Page 53 of Claws and Controllers

By late afternoon, everything was in place. The three of them gathered around Adonis’s array of monitors, tension thick in the air as they waited for someone to take the bait.

“How long do you think it’ll take?” Ellie asked, her leg bouncing nervously.

Zy placed a reassuring hand on her knee. “Hard to say. Could be hours, could be days.”

“Let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later,” Adonis muttered, his eyes never leaving the screens. “The longer we wait, the more time they have to—wait, hold on.”

Zy and Ellie leaned forward, watching as one of the monitors lit up with activity.

“Someone’s accessing the fake files,” Adonis reported, his fingers flying over the keyboard. “It’s... it’s not coming from Vince’s credentials.”

“My employee?” Ellie asked, her voice tight.

Adonis shook his head. “No, it’s... Zy, it’s coming from inside Ashford Entertainment. But it’s not Vince.”

Zy felt his blood run cold. “Who is it?”

Adonis’s face paled as he pulled up the user information. “It’s Corbett. Your cousin, Zy.”

The room fell silent as the implications sank in. Zy’s mind reeled, trying to process this new betrayal. Corbett, his own flesh and blood, stealing from the company?

“Are you sure?” he managed to ask, his voice rough.

Adonis nodded grimly. “It’s his login, his workstation. There’s no mistake.”

Ellie’s hand found Zy’s, squeezing it tight. “I’m so sorry, Zy.”

He squeezed back, grateful for her support. “We need to be certain. Adonis, dig deeper. I want to know everything Corbett’s been accessing, every file he’s touched.”

As Adonis dove back into his investigation, Zy tried to make sense of this new development. Corbett had always been the family troublemaker, more interested in partying than business. But theft? Corporate espionage? It seemed beyond even Corbett’s usual antics.

“Zy,” Adonis called, his voice tight with urgency. “You need to see this.”

Zy and Ellie crowded around the monitor. Adonis had pulled up a series of emails, all from an account they didn’t recognize.

“These were buried deep in Corbett’s encrypted files,” Adonis explained. “He’s been communicating with someone outside the company, arranging to sell proprietary information.”

Zy’s jaw clenched as he read through the messages. The casual way Corbett discussed betraying the family business made his blood boil.

“There’s more,” Adonis continued, pulling up another screen. “Look at this. There’s a connection between Corbett and Ellie’s employee. They’ve been working together.”

Ellie gasped softly. “So it wasn’t Vince at all?”

“Doesn’t look like it,” Adonis confirmed. “Corbett reached out to your guy, using some online gaming forums as cover. They’ve been planning this for months.”

Zy’s mind raced, piecing together the puzzle. “So Corbett stole our code and passed it to Ellie’s employee, who then implemented it in her game. But why? What’s the endgame here?”

Ellie’s eyes widened with realization. “To discredit me. If word got out that my game contained stolen code...”

“It would ruin you,” Zy finished, his heart aching for her. “And in the process, it would damage Ashford Entertainment’s reputation too. A perfect storm of chaos.”

“There’s an email here about an upcoming meet,” Adonis interjected. “Corbett’s planning to sell another batch of data tomorrow night.”

Zy’s expression hardened, determination replacing shock. “Then that’s where we’ll catch him. Adonis, I want every detail of this meeting. We’re going to set a trap, and this time, we’re going to end this once and for all.”

As they began planning their final sting operation, Zy couldn’t shake the weight of Corbett’s betrayal. Family had always been everything to him, a cornerstone of his life and his business. To have that trust so thoroughly violated cut deep.

But as he looked at Ellie, her face set with determination as she contributed ideas to their plan, he felt a glimmer of hope. They’d weather this storm together, and come out stronger.

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