Chapter 46
Chapter 46
“Sylvia! This is the last time. Stay away from Zack!” His face grim, Byron strode over, yanked open the car door, and pulled Zack out. He slammed it she venting his fury.
He was seething. Sylvia had never been up to any good. She acted indifferent to Zack, but she was subtly winning him over, step by step.
“Sylvia! Did you hear me?” Byron saw Sylvia wasn’t getting out, hadn’t even lowered the window. A muscle near his eye began to twitch, fury boiling in his chest at being ignored.
Sylvia calmly pressed a button, and the window slid down smoothly.
Byron looked from Sylvia in the car to Zack beside him. His voice was low and unyielding. “I’ll say this one more time, Zack. You are not to see her again!
Hesitation flickered across Zack’s face. But looking towards the car, he timidly raised his little hand and called out, “Bye, Mom! Drive safe!”
Sylvia gave a curt nod from inside the car, then coolly hit the gas and pulled away.
Byron’s expression darkened, radiating sheer menace. He whipped his head around to glare at Zack. ‘This little rascal! I tell him to cut ties with Sylvia, and what does he do?
“Waves goodbye! What had Sylvia done to the little rascal? How had she gotten him listening to her now?‘
Zack felt his father’s gaze turn colder. His stomach dropped. Afraid he was about to get it, he bolted towards the mansion.
“Grandma, I’m home!” he yelled, running inside. “Can I stay with you tonight?”
Byron followed, his expression still cold, watching his son scramble to escape punishment. Despite his anger, the corner of his mouth twitched with amusement. ‘The kid was definitely pushing back more, but he wasn’t the cold, detached little automaton he used to be.
‘He was acting more like a real kid, showing some spirit. Still, that didn’t mean he could get away with it. He needed to learn a lesson.”
“Zack, no dinner for you tonight!” Byron called out.
Zack, still running, glanced back over his shoulder. “Okay, Dad! But I already ate at Mom’s!” he added with a cheeky grin.
Byron’s anger flared right back up. He started rolling up his sleeves. It seemed the little rascal really was asking for it today.
“Grandma, help!” Zack shrieked. “Dad’s gonna get me!”
When Sylvia got home, she found Ruby already fast asleep, her sweet face nestled against the pillow, breathing softly.
A soft smile touched Sylvia’s lips. She gently tucked the small blanket around Ruby before lying down quietly beside her.
The next morning, Sylvia moved the boxes of medical patches, all packed and ready, to the curb. She had already arranged for a freight compa them up and deliver them to her buyers.
Right on schedule, a large truck pulled up slowly.
pick
Sylvia went up to confirm the details with the driver. But just as she was about to load the patches, a van screeched to a halt nearby, and seven or eight burly guys jumped out.
“Who said you could take jobs around here? Don’t you know Thunder Express bas this area locked down?” The leader was a heavily built bald man with a thick gold chain around his neck.
His crew looked menacing, and they quickly chased off the driver Sylvia had hired.
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Chapter 45
Sylvia narrowed her eyes. Her previous business ventures had been overseas, with established logistics. Now, starting small back home, she couldnu believe she was running into this kind of shakedown.
The bald man swaggered over, looking Sylvia up and down. “From now on, Thunder Express handles all your shipping, I’m Cody Blaze, the boon Yo anyone else, and there’ll be trouble.”
Sylvia asked coolly, “And?”
‘They knew exactly where to find me and even my shipping schedule,‘ she thought. ‘This isn’t just about fighting over turf
Cody laughed, his tone dismissive. “Looks like you catch on quick. We’re not just here for the shipping fees. I’m interested in that patch business of yours I want a two percent cut.”
Sylvia frowned, then gave a short, humorless laugh. “Let me guess. Joanna sent you, didn’t she?”
Joanna had lost face at the Pharmaceutical Conference yesterday. Seeing how well Sylvia’s patches were doing, she obviously couldn’t let it go. So this was her plan.‘
Cody’s expression flickered. He scoffed, “Joanna? Never heard of her! Look, let me make this clear: you ship with Thunder Express, or your stuff rots right
here.”
But she had no intention of backing down. After a moment’s thought, she took out her phone and dialed a number.
“… Are you able to hack into a company’s system?” Sylvia made the call right there in front of Cody. She was giving him one last chance. If he backed off now, maybe his company could be saved.
The person she called was her son, Zack.
Zack had remembered what Sylvia told him yesterday, finished his homework quickly after waking up, and was now enthusiastically coding a game.
For him, coding was like building a fantastic little world. He could create life simulation games where a gentle mother always took care of her baby. helping to fill the longing he felt for his own mom.
Just now, he’d had a new idea: add a sister to the game, a cute little sister like Ruby.
That’s when Sylvia’s call came through.
It was the first time Sylvia had called him since she’d returned. Zack’s face flushed with excitement. Hearing his mom’s request, he agreed without hesitation. “Mom! What’s the company’s name?
“I don’t know how tough their firewall is, but I can definitely give it a shot!”
“Thunder Express,” Sylvia said coolly.
Although she might have seemed indifferent to Zack on the surface, she’d looked into everything about him since coming back.
She knew about his amazing talent for programming from a young age, which had also left him slightly nearsighted – something she knew how to fix.
Zack wasn’t just good at game coding; he was also a skilled hacker.
And for a logistics company, its IT system was everything. If it went down, the whole operation was finished.
She decided to let Zack use Thunder Express for practice. If he really had a knack for this, perhaps she could help nurture that talent.
“Okay, Mom, don’t worry! Just some small logistics company? Should be no problem!” Zack sounded cheerful.
After hanging up, he immediately went back to his computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard as lines of malicious code began to infiltrate the Thunder Express network.
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