Chapter 76

She turned and walked off without another word.

Rylie returned to her bedroom, thinking back to the hairpin Paola had waved around. That same pin had come from the library. There was no way it ended up here by accident.

After scanning her room, it became clear that someone had dug through her drawer-more than once. It didn't take much guessing to figure out what they were after.

She had written an impromptu piece not long ago. It wasn't finished. And yet, someone had discovered it.

Rylie sat for a moment, staring at the sheet music. To find out if her suspicion was right, she completed the second half, preparing two versions. One was the real score. The other was bait.

If Paola planned to take it and pass it off as her own, then she was walking straight into the consequences.

Once the task was wrapped up, Rylie logged into the dark web and spotted a high-priority message from Britton.

"Boss, our shipment got hit during transport at sea. The cargo vanished. A lot of our people didn't make it."

Without wasting a second, she rang Britton. "I arranged that route myself. Everything was covered. Could this be sabotage?"

Britton took a breath before answering. "Everyone in our ranks is under your chip. If anyone meant to betray us, they would've found a way to disable it. But nothing's happened. And the way this attack went down... It doesn't add up."

She narrowed her eyes. "How so?"

"They didn't even know what they were stealing," said Britton. "They triggered a blast and wiped out half the shipment.Those goods were worth nearly a billion."

Her chest tightened as the words sank in.

"They blew up half of it?"

Britton let out a sigh. "That's the strange part. Most of them died in the explosion, too. The few who survived took off with what little was left. The storm hit hard during all that. Our signal dropped once they got out of range.".

After thinking it over, he offered a plan. "We could use satellite tracking. If I tap into the system, I can lead a

team and reclaim what we lost."

Rylie shut it down immediately. "No. Too many eyes are on me. VitaLink, the Wildes, and the mayor's secretary's collapse-everything's too sensitive. If we hack anything now, it'll lead right back to me."

His voice rose in frustration. "They stole our weapons. And they probably don't even know how to use them.Could it be the buyer's trying to back out? They didn't want to pay, so they orchestrated this attack?"

She waved that off. "I doubt it. Give the team a bonus and tell them to get another batch ready.I'll deal with this quietly."

"Understood. By the way, the World Piano Association reached out. Their chairman said the Music Awards Gala wants you as a guest judge. They're hoping X. Aria shows up."

She gave a short laugh. "They don't care about me. They want that unfinished piano score. They're just using the gala as bait. Turn them down for me. I'm not making time for it."

Britton replied,"Understood."