The Unshackled: A Hacker's Retribution

On the night of her twenty-sixth birthday, Eliana Walker pushed her wheelchair through bar after bar, scouring every club in sight.

It wasn't until she received a call from the police station that her search for Lucien Lane came to an end.

"Is this Ms. Walker? Mr. Lane got drunk and started a fight. We need you to come down here."

After hanging up, Eliana rubbed warmth into her stiff fingers, unsure whether to feel relief or sorrow.

Before dawn, she finally reached the police station, just in time to see Lucien erupting in fury, "Who the hell told you to call her? Sure, she saved my life-but those useless crippled legs have shackled me for ten damn years! If she weren't Ethan's sister, I would've thrown a few million at her to be done with it long ago!" Ethan Walker was Eliana's elder brother.

Shards from the shattered bottle sprayed through the air, one slashing across Eliana's face.

Her face was slick with wetness-she couldn't tell if it was blood or tears.

With trembling hands, Eliana dialed a number.

She drew in a deep breath, her voice resolute, "Send out the message worldwide, the Anonymous hacker alliance will no longer offer any support to Lucien Lane's company. If any hackers want to test the strength of Lane Corporation's firewall, be my guest."

After posting bail, Eliana looked calmly at Lucien.

He had clearly been drinking heavily, his cheeks flushed with an unnatural redness.

Catching Eliana's gaze, Lucien pulled a mocking smile across his face, "So, you came. Don't be mad-give me a kiss, huh?"

No matter how outrageous Lucien's behavior had been, a kiss had always been enough to appease Eliana.

But this time, Eliana moved aside without a word, "Lucien, if you despise me, just say it to my face." I never intended to cling to you."

Lucien's brows drew tight as he wrestled with the weight of his hangover.

After a long pause, he finally asked with feigned nonchalance, "What did you just say?"

Eliana looked at him, a wave of helplessness washing over her.

Just as she was about to repeat herself, a girl with tear-reddened eyes flung herself into Lucien's arms, "It's all my fault, it's all because of me... If it weren't for me, Lucien wouldn't have fought them, and he wouldn't be this badly hurt!"

Eliana recognized the girl as Vivian Carter, the new intern at Lucien's company.

Not long ago, she had still addressed him respectfully as "Mr. Lane".

He had even laughed as he called the new girl adorably clumsy.

The girl's fingers brushed carelessly across Lucien's Adam's apple.

Eliana's pupils contracted sharply.

That was the most sensitive spot on Lucien's body.

Once, out of sheer curiosity, Eliana had touched it, and Lucien had shut the door, taking a cold shower for half an hour to cool down.

Yet now, facing Vivian, Lucien's voice was hoarse as he caught her earlobe between his lips, "Can't get enough, huh?"

The girl blushed scarlet and buried her face in his chest, "Someone's here!"

Lucien seized her lips in a fierce kiss, "Who gives a damn about the others!"

He kissed her with such force that the wound on his chest split open, blooming scarlet across his shirt.

He was truly drunk-wild, reckless, almost unhinged.

Or perhaps, this was who he really was.

Eliana looked at the upturned corners of Lucien's eyes, already misted with passion from his fervor.

She remembered how, whenever she tried to take things further, those smoldering, flirtatious eyes would curve ever so slightly, "No, we can't."

She had protested, demanding why it was only her who wasn't allowed.

Lucien would ruffle her hair, "You're too young, having sex this early isn't good for you."

Back then, she had been smug, believing she was cherished, set apart as the one dearest to his heart.

But now she realized that the Lucien who had seemed so restrained and ascetic before her was perhaps only that way because he never loved her.

Just as he claimed to be a germaphobe, yet his shirt bore glaring stains of another woman's lipstick.

Because he didn't love her, even the simplest touch repulsed him so much that he cloaked it with lies.

Her palm was already torn and bloody, yet the pain in her heart was far worse.

Eliana steered her wheelchair forward, slowly coming to a stop before the two of them.

She lifted her hand high and struck them each across the face.

"This is a police station-show some damn decency, both of you."

Eliana remembered neither Vivian's shouting nor the officers' attempts to calm things down.

She only remembered Lucien's fist stopping two centimeters from her nose, his icy gaze stabbing into her bones like needles, "You've really been spoiled."

She couldn't remember how she made it home-only that the next day, Lucien never came to massage her legs or apply the medicine.

Then came the third day, then the fourth.

Eliana knew he wasn't coming back.

For ten steadfast years he had cared for her, but now, at last, he was weary.

Eliana lifted the thermal blanket and stared blankly at the scars crisscrossing her long legs.

That day, when the beam collapsed in the fire, she had instinctively shoved Lucien aside-and from then on, her life was bound to a wheelchair.

She had never blamed him.

It was he who had knelt by her hospital bed in tears, swearing he would care for her forever.

"Lucien, so much for your 'forever.'" Eliana murmured to herself.

Only ten years.

She had witnessed with her own eyes how his gaze on her legs shifted-from guilt and anguish, to numb indifference, and at last, to naked loathing.

The alarm blared.

It was time for the elite assembly of Anonymous.

Eliana wheeled herself into the hidden chamber and took the central seat amid the thunderous roar of machinery.

Donning her mask and adjusting the voice changer, Eliana joined the meeting and spoke slowly, "I am Regno, head of Anonymous. Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening to you all."

One impatient member spoke up first, "Regno, you guarded Lane Enterprises like the apple of your eye. The Demolition Squad attacked wave after wave and still couldn't breach a crack, and now you're saying you'll just leave it be? You're not toying with us, are you?"

Back then, the Demolition Squad had taken an astronomical fee from a rival group and attacked Lane Enterprises for three days and nights straight.

It should have been a one-sided battle, yet Eliana staked her life on it, holding her ground against wave after wave and even seizing the chance to cripple several of their machines.

By the end, Eliana's ten fingers were locked stiff, each twitch sending pain straight to her heart.

Had it not been for the head of Anonymous, who had stepped in out of regard for her talent, her hands would have been ruined.

She was no saint, and certainly no fool.

When she loved, she gave without reserve; when the love was gone, she turned and walked away without a backward glance.

But those who repaid her love with betrayal would have to pay it all back-with interest.

At the thought, Eliana let a faint smile curve her lips, "I never break my promises.

Not only that, I will also, in my own name, issue a challenge to all of you for an attack-and-defense match. In ten days, we will launch an assault on Lane Enterprises' firewall. The alliance member who seizes its core secrets first will be the winner."

Before Eliana could finish, a voice rose from the far corner of the hall, "What's the reward?"

Eliana almost thought she had misheard.

The most enigmatic and formidable lone-wolf hacker, Raphael, had just spoken?

Could he truly be interested in something this childish?

She stifled the thrill of hearing her idol's voice, only to feel a wave of discouragement.

Bound to a wheelchair, she truly had nothing worthy enough to offer as a prize.

"How about one unconditional favor from Regno?"

Eliana clenched her palms, slick with sweat.

Fortunately, her name still carried weight.

Raphael, in a rare show of goodwill, said, "Fair enough," and even dropped a smiley face in the hall.

It seemed this legendary hacker wasn't as impossible to approach as the rumors claimed.

As the meeting ended, Eliana was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when she noticed more than a dozen missed calls flashing on her phone.

She called back, and a young woman's tear-choked voice came through, "Is this Ms. Walker, Your brother and Mr. Lane are fighting. Please come and talk them down!"

The passageway built especially for her was choked with clutter, and it took Eliana a great deal of effort to finally reach the CEO's office door.

Ethan's furious voice thundered through the heavy wooden door, "Lucien, fire that intern and apologize to Eliana-otherwise, don't bother calling me your friend."

The sickening thud of fist meeting flesh made teeth ache just to hear it.

Lucien spat a mouthful of blood to the floor, "A friend, and a friend's sister-you don't think you're meddling a little too much?"

The scuffle fell silent, and Ethan's voice shook with disbelief, "Eliana saved your life! She can never walk again because of it! During the hardest days of your start-up, it was Eliana and me running everywhere to raise money and find investors for you! When Lane Enterprises was hacked, Eliana stayed up night after night to hold the line. Her body was frail to begin with, and she nearly died coughing blood from pneumonia! Lucien, do you even have a conscience left?!"

A violent crash shook the door before her.

Lucien, holding back his fury, said, "I repaid the money, and I cared for her for ten years. As for the pneumonia, wasn't it because Eliana was fooling around and got her wheelchair stuck in the snow? Aren't you sick of dragging out the same old debt over and over?"

Eliana's hand froze on the door handle.

All sound seemed to vanish with Lucien's words.

The air was deathly still, and she heard her already fractured heart shatter all over again.

The excuses she had invented to spare him worry-he had believed them, and now he had even turned them into evidence against her, each word a blade driven into her.

Eliana shoved the door open, "Enough."

Ethan's eyes were bloodshot, his face mottled with bruises.

Lucien fared no better, clutching his stomach and barely able to stand upright.

Eliana didn't spare him a glance. She wheeled forward, pulling her brother away.

Lucien bellowed after her, "Eliana, I'd rather you had never saved me-"

Her fingertips trembled ever so slightly.

Lucien had once said those very words to her.

Back then, his tears had fallen in heavy drops onto her legs, drenching them.

He had asked her, "Does it hurt?"

She shook her head.

There was no feeling at all.

But he had only cried harder, "Eliana, I wish you'd never saved me. My life wasn't worth the cost of your whole future."

She had laughed and called him a fool-how could a life ever be weighed against a pair of legs?

Now, he was proving it with his actions.

His life was never worth her sacrificing her own.

When they reached the lobby, Vivian blocked their way with a mocking tone, "Well, well... the Walker family's two bloodsuckers are back again. So young and already so calculating, using those crippled legs to tie our Mr. Lane down for life. If you ask me, I bet you set that fire yourself."

Eliana said nothing, simply rolled her wheelchair right over Vivian's foot.

Vivian let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered.

Lucien rushed over at the sound, his eyes blazing at Eliana, "Eliana, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Eliana didn't even lift her gaze, "A smart dog knows when to step aside."

Lucien clamped down on her shoulder with frightening force, "Apologize."

A sharp crack came from her shoulder blade.

Eliana gritted her teeth and shot him a sidelong glance, "Figures-you really are a dog. Can't understand human words, only know how to keep barking."

Just as Lucien was about to speak, Vivian suddenly covered her face and burst into tears, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault... Lucien, don't let me ruin things between you and Eliana. I'll just leave."

Eliana watched her limp away-then a sudden violent force slammed into her wheelchair.

Caught off guard, she was thrown from the chair, tumbling across the floor until she slammed into the wall, pain tearing through her as if her body were coming apart.

Lucien's voice came cold and commanding, "I said, apologize."