Cassidy pushed through the heavy glass revolving doors of the midtown Manhattan bank building. Her black trench coat flared slightly around her legs, her high heels clicking sharply against the polished granite floor.
She bypassed the reception desk and walked straight into the Human Resources department. She pulled the printed resignation letter from her bag and slapped it flat onto the supervisor's desk.
Agnes, the HR supervisor, slowly looked up. She pushed her designer glasses up her nose, her eyes dripping with barely concealed contempt.
"Well," Agnes drawled, her voice thick with arrogance. "Have you finally grown tired of experiencing civilian life, Mrs. Lambert?"
Cassidy's face was a mask of absolute ice. She looked down at the woman and said, "Process the paperwork. Sign it. Now."
Agnes rolled her eyes, deliberately slowing her movements. She lazily clicked her mouse, pretending to meticulously verify the employee ID on her screen.
Suddenly, a chaotic commotion erupted in the hallway outside the glass office.
Sterling, the bank's Director of IT, sprinted into the HR office. His face was slick with sweat, his eyes wide with panic. "The core servers are hit with a military-grade ransomware attack!" he screamed.
"All the data is heavily encrypted!" Sterling yelled, grabbing his own hair. "If we don't bypass it in ten minutes, we lose millions!"
Agnes shot up from her chair, her face draining of color, completely useless in the face of the crisis.
Cassidy let out a heavy, irritated sigh. She walked around the desk and physically shoved the paralyzed Agnes out of the way.
Cassidy pulled the keyboard toward her. Her fingers hit the keys, instantly transforming into a blur of motion. She bypassed the standard UI and pulled up the raw, black command-line interface.
Sterling stood frozen in shock, watching the wealthy, supposedly useless trophy wife-who only ever handled basic printer maintenance-typing complex, high-level encryption bypass codes at lightning speed.
Less than three minutes later, a bright green progress bar flashed across the screen. It filled instantly.
Cassidy slammed her finger down on the Enter key.
A soft, melodic chime echoed through the office. The system was back online.
She stood up straight and casually dusted off her hands, as if she had just wiped a speck of dirt from her coat.
Sterling stared at her, his jaw practically on the floor. He stuttered, "W-who are you? How do you know the core encryption algorithms?"
Cassidy didn't even look at him. She turned her freezing gaze back to Agnes, who was staring at her in mute horror.
"Sign it," Cassidy commanded.
Agnes's hands shook violently as she grabbed a pen, scribbled her signature on the resignation form, and stamped it.
Cassidy snatched her copy of the paperwork from the desk, turned on her heel, and strode out of the office without another word.
She walked across the massive, echoing lobby toward the exit.
High above the marble floor, a giant LCD screen was broadcasting a live financial news network.
Cassidy stopped in her tracks. She looked up.
Filling the massive screen was the perfectly contoured, smiling face of Halle Moss.
The news anchor's voice boomed through the lobby speakers, announcing that Halle Moss had officially been appointed as the new Executive Vice President of the Lambert Group.
On the screen, Halle smiled radiantly, looking every bit the triumphant queen who had just conquered a corporate empire.
Cassidy stared at the screen and let out a harsh, mocking sneer.
She knew for a fact that Halle was a complete idiot when it came to technology. This high-level appointment was nothing but Cornelius paving the way for his precious childhood sweetheart with his own power.
Cassidy tore her eyes away from the screen, shoved the resignation papers into her bag, and pushed through the doors into the bright, biting sunlight.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Kori had sent a location pin for a high-end private lounge nearby.
Cassidy raised her hand, hailed a passing yellow cab, and sped toward the lounge, ready to start the war.
