“I’ll come back to the house with you. I won’t be able to do much remotely without making the situation worse. I’ll hold you to your word though, Devin. After this I plan to disappear and I don’t want you to look for me,” he says sternly, quickly dressing.
“I’ll be rotting in jail, it’s not like I would be able to do much searching,” I scoff.
A hint of a smile flickers on his face, “No, I suppose not.”
Once he’s dressed we walk back through his house, he engages the alarm, and we head to my car. Hopping in I start the ignition and wait for him to buckle up. Once we’re ready I back down the small driveway and onto the road, before setting off on the long journey across the state to get back home.
“So how did you do it?” I ask, glancing at Ethan who is sitting in the front passenger seat.
He snorts, “I’m not about to tell you that. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to keep up if I did.”
“Wanna bet? I’m not as dim as people seem to believe. I can hold my own very well when it comes to computers,” I retort.
“I know how good you are, Devin, but I’m even better,” he replies smugly.
“I know you are,” I reply softly, and he looks away, falling silent after my loaded response.
After several hours driving, I finally pull onto the long driveway that leads to my family’s house. The garage is empty when I get there, so Sebastian is probably the only one home right now. My heart is thudding heavily in my chest, and if I’d been able to choose, Ethan would be at home doing this rather than stepping back onto these grounds. My father will be furious if he finds out Ethan is here, but I’m hoping the return of our family’s wealth will be enough to appease his temper.
We walk through the silent house to the office where the network hub is run. Ethan pushes past me and opens the door, walking inside and settling behind one of the computers.
“Keep your mouth shut and give me a couple of hours to straighten everything out. I’d much rather leave you all to stew in your own despair, but annoyingly you’re starting to grow on me. Doesn’t mean I like you though, so get the fuck out of my office and let me work.”
Chapter Twenty
Ethan
I’m not sure why I let him talk me into doing this when the whole point was to make them suffer. Then again, I didn’t expect to be found so easily after all the precautions I put in place to protect mine and my family’s identities. Devin is smarter than I anticipated and I’m not sure how exactly he managed to uncover the truth, but I suppose I managed to do the same when it came to finding out who killed Katy. It may not have been in cold blood, but it’s still on Devin’s hands.
Revenge was what I wanted, and I still believe he needs to pay for what he did, but by doing all of this, am I really better than those I sought to ruin? I don’t know, and I don’t have time to dwell on it right now. I have work to do.
Thankfully, because I created the viruses and bots that are systematically destroying the system, I’m intimately familiar with their coding and am able to start work on disabling them. There’s a lot of damage, but not as much as I’d expected to see at this stage. As I methodically work through removing the most vicious viruses I created, I notice that a reasonable portion of the bots have already been deactivated. Switching computers I see where someone, presumably Devin, had been working on controlling the massacre I’d unleashed in their network. I’m actually impressed, because had he continued reinstating the firewalls and slowly eradicating the viruses and bots, then he might have been able to get it under control himself. However, it would’ve taken him a long time, and he wouldn’t have done it as quickly and effectively as I’ll be able to, and very little data would be left to recover.
Hours pass, I’m almost finished reinstating everything and recovering and restoring all the data. After that, I’ll deactivate the clone accounts I set up and send back the money that I removed. I couldn’t transfer it to myself directly, not without raising a huge red flag with their bank and drawing attention to myself from the authorities as well. I never wanted their filthy money, no amount of wealth could bring Katy back, but it gave me pleasure to know that they believed they were poorer than all the people they look down on.
I try not to think about the fact that even though he did treat me like the employee I was for the most part, Devin never actually treated me as lesser. I ball my fists, digging my nails into my palms and steel my resolve not to soften any further towards him, and remind myself of the reason I’m here. The arrogant bastard is getting under my skin, but once this is over, I’m never going to see him again. It’s not like I’d ever tell him anyway.
Sitting back down at the computer I was working on, I set about finishing and finalizing everything so the systems and network are all back online and functioning properly. When I’m done I let my head fall back onto the headrest of the chair and close my eyes with a heavy sigh.
A weight has settled in my stomach, but I’m not sure whether it’s because this is over, or because of what’s still to come. Devin promised that when I was safe he’d turn himself in for what he’s done, but with him in prison, would that actually protect me or
