Substitute Wife, Genius CEO novel Chapter 99

Summer played with Lily like a cat toying with a wounded mouse. She ignited digital fires across multiple servers, leading Lily on a humiliating, wild goose chase that left the new director sprinting in circles.

For her grand finale, Summer hijacked Lily's personal monitor, replacing her desktop background with a giant, high-definition photo of a soggy cabbage.

Stamped across it was a single word.

Trash!

Lily furiously tried to override the image, but the system locked her out completely. Her face turned an apoplectic purple as she nearly hurled her monitor across the room.

In the end, all she could do was sit there, utterly powerless, as Summer casually logged out and vanished into the digital ether.

The very second Summer finished dismantling her ex's company, Gavin's name flashed across her screen.

He already knew she was 'W'.

Unwilling to discuss the illegal hack over an open line, Gavin simply said, "If you ever need backup, just say the word. Don't carry the world on your shoulders."

Summer smiled warmly and agreed.

Had this been any other conglomerate, orchestrating such a massive cyberattack alone and escaping undetected would have been nearly impossible. But this was Sterling Group.

She had bled for that company for seven years. She knew every backdoor, every blind spot, and every line of code.

So even if the executives called the cops, Summer was entirely confident they would never find a single digital footprint leading back to her.

Did Xavier really think playing nurse for three days wiped the slate clean after throwing her into a torture chamber?

Summer Vance had never been the type of woman to take a beating lying down.

When Xavier finally arrived at the corporate headquarters, he was met with total pandemonium and a tidal wave of public humiliation online.

After all, the network had suffered a catastrophic breach just a few days ago. To have it happen again so soon was a PR nightmare.

What made it worse was that a multibillion-dollar tech giant had been effortlessly brought to its knees by a lone hacker, paraded around like a complete joke.

This wasn't just highly embarrassing—it had caused Sterling Group's entire client base to suffer a severe crisis of faith in their data security.

"I'm so sorry, Xavier. This is all my fault for being so useless," Lily wept. She knew she couldn't pass the buck this time; there was literally no one else to use as a scapegoat.

Her face was ghost-pale, her eyes rimmed with red as she put on an award-winning display of crushing guilt and devastation.

Xavier pulled her into a protective embrace, gently rubbing her back. "It's not a big deal. Don't beat yourself up over it. You're brand new here, you're not fully acclimated to the architecture yet. It's completely understandable."

"Your company's servers were breached by a hacker today, and during that breach, a highly sensitive surveillance video was leaked to the public. You are currently under investigation for coercion, aggravated assault, and the unlawful imprisonment of Ms. Summer Vance."

"That video has dominated the headlines. It's sitting at over ten million views. Even if Ms. Vance hadn't formally pressed charges, the public outcry alone forces our hand. The internet is demanding a transparent investigation. Please, Mr. Sterling. Do not make this difficult."

Standing nearby, Paige's face drained of all color as a horrific realization struck him.

But that was impossible! He had personally scrubbed that surveillance footage from Xavier's office server. It was permanently, irrevocably deleted.

How the hell did that hacker manage to resurrect it and broadcast it to the entire world?

Xavier frowned, shooting Paige a lethal, calculating glance.

While he couldn't deny coercing Summer into filming that PR statement against her will, what did they mean by Lily and Paige committing aggravated assault?

Hadn't Paige explicitly told him that Summer was the one who pushed Lily?

Noting his genuine confusion, the detective unclipped his tablet and handed it over. "See for yourself, Mr. Sterling."

It was the exact security footage from his own office. He fast-forwarded the video to the moment he walked out the door.

The absolute second he left the frame, the sweet, vulnerable Lily on the screen underwent a terrifying transformation. A raw, unadulterated malice twisted her features—an ugliness so visceral it practically bled through the screen.