The Real Heiress Is Coming Back (Hannah Carter) novel Chapter 177

Chapter 177

Chapter 177

It was a golden yellow bonfire emblem.

Hannah paused, then muttered under her breath, “Vulcan?”

Still distracted, a red warning suddenly flashed across her screen, her firewall was down.

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Hannah snapped back, checked the code warning, yanked out her USB drive, stuffed her laptop into her bag, dropped a hundred bucks on the table, and hurried out.

Meanwhile, at the Scepter House, in the Celestial Pavilion, Barnaby had already traced the target’s location.

He quickly scanned through the files on the target’s computer and was just about to copy them when all the windows on the screen suddenly went gray.

The target had gone offline.

“The café next door,” Barnaby told Axel.

Axel immediately led his team to the café, but unsurprisingly, they didn’t spot anyone suspicious.

After reporting the situation to Barnaby over the phone, Axel was about to ask the manager to pull up the surveillance footage when Barnaby’s voice came through again.

“Don’t bother,” Barnaby said. “They’ve already been tampered with.”

It wasn’t just the café’s cameras that had been messed with. Even the street cameras facing the café had already been shut off in advance.

Barnaby drummed his long fingers back and forth on the table, a smirk tugging at his lips. His eyes gleamed with barely contained excitement.

He’d just hacked into Raven’s computer, but the guy was clearly ready for him, there wasn’t a single file left to find.

‘Now this is getting interesting, Barnaby thought.

‘Raven keeps pushing their luck, daring me again and again. Hope they don’t slip up too soon, or this game’s over before it even gets fun,’ he mused.

*****

Hannah sat in the back seat of the taxi, looking calm on the outside, but her mind was spinning.

That bonfire emblem she’d just seen kept popping up in her thoughts, along with the talk on the hacker forums about that other guy who hacked the satellite.

Was that person Vulcan?’ she wondered.

‘Could the Master of the Scepter House really be Vulcan?’ she thought.

‘Did Gemma’s death have something to do with him too?’ she couldn’t help but ask herself.

‘No wonder I couldn’t beat him the last two times I tried to hack him. He’s a real legend, totally on par with Shadow,’ she thought.

Just then, her phone screen lit up with a WhatsApp message.

Chapter 177

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Hannah came back to herself and tapped open the message. Turns out, it was from Shadow, and that caught her off guard.

Shadow: [Don’t dig any deeper into the Thole family’s business.]

Hannah’s long lashes trembled. Just that one line sent a chill down her spine.

‘How does Shadow know about this?’ she wondered.

‘Has he been watching me this whole time?’ she couldn’t help but think.

Raven: [Why?]

Shadow: [That’s not your business.]

Hannah typed out, [How is it not my business? The one who died back then was my adoptive mother…] Her fingers hovered over the send button, frustration bubbling up inside her.

But at the last second, she erased the words instead of sending them.

Back when she hit a dead end, it was Shadow who sent her the info on Gemma.

Now, after digging for so long, she was finally about to uncover who was really behind it all, and now he wanted her to back off? No way she was letting this drop.

Hannah kept typing and erasing, but in the end, the message box stayed empty.

Shadow didn’t give a damn about her feelings right now, he just shot over another

Shadow: [You broke the rules. You’re banned for six months.]

Hannah froze, her eyes locked on the screen. She knew exactly what he meant, when she hacked Veridia’s satellite and ended up wanted.

Punishment might have taken its sweet time, but it caught up with them in the end.

Hannah felt a wave of frustration, but Shadow was the mentor she’d known for eight years. They’d never met face to face, but she owed everything to him.

She forced herself to reply: [Yes.]

Shadow: [Good girl.]

Hannah was stunned.

She scrolled back through her chats and found the account “Piggy”.

Raven: [Help me set up a new account on the hacker forum.]

Piggy: [Why do you need a new account?]

Raven: [Just testing out a new alt.]

Piggy: [Why are you suddenly making an alt?]

Having alts was nothing new, most of the leaderboard regulars had a bunch. But Hannah never bothered with that. She’d grinded her main, Raven, all the way to number one on the hacker forum. One could say she was all-in on her main.

Raven: [Shadow banned my main account.]

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Chapter 177

Piggy: [Serves you right!]

Piggy: [Honestly, only the great Shadow himself can keep you under control these days.]

Piggy: [Don’t think I haven’t caught you logging in on the sly a few times.]

Raven: [Can’t you at least show me a little sympathy?”]

Piggy: [Shadow’s just looking out for you. He didn’t kick you out, just put your account on ice for a while.]

Piggy: [Honestly, with the way you act, it was only a matter of time before you got busted.]

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Piggy: [You have no idea, every time I see you, it’s like spotting a walking $100,000. I’m always torn, thinking. Why let someone else score that cash when I could just grab it myself?’]

Raven: [See you.]

Piggy: [TAT, my bad.]

Piggy: [Don’t be too down. There’s a new movie from Oliver, I’ll book a private screening for you and Barnaby. Go have some fun and take your mind off things.]

Hannah was speechless.

Barnaby was already back in Kinswood for the holidays. Piggy’s attempt at cheering her up just made it sting even more.

The taxi pulled up to the gates of Scott Villa, and Hannah paid the fare before getting out.

Felicity was in the living room chatting with Aurelia when she saw Hannah walk in, looking weighed down. She couldn’t help but ask, “Hannah, are you okay?”

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“I’m fine. Just a bit tired. I’m going upstairs to take a nap. Don’t bother me,” Hannah said, heading straight for the stairs.

Felicity and Aurelia exchanged a look.

“Is Hannah having issues with Barnaby again?” Felicity mumbled to herself.

The last time she and Barnaby had a spat, Hannah was like this, but she didn’t look nearly this upset.

Suddenly, Felicity’s eyes widened as a thought hit her. She turned to Aurelia, “Mom, you don’t think Hannah and Barnaby actually split up, do you?!”

“Quit panicking and get the facts straight first,” Aurelia said, sounding totally fed up. “If there really is something going on, then I’ll take care of it myself…”

Aurelia leaned in and whispered something to Felicity. Felicity blurted out, “Wait, isn’t that a bit much?”

Aurelia gave her a sharp look. “Just zip it and do what I say when the time comes.”

*****

Upstairs, Hannah walked into her room. Hedy immediately jumped off the bed and nuzzled her leg. After that, it stood by the door, looking up expectantly, as if waiting for someone else to show up.

Seeing Hedy like that, Hannah couldn’t help but feel a pang in her chest.

She closed the door, took off her coat, and hung it up. With a sigh, she said, “Stop waiting. Your dad’s not coming.”

Hedy let out a couple of grunts, clearly not happy about it.

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Chapter 177

Hannah flopped onto the bed in protest, sulking just as much.

Just then, her phone rang

She reached for it and glanced at the screen, it was Barnaby calling.

She picked up the phone, barely paying attention as she said, “Yeah?”

“Baby, I miss you,” Barnaby’s voice was low and smooth in her ear.

Maybe it was the way he said it, or just hearing his voice, but Hannah couldn’t help feeling a little better.

“Mm,” she murmured.

Barnaby immediately picked up on her mood. “You don’t sound too happy. What’s wrong?”

“I miss you,” Hannah said softly.

Barnaby’s breath caught. “Wait, say that again, let me hit record first.”

Hannah didn’t know what to say.

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13:12 Mon, Dec 22 M