Chapter 8: SAM’S CONFESSION

The office was still a battlefield of broken technology and shattered dreams. We’d been working tirelessly since the attack, trying to salvage what we could and patch together the remnants of our once-thriving workspace. Sam and I were the last ones left, the team having been sent home to regroup and recover from the chaos.

I was hunched over my desk, scanning through endless lines of code and system logs in a futile attempt to understand how we’d been breached. The flickering lights of the computer screen did little to illuminate the gloom settling over me. My mind was a storm of confusion and anger, desperately searching for answers amidst the wreckage.

Sam sat across from me, his face pale and drawn. His usual upbeat demeanor had been replaced by a haunted look, his shoulders slumped as if the weight of the world was pressing down on him. He hadn’t said much since the sabotage, but his silence spoke volumes.

Finally, he cleared his throat, breaking the oppressive silence. “Emily, I