Fake Heiress Real Trouble (Sienna) novel Chapter 35

Chapter 35

The situation was dire. Even though Sienna’d pulled an all-nighter last night patching up the core data in a rush, the rest still required hands-on work at the institute, collaborating with the other experts.

Patrick had said he’d lined up a partner for her-one with “serious clout, top-notch skills, and the chops to tackle some tricky issues.”

She never imagined that partner would turn out to be Mason, the crown prince of Orlathis City’s elite crowd.

Together, they stepped into the national core research institute, making a beeline for the heart of Project “Wonder”-the main control room.

The air was thick with tension, the massive wraparound screens blaring relentless red alerts across the core algorithm sections.

Dozens of white-coated researchers-plenty with salt-and-pepper hair and decades under their belts- scurried around the control panels.

As the duo entered, a handful of them froze in surprise.

One younger guy, with a wild mop of bedhead and a stocky frame, scratched his scalp in frustration, barking at them, “You two-do you have any idea where you are? Get the hell out!”

These were the kind of lab dwellers who lived and breathed the institute; none of them clocked Mason as the notorious scion from Orlathis City.

“I’m…” Sienna began, not wanting to waste a second.

But the stocky guy, already at his wit’s end, waved them away dismissively. “Beat it! This is the national core secure control hub-no matter who you think you are, you don’t belong here! Unauthorized people, out— now!”

His loud bellow pulled annoyed glances from the researchers nearby.

In the middle of this full-blown emergency, his outburst-plus the sudden appearance of two apparent outsiders-was just stirring up more trouble.

Sienna’s brows knit together, her grip tightening restlessly on her canvas bag strap.

As the stocky researcher barreled toward them, gearing up to shove them out…

Mason, hands tucked in his pockets, took a casual step forward. His lanky form slid right in front of Sienna, shielding her.

Reining in his typical roguish laziness, he glanced up coolly and fixed the guy with a mild stare.

That one understated look was enough to strangle the words in the stocky researcher’s throat, leaving him mute for a solid beat.

“You do realize this is the national core secure control hub?” Mason said, his tone icy and edged with menace.

The stocky researcher’s face went rigid in an instant.

Without proper clearance, no one could set foot in this room. He thought, ‘So how on earth did they?’

“Out of the way.” Sienna scowled, her voice sharp with irritation. She lifted a hand and nudged the obstructing researcher aside.

Her slender fingers looked fragile as hell, especially against the guy’s 180-pound bulk-her arm seemed like it might snap with the slightest pressure.

Yet she barely seemed to exert herself, and the stocky researcher staggered sideways a few steps, almost face- planting.

Sienna didn’t spare him a glance, marching straight to an empty chair, dropping into it, and yanking her laptop from the bag.

While it powered on, she lifted her gaze, eyes darting across the enormous screens in front of her.

She mentally charted every single data pathway.

“Bring up all the data shifts from last night’s patch through now,” she instructed, “and sync the complete log of yesterday’s cleanup program.”

Her tone was crisp and detached-not raised, but with an undeniable authority that compelled action.

One researcher moved to comply.

But the stocky guy, having just regained his balance from the shove, smacked his palm down on the table, his face twisted in embarrassed fury. “Who the hell do you think you are? This is top-secret national intel-why would we just hand it over to you?”

“Erik, she… she could be the expert Professor Sharp rushed in as backup…” another researcher murmured.

Erik Austin let out a derisive snort, narrowing his eyes as he eyed Sienna up and down, his oily, exhausted face oozing contempt. “How old is she, anyway? Barely out of diapers? Some bratty kid who hasn’t even hit puberty-what kind of expert? If she’s Professor Sharp’s so-called savior, I’ll call her grandma!”

“No need.” Sienna’s gaze was cool and clear as she slowly lifted it, finally deigning to look Erik straight in the eye, her tone utterly flat. “I don’t need an idiot like you as a grandson.”

“You!” Erik’s face darkened, and he barreled right up to Sienna, staring her down for a tense moment before sneering coldly. “Listen, kid, do you even realize the consequences of messing around in a place like this? You think showing up with a laptop and a few basic coding skills makes you hot stuff? This isn’t your college comp sci club!”

Sienna didn’t so much as twitch an eyelid, her expression as emotionless and frosty as cracked ice, fingers blurring over the keyboard. “Oh yeah, you’re the expert-such an expert that after all these hours, the core module’s still screaming alerts, right?”

Her casual, deadpan delivery packed a sarcastic punch, not just gutting Erik but hitting home for every researcher there who’d been slogging through the night for over a dozen hours with barely any progress.

Erik’s face turned beet red in a flash, and he fired back in embarrassed defense, “What would you know? The fact that they breached and crashed our national core data shows just how sophisticated and deadly their attack was! We’ve been running at full throttle here for seventeen straight hours and still haven’t fully nailed it -you…”

“So.” Sienna kept her eyes down, her fingers hitting enter as a cascade of complex commands flooded her

screen.

Only then did she look up, her stare cool and unwavering. “You’re incompetent. Just admit it.”

A couple of the younger researchers couldn’t hold back their chuckles.

Erik fumed, his fists balling and releasing as he sneered, “If you’re that talented, then show us!”

“That’s why I’m here,” Sienna replied, glancing at her screen where the scrolling commands were rapidly interfacing with the control room’s systems, “to sort this out.”

Erik let out a dismissive snort. “What an arrogant little punk!”

Sienna dipped her head back down and said firmly, “Now-sync over the data and traces I asked for.”

At that moment, an older researcher with graying hair rushed over.

His eyes flicked back and forth between Sienna and Mason before locking onto her, a faint spark of hope in his demeanor, his voice grave. “Are you certain… you can handle this?”

Sienna remained composed. “As long as everyone cooperates and does what I say, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

The old researcher scrutinized her closely, then peered at her screen-the code whipping by in a blur, too fast to decipher, but clearly ramping up as she ran some intricate routine.

His expression hardened as he turned to the whole core team. “From this point on, everyone gives full support. Hold your questions until we’re done!”

“Homer!” Erik gaped. “You’re really buying this? What if she’s all talk and screws up even one data point? The core module will wipe itself out, and then…”

“Erik, that all-nighter must’ve scrambled your head,” Homer Harmon snapped, shooting him a icy glare. “If these two got through to the control room, it means they’ve got Bradley’s approval.”

He paused, his voice sharpening further. “Unless you’ve got a solution, Erik?”

Verify captcha to read the contentVerify