CHAPTER 9 — The Last Move
The entire conference room moved at once.
Executives grabbed their phones.
Employees rushed toward their computers.
Daniel immediately called his technical team.
And Adrian…
Adrian stood completely still.
Like he already knew what we were about to find.
I watched him carefully.
“Adrian.”
He looked at me.
“What?”
“You’re scared.”
He swallowed.
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised me.
“Why?”
His eyes moved toward the company logo displayed on the wall.
“Because Marcus knows where our weakness is.”
I frowned.
“Our weakness?”
“The one thing no one thinks about when they talk about a company.”
I waited.
“The people.”
A few minutes later, Daniel returned.
His expression told me everything.
“What happened?”
He placed his phone on the table.
“Marcus activated a hidden system.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“What system?”
Daniel looked at him.
“A backup destruction protocol.”
Silence.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Daniel answered carefully.
“It means if Marcus loses control of the company, the system begins deleting critical data.”
Everyone froze.
“Customer information?” one executive asked.
“Financial records?” another added.
Daniel nodded.
“Everything.”
My heart dropped.
“He planned this from the beginning.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
The word came quietly.
“He didn’t want to own Beckett Technologies.”
Everyone looked at him.
“He wanted to destroy it.”
The realization was worse than stealing.
Because stealing meant greed.
Destroying meant revenge.
“Why?” I asked.
Adrian looked at me.
“Because he believed I ruined his life.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Years ago, Marcus wanted to become CEO.”
Adrian continued.
“But investors chose me.”
I remembered.
The early years.
The competition.
The pressure.
“You beat him.”
Adrian nodded.
“He never forgave me.”
Daniel looked at the computer screen.
“We need to stop the deletion process before midnight.”
“How?”
“We need the original founder authorization.”
Everyone looked at Adrian.
Then they looked at me.
I understood immediately.
“Mine.”
Daniel nodded.
“The system requires approval from the majority owner.”
I stood.
“Then let’s do it.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Emma.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“I don’t deserve your help.”
The room became quiet.
I looked at him.
And for a moment, I saw the man I married.
Not the CEO.
Not the billionaire everyone admired.
Just Adrian.
The young man who once sat on our apartment floor and told me he wanted to build something meaningful.
“You’re right,” I said.
Pain crossed his face.
“But this isn’t about you.”
I picked up the authorization papers.
“It’s about the company.”
I paused.
“And the people who depend on it.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
Together, we walked to the technology department.
For the first time in months, we stood on the same side.
Not as husband and wife.
Not yet.
As two people trying to save something we had both almost lost.
The servers were already showing warning signs.
Red alerts flashed across multiple screens.
SYSTEM DELETION: 42% COMPLETE
“Forty-two percent?” I asked.
The technician nodded.
“It’s increasing every minute.”
“Can we stop it?”
He hesitated.
“Only with the founder authorization.”
I sat in front of the terminal.
The system requested my fingerprint.
I placed my hand on the scanner.
A message appeared.
VERIFYING OWNER IDENTITY.
Everyone waited.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Then:
IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
A second message appeared.
WELCOME BACK, CO-FOUNDER EMMA BECKETT.
The entire room went silent.
Even Adrian looked emotional.
I entered the authorization code.
The deletion percentage stopped.
42%.
43%.
Then suddenly…
it started increasing again.
The technician looked confused.
“That’s impossible.”
“What?”
“There’s another command.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What command?”
The technician’s face turned pale.
“A second user is overriding the shutdown.”
I looked at the screen.
A username appeared.
Not Marcus.
Not an unknown account.
Someone else.
Someone who had access to everything.
My blood ran cold.
Because the username belonged to someone I knew.
Someone I trusted.
Someone who had been helping us.
The screen displayed:
ADMIN ACCESS: ADRIAN BECKETT
I slowly turned toward my husband.
The entire room went silent.
“Adrian…”
His face lost all color.
“I didn’t do that.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because the evidence was right there.
And once again…
May you like
I was looking at the man I loved.
Wondering if I ever truly knew him.
