Chapter 2 - The Morning Crash
At seven-thirty the following morning, the executive boardroom on the thirty-second floor of the Siqueira Tower was already chaotic.
Rodrigo stood at the panoramic glass window overlooking the downtown financial district, an espresso cup in his hand, feeling an intoxicating sense of absolute victory. Beside him, Marcela was draped in an ivory designer dress, her hands resting over her belly, admiring the way the corner office made her look like the rightful mistress of an empire. On the mahogany conference table sat the executed divorce settlement forms Helena had signed the night before.
“I’ll have my personal assistant file the decree with the family court by noon,” Rodrigo said, turning to kiss Marcela’s forehead. “By this time next month, your name will be on the company board roster, darling. My mother is already having the guest suites redecorated for the baby.”
The double oak doors burst open with a resounding bang.
Bernardo, the company’s chief technology officer and a veteran engineer who had worked under Rodrigo’s father for two decades, stumbled into the room. His tie was loosened, his face pale as chalk, clutching an iPad displaying flashing red error codes.
“Mr. Siqueira! We have a critical system collapse across all sector servers!” Bernardo shouted, not even acknowledging Marcela’s presence. “The central geotechnical monitoring hub went dark three minutes ago! All automated batching plants at the municipal harbor project have triggered an emergency lockdown!”
Rodrigo frowned, setting his coffee cup down on the table with an annoyed click. “What are you talking about, Bernardo? Just run the override protocol through our local administrative network. We have four thousand tons of marine-grade concrete en route to the deep-water piers right now. If those trucks idle for more than forty-five minutes, the mix will ruin!”
“There is no override protocol, sir!” Bernardo cried, thrusting the tablet into Rodrigo’s hands. “The administrative portal didn't experience a server glitch. Our enterprise security certificates were revoked from the source server. Look at the root provider!”
Rodrigo snatched the tablet, his eyes scanning the lines of code. At the center of the screen, an illuminated red warning box read: ‘ACCESS DENIED. LICENSE TERMINATED BY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY HOLDER: NEXIS ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS LLC. UNAUTHORIZED COMMERCIAL USAGE WILL TRIGGER FEDERAL INJUNCTION.’
Rodrigo’s breath hitched in his throat. The memory of the brown folder, the red ribbon, and Helena’s quiet, icy voice from the hotel room crashed through his mind like a physical blow.
‘The Siqueira family owns the construction company, Rodrigo. You never owned everything that made it profitable.’
“Call our IT department!” Rodrigo barked, his voice losing its confident edge. “Bypass the Nexis server! We own the physical hardware on the job site!”
“We don’t own the operating system, Mr. Siqueira!” Bernardo said, his voice cracking with sheer panic. “Helena Bennett holds the international utility patents on the dynamic soil-stabilization algorithms. The heavy hydraulic pumps won't operate without her encrypted telemetry keys. The city inspectors are on-site at the docks right now. They just issued a red tag. All construction on the four-hundred-million-dollar port expansion is officially halted!”
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Marcela’s hand dropped from her stomach, her painted lips parting in confusion. “Rodrigo? What does he mean? Can’t you just call your mother’s lawyers and have them force Helena to turn it back on?”
Before Rodrigo could speak, his private phone on the mahogany desk began vibrating violently. The caller ID flashed with the name that struck fear into every contractor in the state: MAYOR’S CHIEF OF STAFF.
