The Ex-Wife's Billion Dollar Comeback - Chapter 29: Chapter 29

~ Soraya ~
Soraya arrived at the City Planning and Land Use Authority office at five p.m. Andrew followed closely behind her, carrying a portable drive and laptop.
The department head, Mr. Navarro, met them at the server room entrance, clearly distressed. “The system’s acting up. Zoning files, developer bids, and our internal network are going haywire. It started around 12:40 this afternoon.”
“Show me the logs,” Soraya said calmly.
Inside the control room, rows of data flashed across the screen—access timestamps, commands, file transfers. Most people would’ve been overwhelmed.
But not Soraya.
To her, numbers were never just numbers. They were movement, timing, and intent.
While others looked for what was missing, she focused on what was off.
It took her only twenty minutes.
“Someone’s in your system,” she muttered. “But not through the front door. Look here—12:41, remote commands coming in at intervals of exactly 1.43 seconds. That’s not a human. That’s a script.”
Andrew raised a brow, stunned. “How did you catch that? I thought we would take at least two hours.”
“They’re following a rhythm. Too precise. Real users hesitate,” she said, fingers flying across the keyboard. “They slipped in using a city-issued laptop. A contractor. Unpatched device. No endpoint protection.”
Mr. Navarro leaned forward. “Are we safe?”
“Not yet,” she said softly, her hands doing the magic on the keyboard.
Suddenly, the logs changed. More commands appeared. The hacker was pushing back.
“They’re still active,” Andrew said. “Trying to block you out.”
Soraya didn’t flinch. She was focused. “They know we’re here. They’re deleting logs, corrupting backups. They’re trying to stay hidden.”
She adjusted her tactics. “I’m building a sandbox—routing them into a fake environment. If I can trap their session, I can watch without them knowing.”
Within minutes, she created a decoy system. The attacker took the bait.
“They’re attacking a fake server now,” she said. “They think they’re winning.”
Andrew stared, amazed. “You're playing chess with them.”
“No,” Soraya said. “I’m buying us time.”
Bit by bit, she restored the original system from isolated backups, patched the vulnerabilities, and revoked network access from the infected device.
By seven in the evening, the main system was finally stabilized.
The breach was contained.
Mr. Navarro exhaled in relief. He looked at Soraya and said, “That was… incredible. You—you are a genius!”
“Not really, Mr. Navarro. I’m just obsessed with patterns and numbers,” Soraya said casually. “You need to audit your contractors. This won’t be the last time someone tries this trick.”
“We will definitely do that, Miss Azar. We don’t know how much you’ve helped us today,” Mr. Navarro said. He looked so overjoyed, he seemed ready to embrace Soraya. “You saved me from getting fired.”
“Everything okay now?” Suddenly, Silas walked in. After he learned that Soraya had handled everything, he said, “What? You didn’t leave any work for me?”
Andrew and Mr. Navarro laughed. Soraya shook her head, saying, “I didn’t know you were coming. Had I known, I would’ve stalled—”
“No! No, please,” Mr. Navarro clasped his hands, making a face. They all laughed in the end.
After dealing with the system breach, Mr. Navarro requested Soraya and Andrew to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Soraya affixed her signature but said, “However, Mr. Navarro, I have seen—”
“I understand—as long as the word doesn’t get out about what happened today and what you’ve discovered,” Mr. Navarro replied.
Curious, Silas gave Soraya a questioning look. It wasn’t until later that evening that she told him what she had discovered while securing the City Planning and Land Use Authority’s system.
Silas had taken Andrew and Soraya out for dinner. Andrew left first. Finally, Soraya shared with her friend, “I saw something big.”
“What? At the City Planning and Land Use Authority office?” Silas asked, and she nodded.
“They’ll be building an expressway from Everlin and Marrow Glen,” she began, naming the cities affected—fifteen in all. “To Stoneford, Cedar Heights, Belridge, and up to Velden Island!”
“It’s a collaborative project between the government and Altum Expressway Development.” Soraya made a face. “I’m not supposed to tell you this.”
Silas laughed. “I’m not telling anyone.”
“Anyway,” she leaned in and whispered, “they’ll be expanding zoning designations to allow for commercial and residential growth.”
“Silas, that’s a lot of towns, and between Everlin and Belridge, most of those areas are still untouched,” Soraya said, and for some reason, her skin crawled with excitement.
“When is this happening?” Silas moved closer, their conversation feeling oddly intimate.
“From what I saw, they’ll announce it next year—January,” Soraya shared. "But the project won't start until later."
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Silas whispered back, a smirk forming on his lips.
“Let’s buy some land.” Silas and Soraya said it at the same time, and they both smirked.
“But before that, we need to attend tomorrow’s business gala,” Silas reminded her. “Don’t come to work tomorrow. Why don’t you shop for a gown?”
He handed her his card and suggested, “My treat.”
“I already have some from the last shopping spree,” she said, pushing the card back.
“Soraya, tomorrow, big names are going to be there. Everyone will be wearing Chanel, Gucci, and Giorgio Armani. You need to dress the part, so I insist.” He offered his card again. "Plus, Mr. and Mrs. Sharma will be there."
Shaking her head, she said, “I have my own money. You forget, I’m a shareholder at the Montclair Group.”
“Oh. I forgot,” Silas chuckled. “Plus, you’ve got that alimony.”
“Then go with Lyra and buy yourself the fanciest dress. You need to shop early so it can be dry-cleaned before four. I’m picking you up at six,” he added, winking. “Then, on Saturday and Sunday, we go land-buying.”
“Okay, so you’re picking me up—but on weekends, I have things to do,” Soraya said.
“Soraya, going to Everlin will take four hours. We can’t do this on weekends,” Silas pointed out.
She bit her lip, thinking. “Hold that thought. Let me try to clear my weekend, okay? Let’s talk about it on Friday.”
Their dinner ended shortly. By the time Soraya arrived at her apartment, it was already ten in the evening. She was too exhausted to trade but decided to call Jacob Steel.
“Soraya,” Jacob answered after the third ring.
“Jacob, I might need to cancel this weekend,” she said. “There’s something important I need to do.”
There was silence on the other end before Jacob responded, “Soraya, we agreed, and you promised Angela you’d bake a cake together.”
“I know, I know, but I swear it’s urgent,” she said.
“Tell me,” he said plainly. His voice sounded smooth. She guessed she had called him in bed.
“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you,” she replied. “But I can do this: I’ll come by Friday after lunch. Angela and I can bake then. But I need to leave in the evening.”
“To make up for the day I’ll miss with Angela, how about—” Soraya paused, thinking. “How about I stay the whole week? I mean, I’ll still go to work, but I’ll be—”
Then she made a face. Did she just offer to sleep in Jacob’s estate for a whole week? When she realized the mistake, it was too late.
“Okay,” Jacob said. “That’s fine. So you can rest between drives from Cedar Heights to Belridge, I’ll ask Dante to pick you up every afternoon, starting Monday.”
“Um—I—”
“All good,” he said. “I’ll see you on Friday, then.”
‘He’ll see me on Friday?’ Soraya thought. ‘He’ll be there on Friday?’
“Um—” She sighed and surrendered. “Okay. Thank you, Jacob.”
Soraya put her phone down and leaned back on the couch. Her mind was racing—thinking about the land, the secret expressway, and the fact that she just agreed to stay in Jacob Steel’s house for a whole week.
She had stopped a cyberattack, uncovered a huge government project, and somehow made weekend plans she wasn’t ready for.
She looked at her laptop, tempted to start running numbers on land prices. But instead, she muttered, “What am I doing?”
Everything in her life was moving fast, changing without warning.
And for the first time in a long while, Soraya didn’t know if she was the one making the choices… or if something bigger had already chosen for her.