the far side of the screen. Lion fell dead where he stood, and the livestream cut out without warning.

Stella pulled off her baseball cap, and her long hair fell in a shiny stunning wave that left everyone speechless.

The hospita determi

was silent. Everyone stared with their mouths agape, still reeling from the shock and struggling to her what they had witnessed was real or merely a dream.

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