Chapter 179

"Dinner's ready. Go wash your hands," Clara called out as she stepped out of the kitchen.

Evelyn immediately ushered Henry and Lily to the sink to clean their hands.

By 9:00 p.m., the children were in their room. Henry lay wide awake, his mind racing over what Evelyn had mentioned before dinner.

"Lily," Henry whispered to his sister.

"Henry, you're still awake too? I'm scared. Dominic is so handsome, but he's a bad man. Sob, sob, sob. Why does he want to hurt us?" Lily stretched out her arms, hoping her brother would hold her so she could feel safe.

Henry shared his suspicion. "Maybe he's our father."

"What?" Lily gasped, her eyes widening.

"Lily, we need to take control. We have to find out the truth ourselves." Henry's voice was firm, a plan already forming in his mind.

"What should we do, Henry?" Lily asked, her big round eyes fixed on him.

"Go to sleep first," Henry said simply.

The next morning, chaos erupted at Blackwood Group. The entire corporate network crashed, sending the IT security team into a frenzy as they scrambled to identify the breach.

Dominic rushed to the office the moment he heard. How could a corporation of this scale suffer such a catastrophic system failure? Nothing like this had ever happened before.

Upon arrival, he first inspected the IT department before returning to his office and powering on his computer—only to find it had been hacked as well.

Every employee’s screen displayed a neon-green background with a mocking tongue-out emoji.

But Dominic’s screen was different.

Bold, crimson letters flashed against the same garish green: *"Come and strangle me, you sshole!"

Dominic’s jaw tightened. Asshole? The word was juvenile, almost laughable. What kind of adult would taunt him like this?

An hour later, the rest of the company’s systems were restored—except Dominic’s. His computer remained locked, the virus far more sophisticated than the others.

The IT team crowded into his office, desperately trying to crack the encryption.

Nathan frowned. "Mr. Blackwood, your nephew Julian was hacked before. Could it be the same person?"

Dominic’s expression darkened. "Last time, the hacker used Julian’s personal data. We never uncovered their identity."

"This hacker is circling us," Nathan analyzed. "First Julian’s phone, then the security footage from Willowbrook Academy, and now our entire corporate network. What’s their endgame?"

Dominic didn’t know. When Sophia had gone missing, she hadn’t been harmed. So the hacker wasn’t after her.

That left only two targets: Julian or himself.

Then, an image flashed in Dominic’s mind—Henry.

The boy had just transferred into Willowbrook Academy. The principal claimed he didn’t speak to strangers, yet the teacher had mentioned some kind of agreement between them—an unspoken truce that allowed Henry to stay.

That boy was anything but innocent.

Dominic made a mental note to dig deeper into Henry’s background as soon as he left the office.