ire cursed under her breath as her car rolled to a stop at the entrance of Metacortex. Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the mass of journalists crowded around the front entrance. She didn''t need this today. Not after everything that had already happened. She could see their cameras, microphones, and eager faces all craning to get a shot of her, hungry for a reaction, for a statement.


    "Perfect," she muttered sarcastically.


    She had no choice. She''d have to get out of the car. There was no way around it. But as soon as she opened the door, Metacortex security stepped in, forming a protective barrier between her and the vultures. Well, they looked like vultures to her in that moment. As soon as ire stepped out of the car, she could hear the loud mor of voices crashing over her.


    "ire! ire! What''s your take on the scandal with Alexander Harris?"


    "Is Metacortex going to cut ties with him?"


    "Do you think thepany will survive the bad press?"


    ire kept her head down, determined not to let them see her face. She wasn''t going to give them anything. Not a single reaction. She just walked, head down, eyes focused on the building ahead, while security blocked the crowd, guiding her inside. Once she was safely through the doors and the noise was muffled by the walls, she let out a long, shaky breath.


    "I hate the press," she mumbled to herself, catching a nce of the journalists still lingering outside, hoping for another shot. "Like, what do they expect me to say?"


    Shaking her head, ire headed straight for the elevators. Her heels clicked against the marble floor as she slid her card through the reader and jabbed the button for her office floor. As soon as the elevator doors slid shut, she leaned back against the cool wall and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her nerves.


    Ding.


    The elevator doors opened, and ire straightened herself, striding out with purpose. She wasn''t in the mood for any more nonsense today. Pushing open her office door with more force than she intended, she marched in and found Matthew lounging on the couch. "We need to do something," she announced in a sharp, business-like tone.


    Matthew, startled, looked up from his phone. "Uh, hello to you too, ire," he said, blinking in confusion. He quickly sat up, his phone forgotten on the couch. "What''s going on? Do what?"


    ire was pacing now, running her hands through her hair in frustration. "Alexander. This whole ridiculous situation. The press is hounding me, asking for my thoughts, and I can''t even go anywhere without getting ambushed." She paused and shot him a look. "It''s all over the news. The video of him yelling at that employee is trending."


    Matthew stood up, now fully alert. "Wait, wait-who''s behind this? How did it even blow up?"


    ire stopped pacing, crossed her arms, and looked Matthew dead in the eye. "udia Wright."


    Matthew''s eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait, what? udia Wright? But didn''t she just release an apology video, like, a few hours ago? I thought she was all about making peace with everyone. Why would she do this?"


    ire let out an exasperated sigh and shrugged. "Honestly? I don''t know. But it looks like she''s got some personal beef with Alexander, and now we''re all caught in the middle of it. This video resurfacing? It''s not just bad for him-it''s bad for ourpany. The stock market''s going to react. The whole situation is a mess."


    Matthew furrowed his brow, clearly trying to process everything. "So... what do you want me to do about it?"


    ire took a step closer to him, her eyes narrowing in determination. "I need your help. We''ve got to find something on udia Wright. Something we can use to ckmail her."


    Matthew blinked in surprise, raising an eyebrow. "ckmail? ire, this really isn''t your problem. Why are you getting involved in this? Isn''t this Alexander''s mess to clean up?"


    She let out a humorlessugh. "Oh, please. Do you really think Alexander''s going to handle this? The man can barely go five minutes without arguing with someone. Waiting for him to deal with udia is like waiting for snow in July. If I can get this sorted out, then why shouldn''t I?"


    Matthew scratched his head. "Okay, but... ckmail?"


    ire rolled her eyes. "Well, what do you suggest, then? Send her a polite email asking her to stop ruining everything?" She threw her hands up in frustration. "udia''s the type who only understands one thing leverage. If we don''t find something to hold over her, she''s just going to keeping for us, and who knows what else she''ll pull next?"


    "Alright, if that''s what you want. It''s been a while since I''ve done things like this." Matthew looked slightly excited, and ire found it amusing as she crossed her arms over her chest.


    "You pretend to be concerned but deep down, you enjoying this aren''t you?" Matthew shed ire a grin.


    "I''ll start digging into her background, see if there''s anything we can use."


    ire gave him a firm nod. "Thank you, Matthew. I''m done with people like udia thinking they can just do whatever they want and get away with it. If she''s going to y dirty, then so are we."


    Matthew nodded, grabbing hisptop from the table. "Okay, I''ll see what I can find. But we''re going to need something solid if we''re really going to take her down."


    ire nodded, her eyes hard with determination. "Don''t worry. I have a feeling udia''s hiding something. No one''s as perfect as she pretends to be."


    Matthew sank into the couch, his


    in, trying


    could serve as ammunition against udia. Ever since udia had taken over as CEO, she''d been obsessively crafting a new, polished image, seemingly trying to scrub away any trace of her past.


    But ire and Matthew? They weren''t about to let her get away that easily.


    They''d been hacking for hours,bing through udia''s digital life, looking for any footprint she might have left behind. ire''s fingers tapped rhythmically on her keyboard as she smirked. "Gotcha," she muttered under her breath, eyes glinting with mischief. Matthew nced up. "What''d you get?"


    With a satisfied grin, ire spun herptop around to show him. "Her Twitter ount. It was set to private. Now?" She clicked a button and smirked wider. "Public."


    Matthew chuckled, shaking his head. "You''re bad."


    ire leaned back in her chair, arms folded across her chest. "Not as bad as she''s about to look. Let''s see how long it takes for her to notice."


    They both continued digging, scrolling through udia''s posts, herments, and anything that could paint the perfect picture of hypocrisy. It was almost too easy-she had spent so much time trying to erase her past, that she probably assumed no one would be able to find the things she missed.


    Suddenly, Matthew sat up straighter, his eyes wide. "Wait, hold up."


    ire''s head snapped toward him. "What?"


    "I found something." He stood up, moving quickly to her desk, hisptop clutched tightly in his hands. "Here, check this out."


    ire leaned over, watching the screen as Matthew pulled up a video. The footage was grainy, probably a few years old, but there was no mistaking the scene.


    udia was sitting at an outdoor


    restaurant, surrounded by a group of her equally obnoxious-looking friends. In the middle ofughing,


    she picked up her ss of wine et


    and-without even ncing at the waitress standing beside her she tipped it over, pouring the red liquid down the poor woman''s front.


    "Seriously?" ire scoffed, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. "She''s out here trying to act all high and mighty, and this is how she treats people?"


    Matthew nodded, pulling up another tab. "There''s more. Look at this one."


    The second video showed udia at


    some sort of fancy g. This time, she wasn''t just being a jerk to the waitstaff she was berating someone, maybe a personal assistant, shouting at them about some trivial mistake, all while smiling for the cameras. The assistant stood there, looking like they wanted to melt into the floor, while udia just continued her


    tirade.


    ire shook her head, letting out a low whistle. "Wow. And she''s out here acting like she''s some kind of saint. Unbelievable."


    "Right?" Matthew chuckled. "And she''s trying to take Alexander down? Please. The public''s gonna eat this up."


    ire''s eyes gleamed with a hint of satisfaction as she grabbed a sh drive from her desk drawer. She handed it to Matthew. "Collect everything. Every video, every post-anything that makes her look like the real udia." Matthew nodded, popping the sh drive into hisptop and starting to download the files. "This is gonna be huge. Once we leak this, there''s no way she can recover from it."


    ire leaned back in her chair, smirking. "Let''s see how she likes the taste of her own medicine. She thought she was being smart, cleaning up her digital mess, but no one''s that clean."