The Enticing CEO’s Chosen Bride

Chapter 2046

"Hey, Emiliana."

"Where have you been? Everything okay? When are you coming down?"

The light dimmed on Cicely's face as she inhaled a quiet breath, "I'm fine, just give me a moment more. I'll be right there."

"Make it snappy."

"Will do."

She hung up the phone and tucked it into her purse. Her palms slick with a sheen of cold sweat.d2

"Ms. Cicely, I've always said we have a certain fate, haven't I?"

Ray's demeanor was eerily calm, as if being caught in the act was the most natural thing in the world for him.

Cicely forced herself to relax, offering a hesitant smile as she slowly approached him.

"Mr. Ray, aren’y you in the wrong place?"

A light chuckle escaped Ray, "Not at all. It's rare for you to be here at this hour on a weekend, Ms. Cicely. What brings you?"

She didn't reply immediately, taking a moment before she retorted, "You don't seem too bothered about getting caught, do you?"

Ray leaned casually against a nearby desk, legs crossed, the picture of ease. "Since your call just now didn't blow my cover, does that mean we could perhaps strike a deal?"

Cicely fell silent for a beat, then burst into laughter. "So, you overheard what I said to Seth that day outside the hospital?"

He didn't deny, "Pure coincidence. I was just there to see Danielle discharged."

She closed the distance between them, their conversation as casual as if they were discussing the weather. "To be honest, our first encounter left a bad impression, and I might have misunderstood you. I wouldn't have pegged you for the romantic type, Mr. Ray."

Ray's smile widened as he removed his face mask, "Ms. Cicely, I am in the middle of a shady deal, so could you hand over your phone? Just in case you've called for backup, and then I'd really be in trouble."

Hesitating, Cicely reached into her purse to retrieve her phone. When she accidentally pressed the unlock button, the screen lit up, revealing a simple USB drive that had been lying there, forgotten.

However, the moment the phone's screen illuminated, Ray snatched the purse from her hands. He checked the phone and saw no calls made, and no other signs of tampering. Still not satisfied, he emptied her purse, scattering cosmetics, tissues, bank cards, and other daily essentials across the desk, along with the unassuming USB drive.

Picking up the drive, he raised an eyebrow with a smirk, "Can I assume that you're here for the same reason as me today, Ms. Cicely?"

Cicely curled her fingers, her gaze fixed on the USB drive before shaking her head, "Not sure."

"Hmm?" Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

She leaned against the desk, face-to-face with Ray, her voice laced with sarcasm. "Everyone knows that Seth is cold and aloof. The most important things to him are his mother and Diaz International, left to him by his father. My affection for him is no secret, and even though we're set to marry, he's

never said he loves me. I don't know when he might leave me, so I thought, if I could control something so important to him, he wouldn't just walk away. You're well aware his mother favors Danielle, and to this day her desire to set him up with Danielle is still alive and well. There was no way for me to break in from his mother, so my sights were set on Diaz International."

"I've mentioned transferring Diaz International to my name a few times, but he's resisted, saying that if the software development fails and the company faces losses, then Diaz International would easily fall into my hands. Honestly, compared to the Ellis Group, Diaz International is small fry. Whether it fails or not, its value is irrelevant to me; I just want it."

Cicely finished, her eyes on Ray who had been listening quietly, and she smiled. "So, I'm not sure if your goals align with mine. I intend to completely sabotage the software. Diaz International will then face a huge debt crisis, and with the Ellis family's help in repaying it, the company will be mine. If you're planning to take the software and start anew, I'm sorry, but I won't let you. Ruining it is one thing. Helping you profit is another."

“But I assume with all your planning, you've left no room for error, so you don't need to take it and reap any benefits. Even if you do develop it further on your own, Seth will eventually catch on, and he won't let you off easy. So, wouldn't destroying it be the best option?"

Ray listened to her, his expression contemplative, then he suddenly burst into laughter. "A woman in love can be terrifying, willing to go to such lengths for a man. Your analysis isn't wrong. I've kidnapped Camden's son; I've made it so there's no turning back. Seth destroyed the most important thing to me, my family, so I'll make sure he tastes the loss of his most prized possession, Diaz International”

“I have no intention of making a quick buck with this worthless program. If I'm dead, what's the point of money? Better to obliterate it. However..."

Ray's voice trailed off, his gaze on her, "Aren't you worried that if Seth finds out you're behind this, he'll leave you?"

A pang struck Cicely's heart, "You had the audacity to walk in here today, weren't you afraid of the cameras catching you?"

Ray scoffed, "With the head of engineering Camden in my grasp and, tampering with the surveillance was a piece of cake, wasn't it?"

Cicely nodded, "Exactly. No cameras, no evidence, no reason for him to suspect me."

Ray fixed his gaze on her, a sardonic grin playing on his lips. "So, we go in together?"

Cicely straightened up and strode toward Camden's office. Following her, Ray used another access card to unlock the door to Camden's office. He then settled into the swivel chair, powered up the computer, and keyed in the password Camden had given him—spot on.

Next, he fished out his own flash drive from his pocket, aiming to plug it into the port, but Cicely's voice, cool as a cucumber, stopped him in his tracks. "Mr. Ray."

Ray's hand paused mid-air as he looked up at her. "What, getting cold feet?"

Cicely just smiled. "If I'm going to sabotage, I'll do it right. I know a bit about programming. You moving files with that plain Jane flash drive? Any engineer here could recover the lost files without breaking a sweat. What's the point of your little exercise?"

Ray's face blanched. So Camden had a backup plan? Almost had him fooled.

"What should we do, then?"

"Destroy the computer itself."

Ray, puzzled, asked, "Smash it?"

Cicely chuckled. "You seem to be a bit out of your depth with computers, Mr. Ray. As long as the hard drive remains intact, smashing it is just an invitation for them to recover the data more easily."

Ray was starting to panic. "Then what do we do?!"

Cicely gestured towards the flash drive he had placed aside, the one he had rummaged from her bag. "That flash drive is loaded with a virus, custom-made for today's escapade. Once it's in the system, it'll shred everything, including the computer's core operational data. The files will be destroyed, and the computer will be rendered useless."

The concept sounded like something out of a cyberpunk novel to Ray, but he had heard of legendary hackers before. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility. "Why should I trust you?"

"Do you have a better option? We're both in too deep now. If I'm playing you, do you think you'd let me walk away?"

Ray pondered long and hard, and finally, through gritted teeth, decided to trust Cicely.

"And after we're done, give me back the flash drive. It cost me a pretty penny. Who knows? Maybe I'll use it to get back at someone else down the line."

"If it truly wipes the computer as you claim, then it's useless to me."

Cicely arched an eyebrow but said no more.

Ray took a deep breath and inserted the flash drive into the port. The computer screen flickered, then went black, showcasing a flurry of white code dancing across the darkness.

In about two minutes, the display halted, and five seconds later, the screen went pitch black. The central unit ceased to hum, and even the monitor's power indicator light faded to nothing.

It worked.

Cicely's tense heart finally eased a bit. She had thought Joel's program might fall short of her bold claims, but it seemed there was no need for concern.

Ray also exhaled deeply, pressing the power button of the central unit in vain. No response, and the same went for the monitor. She hadn't fooled him.

He looked up at Cicely, easily noticing the faint smile playing on her lips. He chuckled, realizing just now that love indeed could drive people to madness. A woman's wrath is a force to reckon with.

Cicely lowered her gaze to meet his, raising an eyebrow, "What’s on your mind?"

"Nothing much. Just that Seth really did a number on you. To push the P City princess to this extent."

Cicely walked over, reached over and tried the computer switch to make sure it didn't come back on, and bent over to pull the flash drive out. "To me, it's not a big deal. Diaz International could put up a fight, but they can't hold a candle to even a sliver of the Ellis Group shares. Worst case scenario, I'll compensate him with some of the Ellis' stock."

"Ms. Cicely, always generous," he said with a laugh as he stood up. "Well, now that the deed is done, the rest is up to you. Take care of yourself. I'm heading out. And I'll be taking your phone for now. Once I'm safely out of Diaz International, I'll leave it by the fountain downstairs. Remember to pick it up."

Cicely remained stone-faced.

Five minutes after Ray left the building, Cicely made her exit from the engineering department. She found Emiliana and Issac waiting in the parking lot.

Emiliana hurried over. "Cicely, you were gone for so long, what happened?"

Cicely's energy was nearly spent from the standoff with Ray, and she shook her head with a pale face, "Nothing much. Where are you staying tonight? I can have Issac drive you."

Emiliana, seeing Cicely's pallor and realizing she wouldn't get far with questions, shook her head. "No need, I've booked a hotel nearby. I'll take a cab. You don't look wel. You should head home and rest up."

Cicely nodded. "Be careful on your way."

Emiliana nodded, urging Cicely into the car.

Once in the vehicle, Cicely leaned back, closing her eyes. "Miss, what happened?" Issac inquired.

Cicely took a deep breath and responded with a faint "hmm" before slowly opening her eyes. "Didn't you see anyone else leaving the building while you were downstairs?"

"No," Issac's voice tensed. "Did you run into someone at the company?"

"Ray."

The car jerked violently before coming to a stop on the side of the road. Issac whipped around to face her, his expression grave. "Are you alright?"

Cicely shook her head. "I'm fine."

Issac exhaled in relief, restarted the car, and asked, "What was he doing at Diaz International?"

"No one wants to destroy Seth more than he does. He was after the software program."

Issac hesitated for a moment. "So, did he succeed in getting what he came for?"

"Well... Oh, right."

Cicely suddenly sat up straight, retrieved her phone, and dialed Joel's number. It wasn't ten o'clock yet, and Joel's phone was answered quickly. He seemed surprised and a little unsure about getting a call from Cicely. "Cicely?"

"Joel," she began urgently, "the flash drive you gave me, did you manage to crack the program?"

"The cracking program. That's been on the back burner for a while. Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

Cicely bit her lip, a tremor in her voice betraying her panic. “I accidentally used it today, and there are really important files on it. Why is it on hold? Is it too hard to crack?”

Her anxiety was palpable, even through the phone. Joel, who had been lounging on his bed ready to play with his phone before sleep, shot up like a jack-in-the-box. “It's not that it's too hard, just that other things came up. Don't freak out. I’ll contact our senior right now and see what’s up.”

Cicely clenched the phone tightly, tears circling her eyes. “Don’t hang up. I want to hear what he says, too.”

“Okay, hold on.”

Joel dashed to the landline to call his friend.

The topic of the decryption software came up, "We did have some problems that were a little difficult to solve, and then we put it on hold because we had other projects. What happened?"

Joel, feeling Cicely's urgency, blurted out, “The flash drive's been used, and we need to recover the files urgently. Can we work on this ASAP?”

“That urgent?”

Joel hummed affirmatively, “Better if we start tonight.”

There was silence on the other end before a reluctant agreement.

Cicely's heart eased a little as she wiped her tears, “Are we heading to the university? I’m coming, too.”

“Sure.”

After hanging up, Cicely bit her lip and sent a message to Seth – [Might be with Emiliana a bit longer tonight. Don’t wait up. Go to sleep.]

She added a pouting emoji and turned off her phone.

“Issac, we're heading to the university.”

Issac pursed his lips, “Miss, you won’t be any help there. Better you go home and wait for news.”

“I can’t sleep not knowing how to face him. I caused this mess, and now I've got to help fix it. Let’s just go to the university, and you turn off your phone too, so Seth can't reach you.”

“Understood.”

Not long after Cicely arrived at the university, Joel and his friend showed up one after another.

Seeing Cicely with red-rimmed eyes and a look of unease, they didn't know what to do other than to start working on the computer for a solution.

Cicely stood behind them, trying to understand their jargon-filled conversation.

Joel had never seen Cicely with red eyes before, much less imagined that she, a girl known for her pride, would cry. “You really don’t need to be here. You can’t help with this. Go home, take a bath, and rest.”

Cicely shook her head, gripping his arm, “I can’t, Joel... You've got to crack it. I don’t know what I’d do otherwise.” As she spoke, tears flooded her eyes again.

Joel felt a mix of heartache and guilt, “Don’t worry, we'll figure something out. I gave you that flash drive, so I share the blame. If you won't go home, at least sit down and try to relax.”

Cicely, utterly distraught and knowing she was of no help, let Joel guide her to a nearby seat.

*

Seth had just left the house when he received Cicely's message. After Camden's odd phone call yesterday, Seth had a hunch that something was off. He had Charlie dig into it and found that Camden’s family was missing.

Neighbors and relatives had no clue where they were. Then they learned that Camden's young son had vanished, and Mrs. Camden was taken while on her way to pick their son up from school. Camden was then threatened to come alone if he wanted to see his wife and child again.

Since yesterday afternoon, it had been 24 hours. Only now, Charlie had pinpointed their location - they'd been retrieved and were on their way to the company.

After receiving Cicely's message and confirming she was with Emiliana under Issac's watch, Seth felt no urgency to hasten her return home.

*

When Seth met Camden at the company, the man was a wreck. Falling to the ground before Seth, Camden wept bitterly. “Mr. Diaz, I'm so sorry, I had no choice, they threatened my son’s life.”

Seth's usually stoic face darkened ominously. “Who threatened your son?”

“It was Ray.”

Seth's demeanor, already frosty, became glacial as he stood up, causing the office air to feel like ice. “And what did he want from you?”

“He took the company's access cards, my office's key cards, my computer password, and the storage path for our latest software program.”

Charlie felt a chill run down his spine.

Seth felt that targeting Ray’s family without reason and then acting against them while cripplin g Ray was too ruthless, which was why he showed a hint of remorse towards Ray’s family. So, he tossed Ray into the police station to fend for himself, and he did not pursue the matter further afterward. Charlie knew Ray hated Seth, but he didn't expect him to really take drastic measures.

“But Mr. Diaz, Ray doesn't seem to know much about computers. If he just deleted files or copied them, I still might be able to recover them.”

Seth’s expression only grew more severe at this. “When did he come?”

Camden paused, “He left after getting my stuff. Wasn’t it tonight?”

Seth glanced at Charlie, who quickly left the office. Seth followed, with Camden scrambling behind.

*

On the twelfth floor, in Camden's office, Charlie bent over the computer, failing to boot it up after several attempts.

Camden approached the computer with a palpable tension, his attempts to awaken the screen fruitless. Frantically, he switched to a backup laptop, trying to remotely access the first. Within minutes, his face drained of color, leaving him looking like a ghost.

"What's wrong?!" Charlie, lacking Seth's cool composure, pressed for answers upon seeing Camden's pale countenance.

Camden's lips quivered as he stammered, "Mr. Diaz, all its data has been wiped clean from that computer."

Seth's eyes narrowed sharply, the chill in his brow spreading like frost across a windowpane. His voice was a cold snap threatening to fracture a sturdy glacier.

"What do you mean 'all its data has been wiped clean'?"

Camden, on the verge of passing out, stammered, "It's all the fundamental data, the stuff that makes the computer operate, it's gone. Without it, this computer is as good as a piece of junk."

Charlie closed his eyes in despair. It was over.

Nearly two years of preparation, a fortune invested, all for what? A pile of the world's most expensive junk.

Seth's hands hung by his sides, clenched into fists as if made of bone.

"I thought he didn't know anything about computers?"

"I don't know. I'm just as lost. I remember he took a USB flash drive and even asked me if transferring files to it was enough. But this, this is the work of a pro, not some amateur."

Camden paused, catching a glimpse of Seth's ominously dark expression and quickly looked away, mumbling with his head down, "Mr. Diaz. I think he must have had help. There's no way he could've done this on his own with his half-baked computer knowledge."

Charlie spun on his heel, "I'll check the security footage."

Seth remained silent. What good would it do? What's gone is irreplaceable.

Camden, trembling with fear, added, "He had me erase the records of the security tapes."