After my daughter went missing inside my wife’s corporate headquarters, I hijacked the building's network and threatened the entire company with a hacker’s countdown protocol. "If my daughter isn't found in three hours, this program will broadcast everyone's private data to the public. Bank records, private chats, and every dirty little secret you keep hidden in the dark." Gasps and protests erupted across the open-plan office. My wife’s male secretary, Julian, stood with red, tear-filled eyes. "This is all my fault. I lost track of her. Ethan, if you’re angry, take it out on me! Don't drag innocent people into this." My wife, Chloe, gently rubbed his back, whispering comforting words to him before charging at me, her eyes burning with fury. A sharp slap cracked across my face. "You're a stay-at-home dad who couldn't even be bothered to watch his own kid! And now you’re committing cyber-terrorism against my company? Shut it down, now!" Expressionless, I rubbed my stinging cheek and hit the enter key to start the timer. "I suggest you all start looking. I want to see her alive, or I want to see a body." Tyler, one of the interns, scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Dude, you watch way too many sci-fi movies. Who do you think you are? You're psychotic." The moment the words left his mouth, every phone in the office chimed in unison. It was an automated mass-text: Tyler had ordered dozens of bottles of personal lubricant online over the past three days. The tense office suddenly broke into snickers. "Damn, Tyler, didn't know you were such a busy guy." Tyler’s face flushed beet red. He tried to hold it in but blurted out, "I bought them for Chloe..." The room went dead silent. Everyone’s gaze slowly shifted to Chloe. She remained perfectly composed, clearing her throat. "My husband and I are trying for a second baby. Is that a problem?" I let out a cold, cynical laugh. Chloe hadn't been home in six months. I had no idea who she was "trying for a baby" with, but it certainly wasn't me. However, after Tyler's little exposure, no one dared question my methods again. Tyler nudged Julian’s arm. "Julian, maybe you should explain what exactly happened?" Julian’s eyes were bloodshot, looking utterly devastated. "Chloe had a video conference this morning. There was no one to watch Lily, so she asked me to help. I just stepped away to use the restroom for a minute, and when I came back..." He choked on a sob, a grown man shedding tears in the middle of the office. The employees immediately rallied around him. "It's not your fault! When nature calls, you gotta go. Besides, it’s not your job to babysit." "Her own father didn't care enough to watch her. You did your best." Chloe looked at him with heartbreak in her eyes. "The only person to blame is Ethan. He raised a disobedient brat who runs off. She's caused you so much pain, Julian. When I find that little monster, I'll tan her hide and make her apologize to you on her knees." My heart turned to absolute ice. From the moment Lily disappeared until now, Chloe only cared about Julian's feelings. She didn't give a single damn whether our daughter was dead or alive. I cut through their pity party, my voice dangerously calm. "Two hours left." Marcus, the CFO, furrowed his brow. "Ethan, locking us in here doesn't help find the kid. Is it possible she just walked out the front doors to play? Maybe we should just... call the police?" Chime. Marcus's phone buzzed. So did everyone else's. Irrefutable evidence of Marcus embezzling company funds and cooking the books flashed on their screens. I stared at him, dead-eyed. "Are you sure you want to involve the cops?" Marcus broke out in a cold sweat, his voice pitching high. "I didn't do it!" I pulled up a digital ledger on the projector screen. "Then maybe you can explain these massive, undocumented expenditures?" Marcus guiltily shifted his eyes toward Chloe, stammering, unable to form a sentence. I smirked coldly. "If he won't say it, I will. Two million for a luxury condo for Julian. A hundred and fifty grand for Julian's sports car. Twenty grand for Julian's designer wardrobe..." "Enough!" Chloe shouted, cutting me off. "Are you just trying to start drama? Julian isn't from around here; buying him a place to stay is standard relocation! His commute was long, so he needed a car! He accompanies me to galas, so he needs to look the part! Every cent spent was for the good of this company. Instead of standing here drowning in your own paranoid jealousy, you should be looking for your daughter!" Julian bit his lip, softly weeping. "It's all my fault. Chloe just saw how much I was struggling and helped me out. I'll resign right now. I'll give it all back." Chloe wrapped a protective arm around his waist. "Nonsense! You're not going anywhere. Gifts are gifts. Ethan has a filthy mind and is twisting our relationship. Don't listen to him!" The crowd turned their righteous anger toward me. "Are we finding this kid or what? You clearly don't even love her. You're just using this to slut-shame your wife. With a dad like you, no wonder the kid ran away." The words hit me like a physical blow. Years ago, I worked three back-breaking jobs, living on instant noodles and no sleep, just to fund Chloe's startup. I was the one who built the foundation for her to become this "business prodigy." She used to tell me the company was bleeding money, tossing me a measly hundred bucks a month and telling me not to be a financial burden. While Lily and I crammed into a tiny, rundown studio apartment eating boiled cabbage, she was using our marital assets to buy mansions and luxury cars for Julian, dining at Michelin-star restaurants. I forced my emotions down. "My daughter is in this building. You have ninety minutes." "Fine! We'll look for her!" the staff grumbled, scattering to search. Once the room cleared a bit, I pulled a divorce agreement from my bag and slid it across the table to Chloe. "Sign it. We're done." Chloe scowled. "Ethan, I am not divorcing you. Julian and I are entirely platonic. I treat him like a younger brother." Before she even finished her sentence, her phone buzzed. She opened the message, and her pupils dilated in pure panic. "Ethan, you're blackmailing me!" I didn't flinch. "If you don't sign, that message goes out to the entire company in exactly three minutes." "You're out of your mind!" she hissed. "Do you really want Lily to grow up without a mother?" I looked up at her, a profound sadness flickering in my eyes. What good is a mother who doesn't even know her daughter's birthday or what kindergarten she goes to? Seeing I wasn't backing down, Chloe gritted her teeth and signed. "Divorce proceedings take months in this state anyway. I won't let it happen. We've weathered seven years together, Ethan." I laughed bitterly internally. Seven years ago, I cut ties with my wealthy family to run away with her. When we were broke, she promised me the world. I never expected it to end like this. If I hadn't secretly reconnected with my family recently, I wouldn't even have the leverage to stand in this room today. The search parties returned to the office, empty-handed. Tyler was panting, irritated. "She's not in the building! We checked everywhere!" I didn't argue. Instead, I cast the building's exterior security footage onto the projector. The cameras covered every possible exit. During the window she went missing, Lily never left the building. I glanced at the timer. "One hour left." "From this point on, I will release a new secret every ten minutes. If you don't find her, you can all look forward to prison or total social ruin." The employees exploded in rage. "Are you out of your damn mind?! We didn't lose your kid! Why are you punishing us?!" "Why didn't you watch her yourself instead of dumping her on your wife?!" "You deserve this! A deadbeat dad raises a brat. She's probably hiding in a closet somewhere laughing at us!" My expression remained entirely blank. I slowly turned my head toward Julian. "What do you think?" Seeing me single him out, he froze for a second before his eyes welled up again. "It's all my fault. If we can't find Lily, I don't want to live either. I won't eat or sleep until we find her." Chloe looked at him with deep admiration. "You are too kind for your own good, Julian. Not like some people who don't even care about their own flesh and blood." A brief flash of triumph flickered in Julian’s eyes before he masked it. "Julian," I said, cutting through their little romantic staredown. "Why did you have my mother-in-law bring Lily to the office today, knowing Chloe had a major video conference?" The employees, who had just been tearing into me for being a deadbeat, suddenly went quiet. Chloe looked at him in shock. I had always been Lily's sole caretaker. When Lily was suddenly dropped off at her office today, Chloe had been furious, assuming it was my idea to dump the kid on her. Seeing the room's suspicion shift to him, Julian looked at Chloe like a wounded puppy. "You... you got drunk last week and said you missed her. I just wanted to surprise you..." Though Chloe looked confused, she nodded along to protect him, then shot me a venomous glare. "Look how thoughtful he is! Look at yourself, Ethan! Even if my mother brought her here, you should have come along to watch her! This is entirely on you!" I lowered my eyes. I had guessed right. My mother-in-law despised Lily; she never would have brought her here unless someone paid her or manipulated her to do it. Ten minutes vanished in the blink of an eye. I scanned the room, my eyes landing on Chloe. I smiled. The smile sent a chill down her spine. "Ethan, I signed the papers! You can't use that against me!" I shook my head. "You have a lot of secrets, Chloe. Every single one of them is fascinating." Chime. A photo appeared on everyone's phones. In the picture, Chloe was beaming, holding a little boy in her arms. Julian stood right beside her. They looked like the perfect, happy family. I took that photo from a distance when I brought Lily to the park to collect recycling. Lily had looked at the happy family with wide, envious eyes. When she recognized the woman, she looked up at me, confused and hurt. "Daddy, is that Mommy?" "Daddy, I wish Mommy would hold me just once." All I could do was hold her tight and swallow my tears. Seeing the photo on her screen, all the color drained from Chloe's face. "What does this have to do with finding Lily?! I am sick of this!" I took a deep breath, staring at the ceiling. "If you don't tell me where my daughter is right now... you will never see that boy again." Julian let out a blood-curdling shriek. "You're a psychopath!" Realizing he had broken character, he cleared his throat and fell to his knees, looking at me with absolute terror. "Ethan, it's my fault she's gone! Kill me! Punish me! But don't hurt an innocent child!" He crawled toward me, reaching for my legs. Before I could even react, he suddenly screamed and threw himself backward as if I had kicked him. Chloe's face twisted into pure, murderous rage. In a blur of motion, she backhanded me across the face so hard I tasted blood. "You have a death wish, Ethan!" "You lost your own kid, and now you're threatening an innocent boy? You are a monster! I tried to remember the good times we had, but you make me sick!" Suddenly, Julian produced a sharp letter opener from a nearby desk and pressed it to his own wrist. "Ethan, I deserve to die. Blame me. Let everyone else go, let the boy go. I'll pay with my life. Just stop hurting people." He made a show of pressing the blade into his skin until Chloe lunged and ripped it from his grasp. His performance ignited the room. "Are you even human, Ethan?! Taking out your parenting failures on someone else's kid!" "Go to hell!" Before I could brace myself, a heavy boot slammed into my ribs. I lost my balance and crashed to the floor. As I tried to get up, Marcus the CFO brought a heavy office chair crashing down onto my back. "You wanna report me to the feds?! I'll kill you!" Tyler stomped his dress shoe directly onto my right hand, grinding his heel in. "Think you're a tough guy hacker? Let's see you leak our shit with shattered fingers!" I lay paralyzed on the floor, every nerve in my body screaming in agony. I forced my eyes open and looked at Chloe. She didn't even glance my way. She was too busy cradling Julian, frantically checking his wrist for a wound that barely existed. My heart had already died, but somehow, they found a way to kill it again. The woman who used to massage my calloused hands and cry over how hard I worked was now watching me get beaten to death with zero remorse. Chloe looked at the letter opener in her hand, a dark, sadistic smile creeping onto her face. "Tyler's right. Stomping a hand might not stop you from typing. But if we sever the tendons... that changes things." I froze, ice flooding my veins. "Chloe, if you do this, my family will destroy you. You know who they are." She hesitated for a split second, a flicker of doubt crossing her eyes. But then her cold arrogance returned. "You were disowned years ago. Still dreaming of being the billionaire heir? If you were really the young master of the Vance family, you wouldn't have been living like a rat for the past seven years." So she knew. She knew exactly what I gave up for her, and exactly how much I suffered. Without an ounce of pity, she grabbed my wrist, raised the blade, and slashed down. "This is for Julian! You owe him this!" I screamed, thrashing on the floor, gasping through the blinding pain to croak out the words: "Ten... minutes left." Tyler laughed. "Good luck sending texts with dead hands, loser." Chime. Every phone in the room rang again. Marcus dropped his chair, his face turning ghost white. "It's... it's an automated timer?" I smiled through bloody teeth. "Until I have my daughter, the program does not stop." The employees nervously opened the new message. It was the cover page of a clinical DNA paternity test. Chloe and Julian both turned to stone. My eyes locked onto Julian, sharp as daggers. "Five minutes left. When the clock hits zero, that boy dies, and the rest of this DNA report goes public." Chloe roared, stepping in front of Julian. "You don't need to threaten him! I admit it! The boy is mine! We used my egg and his sperm for IVF! Just let the boy go!" I didn't say a word to her. I just stared at Julian. "Is that right?" Julian stared at the floor, trembling. As the seconds ticked by on the projector, his facade finally shattered. He looked at me with eyes full of pure venom, his lips quivering. "I'll talk!"
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