CHAPTER 71: CHAPTER 71: I HATE BEING RIGHT

"It wasn’t a joke." Elias set the phone down on the desk like it might detonate. "I wouldn’t put it past him to try something theatrical. He proved to be a stalker..." He paused as a shiver crawled up his spine.

Adam muttered something unflattering under his breath and started pacing again, half-ready to rip the door off its hinges and interrogate the hallway.

Before he could make it to the exit, the door opened.

Robert dressed in a black suit with a discreet earpiece with a black wire that disappeared under his blazer.

Adam froze mid-step. Elias looked up from the desk, the tension in his spine drawing taut as a bowstring.

Robert closed the door behind him with a soft click. His movements were composed and calm.

"We intercepted some suspect activity on your phone," he said, eyes locked on Elias. "A number spoofing protocol, short-range pulse scan, and a timed reroute on the call signal. It didn’t originate from Ruo’s device. It just wore her number."

Elias didn’t speak, but his fingers curled slightly where they rested on the desk. "I didn’t answer."

"I know," Robert said. "But someone wanted you to."

He walked over, glancing at the phone still lying inert on the wood, and retrieved it with a pair of gloved fingers from his coat pocket. He turned it over once, then tucked it into an inner compartment of his blazer. "I’ll run it through Victor’s lab. If they left a fingerprint, even a digital one, we’ll find it."

Elias’s eyebrows furrowed under his round, gold-rimmed glasses. "That’s odd. Isn’t it the phone you gave me a week ago? How could they do it?"

Robert didn’t blink. "Exactly why I’m concerned."

He turned slightly, angling the phone away from the light like it might betray its secrets with the right tilt. "This wasn’t a brute force breach. No tracking malware. No remote access logs. Just... a ripple. Subtle, fast. Like someone knocked politely on the outermost gate and the phone opened a window to peek."

Adam leaned forward, frowning. "You’re saying it let them in?"

"I’m saying," Robert said, voice tightening with rare displeasure, "that something bypassed the second-tier firewall without tripping a single alert. That shouldn’t be possible. Not with my encryption. Not with Victor’s protocols."

Elias leaned back in the chair, arms folding over his chest. His expression shifted with that sharp, quiet calculation he only wore when the rules of the game changed mid-move. "So either it was someone with clearance..."

"Or someone who’s been watching the system long enough to fake it," Robert finished grimly.

He looked over at Elias then, his gaze steadier than the steam rising from the teacup nearby.

"Tell me again what happened. Word for word."

Elias didn’t move for a moment. Then, without looking away, he recited softly, "Call came through under Ruo’s name. No ID mismatch. Vibrated once. I didn’t answer. Adam was here all this..." Elias looked at the last time he saved his presentation: "six minutes." He stopped. "Huh, you really move fast."

Robert didn’t smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched, just once. A flicker of dry amusement. "Victor likes me well-prepared, but he values speed more."

He crouched slightly to examine the edge of the desk where the phone had been, as if proximity might reveal something he couldn’t see.

"Call came through under Ruo’s name. No mismatch," he repeated, eyes narrowing. "Which means it passed the triple-filter spoof barrier and the biometric caller registry. That’s not easy. Even Victor can’t call you directly without his ID getting flagged for manual verification."

Adam crossed his arms. "So someone either cracked our systems, or they borrowed a key from someone already inside."

Robert straightened, dusting invisible lint from his cuff. "Or someone built the breach into the system before it was ever activated."

Elias’s brow furrowed. "You think I was given a compromised device?"

"I think," Robert said carefully, "we underestimated just how long this game has been going. And you will get additional security until Victor returns."

Adam let out a low breath, finally dropping into one of the armchairs with a scowl etched deep between his brows. "You’re putting guards outside the door?"

"I’m placing guards," Robert corrected coolly, "inside the wing. Silent rotation. No uniforms. They won’t speak unless spoken to, and they won’t report to anyone but me, Ashwin, or Victor."

He tapped twice on the phone’s case before taking it for further investigation at the lab. "We would give you another phone, but until then, enjoy your vacation and don’t do anything reckless. Victor will be back in two days."

Elias gave a thin, humorless smile. "Define reckless. I blink too hard in this house and someone starts compiling a dossier."

Robert tilted his head, almost indulgently. "Then blink softly. And try not to provoke divine intervention until your security settings are properly restored."

He turned toward the door, then paused, glancing over his shoulder. "The wing is on lockdown, by the way. Standard protocol. No deliveries, no messages, and no unexplained electronic signals without prior clearance. If you hear something unusual, report it. If you feel something unusual, call me directly."

"With what phone?" Elias asked, dry as the teacup next to him.

Robert produced a small, rectangular object from his inner coat pocket, a minimalist communicator, matte black, with only one button. "Temporary line. Untraceable, short-range. Pre-linked to me and Victor only. Speak, and we’ll hear it."

Elias took it, turning it over in his hand like a strange coin. "You make this sound like I’m the most valuable hostage in the Empire."

Robert didn’t answer. He simply nodded once and stepped out the door with a final click that left the room too quiet.

The silence lingered for a beat.

Then Adam reached for the teapot and refilled both cups without comment.

Elias took his with a sigh, letting the heat soothe the chill that still lingered under his skin.

"I hate being right," he muttered.