The Thorne Heiress Unveiling Shadow novel Chapter 11

The main boardroom of the Thorne Corporation was a theater of power. A vast, polished mahogany table reflected the glittering Manhattan skyline, and the air buzzed with the quiet confidence of the men and women who controlled a global empire. Chase stood at the head of the table, commanding the room with an easy authority that belied his years. On the massive screen behind him, data streams and satellite trajectories painted a picture of imminent triumph.

"As you can see, gentlemen," Chase said, his voice resonating with pride, "the final diagnostic checks on the StarLink network are green across the board. In twenty-four hours, we will activate the uplink, and Thorne Corporation will officially control the most advanced private satellite logistics network on the planet. Our competitor, Ryker Corp, is officially two years behind us."

A wave of appreciative murmurs and satisfied smiles went around the room. It was the culmination of years of work and billions of dollars of investment. The mood was electric with victory.

Evelyn was not present, but she was watching. From the security of her suite at Thorne Crest, a small, encrypted window on her laptop showed her a direct, untraceable feed from the boardroom's main camera. She watched her brother, a proud warmth spreading through her chest. After years of seeing him only in photos and financial reports, seeing him in his element, so competent and in command, was a profound experience. This was his moment, a victory he had earned.

Then, it happened.

Without warning, the presentation on the main screen dissolved into a blizzard of digital static. One by one, every screen in the boardroom—the massive display, the directors' tablets, Chase's personal laptop—flickered and went black. The sudden, oppressive silence was broken by a collective gasp.

Then, from the darkness of the screens, a single image bled into existence. It was a menacing, crimson red skull, its empty eye sockets seeming to mock the stunned executives. Beneath the skull, a 24-hour countdown timer appeared, its numbers glowing an ominous white.

00: 23: 59: 59.

"Get Peterson and his entire team to the server room now!" he roared into his intercom. "Lock down the building! No one gets in or out! I want our security servers physically isolated from the external net. Go!"

On her laptop in the quiet of the Hamptons, Evelyn watched the chaos unfold. The proud warmth she felt for her brother was replaced by a chilling, razor-sharp focus. Her expression hardened, her soft eyes turning to chips of ice. The attackers had timed their strike for the moment of maximum pride, to inflict not just financial damage, but psychological humiliation. It was a professional, cruel, and deeply personal move.

They hadn't just attacked her family's company. They had tried to break her brother. They had issued a challenge directly to the new home she had just found. And Shadow always answered a challenge.