A sharp, insistent alarm pierced the quiet of Elias's private office. He slammed his palm against the mahogany desk, rising swiftly. This wasn't the usual fire drill or system hiccup. This was different. The piercing wail felt predatory. Nothing in Vance Corp's highly secured infrastructure should trigger such an alert. Instinct took over. Elias sprinted from his office, his tailored suit jacket flapping behind him. His mind raced, calculating, assessing. Was it a physical breach? Unlikely. Their security was Fort Knox-level. Reaching the main server room, a cacophony of frantic voices and keyboard clicks assaulted him. Screens, usually a calming hum of blue and green data, pulsed with aggressive red. "Report!" Elias’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and commanding. Liam, his lead cybersecurity expert, spun around, eyes wide with panic. "Sir! We're under attack. A massive, coordinated D-DOS. And it's... it's beyond anything we've ever seen." Sweat beaded on Liam’s forehead. His fingers flew across his keyboard, trying to trace the intrusion. Other technicians worked with similar desperation, their faces pale. Multiple firewalls had fallen. External access points were being relentlessly probed, then breached. Data streams, usually encrypted and segmented, were now exposed, vulnerable. "Who?" Elias demanded, stepping closer to a screen displaying a cascade of error messages. His gaze narrowed, scanning the lines of code. Liam shook his head, frustration etched on his features. "The origin points are masked, bounced through a dozen proxies. But the sophistication... it's a state-sponsored level of attack, Mr. Vance." Suddenly, another alarm blared, louder this time. A flashing red banner appeared across all screens: “FINANCIAL SYSTEMS COMPROMISED.” Elias felt a cold dread creep up his spine. Financial systems. His personal accounts. Corporate holdings. Every asset linked to Vance Corp. "Check my personal portfolios," Elias ordered, his voice dangerously low. "And the corporate liquid assets. Now." Liam typed furiously, his knuckles white. Seconds stretched into an eternity. Then, a gasp. "Sir... your primary accounts. All frozen. Every single one." Elias watched the screen in disbelief. His offshore accounts, his local holdings, his investment portfolios – all locked down. A series of digital chains had been thrown around every cent he possessed. "Corporate accounts?" he pressed, his jaw tight enough to crack. Liam scrolled down. "Same, sir. Nearly eighty percent of Vance Corp's accessible funds are inaccessible. It's not a theft; it's a freeze. A digital blockade." Frustration boiled within Elias, a hot, searing rage. This wasn't about money. It was a message. A clear, unmistakable declaration of war from an enemy he still barely understood. They weren't trying to steal from him. They were trying to cripple him. To show him their reach. To show him their power. He thought of Clara. Of Leo. The Phoenix Syndicate. They had followed through on their silent threat. They were targeting him directly, cutting off his resources. "Can we trace the freezing command?" Elias asked, his voice calmer now, but laced with an icy edge that promised retribution. "We're trying, Mr. Vance," another tech chimed in. "It’s complex. Embedded deep. It’s like they knew our infrastructure better than we do." Minutes crawled by, each one bringing more grim news. More systems locked, more data streams corrupted. The attack wasn't just about freezing funds; it was about destabilizing Vance Corp entirely. Suddenly, a single, isolated message popped up on Liam's main monitor. It wasn't an error code. It was a chat window, stark white text on a black background. Liam stared at it, his eyes wide. "Sir, this just came through. It's encrypted. A direct, isolated channel." Elias leaned over, his eyes fixed on the screen. The message was brief, brutal, and utterly chilling. ‘The boy is ours, Vance. Don't interfere.’

Chapter 29: First Strike