A Deal with the Devil

Declan pushed past the trembling technician and snapped open the sleek laptop resting on his polished mahogany desk. His sharp eyes locked onto the glowing screen, scanning the provocative, insulting challenge plastered across Apex Global Hospital's ruined homepage. In a fraction of a second, his expression morphed into something deadly.

"Master Benji?" Declan murmured. He narrowed his eyes into dangerous, dark slits as he read the hacker's crude alias. His lips thinned into a rigid, bloodless line. "Hehe. Have I been too kind? Is that why some people still aren’t afraid of digging their own graves?"

The ambient temperature in the sprawling executive office seemed to plummet instantly. A suffocating aura of wrath radiated from his tall frame, freezing the air in the room. The technicians huddled near the doorway held their breath, terrified they would become the first casualties of his legendary temper. Standing nearby, Dalton wiped a bead of cold sweat from his temple. *Too kind?* Dalton thought frantically. *Everyone knows the boss is the living reincarnation of the King of Hell. Nobody dares cross him.* Except, of course, for Chloe.

Declan’s chilling, predatory gaze shifted from the monitor, falling heavily onto his assistant. "Did you find out who this Master Benji is?" he demanded, his voice a low, lethal hum. "I want an exact identity and a physical location now."

Dalton lowered his head, his face burning with shame under the intense scrutiny. "Our Cyber Security Department dispatched our elite hackers, Mr. Lancaster. But they are failing to bypass the intruder's secondary firewall. We cannot extract a single piece of information about this person."

Declan’s handsome face darkened further. He issued a cold, non-negotiable ultimatum. "I will give you two choices. Either find out who this person is yourself immediately, or go get help from Lachlan."

*Lachlan?* Dalton shuddered. The five-year-old boy had inherited his father's terrifying intellect. Coupled with rigorous training since infancy, Master Lachlan possessed demonic, world-class hacker skills. But asking the kid for a favor meant subjecting oneself to his unforgiving, deadly sarcasm.

Dalton glanced at Declan's slender fingers tapping against the desk, desperate for a reprieve. "Sir, could you perhaps ask—"

"Do I look like I have the time?" Declan cut him off, scoffing with sheer disdain. His gaze sharpened into a blade. "Get out."

Dalton scrambled out of the office, fleeing down the hall. When he burst into the Cyber Security Department, the room was a chaotic mess of error screens and frantic typing. He clapped his hands loudly. "Listen up! Unless you want to spend your next holiday locked in this server room, you better break this firewall!"

The IT staff groaned in despair, their fingers flying over their keyboards. But as Dalton watched over their shoulders, he realized the futility of their efforts. The hacker had set up a string of 2D passwords. The interface looked like a crude, kindergarten-level puzzle, yet it effortlessly blocked every brute-force attack the department launched. Humiliated and locked out of their own servers for the nth time, the team admitted defeat.

Sweating profusely, Dalton retreated to a quiet corner and pulled out his phone. He dialed the five-year-old prodigy.

The line connected. Silence.

"Master Lachlan, what are you up to?" Dalton asked, trying to sound casual while masking his rising panic.

"You have a favor to ask," Lachlan replied coolly.

Dalton swallowed hard. "Apex Global was attacked by malicious hackers. Master Lachlan, could you be so kind as to spare some of your precious time to help us restore the system?" he pleaded, his voice cracking into a near beg.

Over the line, Lachlan's voice remained airy, devoid of any corporate loyalty or urgency. "I see... But no."

*Click.*

Dalton stared at his dead phone, letting out a helpless sigh. He turned back to the monitors, glaring at the cartoonish 2D password screen that was making a mockery of a multi-billion-dollar corporation. Gritting his teeth, he redialed the number.

"What?" Lachlan answered, his tone laced with ice.

"Yo, Master Lachlan! Could you please lend a hand to Uncle Dalton?"

"Is Apex Global going to pay me?"

Dalton felt his soul leave his body. "Master Lachlan, Apex Global is your daddy's company! He’s going to hand it down to you in the future anyway."

"Not interested."

Desperate, Dalton tried a different angle, aiming straight for a guilt trip. "Come on, you wouldn’t want to see someone out there bullying your daddy, right? They are dragging his name through the mud."

*Click.*

Dalton lowered the phone, defeated. The kid had hung up without a second thought.

Meanwhile, miles away in a sprawling, dead-silent bedroom at the City South villa, a tiny physical replica of Declan sat perfectly straight in a customized leather gaming chair. Lachlan stared blankly at the massive, high-tech multi-monitor setup enveloping his desk. The ruined hospital website glowed on the center screen, displaying the hacker's crude text.

Lachlan read the specific line of the challenge over and over. *Declan Lancaster, how dare you bully beautiful girls?*

A faint, noticeable irritation flickered in his dark eyes. The unknown hacker’s public implication that his powerful father was a coward who bullied helpless women struck a nerve. *Daddy bullying girls? Ridiculous.*

"Childish," the five-year-old spat in disdain.

His small hands hovered over the glowing mechanical keyboard for a fraction of a second before descending. With terrifying, blinding speed, his fingers danced across the keys. Lines of code cascaded down his secondary monitors. He bypassed the intricate layers of the secondary firewall, deciphering the kindergarten-level string of 2D passwords that had stumped the hospital's elite IT department in a matter of seconds.

Within mere minutes, Lachlan systematically purged the malicious virus from the mainframe. He rebooted the security protocols and flawlessly restored Apex Global's entire corporate network. But he didn't stop there. His fingers continued to fly, aggressively back-tracing the offending hacker's hidden digital trail.

He navigated through multiple proxy servers, peeling back the layers of the intruder's cloaking software. A geographical map popped onto his screen, a red beacon pinging explicitly. The location isolated itself down to a specific, low-income microdistrict situated precisely in Prosper Town, City North.

With the complex mission accomplished, Lachlan grabbed his custom smartphone and dialed his father's private number.

In the restored executive office, Declan leaned back in his leather chair. He had just watched the chaotic error screens blink out, replaced by the familiar, pristine interface of the Apex Global corporate network. The crisis was averted.

His phone vibrated on the desk. Seeing the caller ID, he picked it up.

"Pay up," Lachlan demanded the second the call connected, skipping all pleasantries.

Declan rested his chin on his steepled fingers, impressed but unsurprised by his son's genius. The boy was unparalleled. "What do you want?" Declan asked smoothly. He never withheld rewards for services rendered.

"Mommy," Lachlan uttered.

The single word hung heavy in the tense silence of the call. Declan’s grip on the phone tightened. He was baffled by his son's sudden, specific obsession. Over the past few days, every conversation had circled back to this singular demand. *Lego? Mommy. Reward? Mommy.* Declan felt a brief wave of paranoia. Did the little guy intuitively know that Chloe had returned to the country?

Declan’s mind raced. Then, a calculating gleam flashed in his dark eyes. He saw the perfect opening to execute a specific, necessary scheme.

"If you want to see your mommy, you have to promise Daddy something very important first," Declan said, his voice lowering into a persuasive, manipulative tone.

Lachlan remained quiet, listening.

"In a few days, Daddy will find a brand new nanny for you," Declan continued smoothly. "She will take care of your meals and live with you in the house. If you can manage to get along with her, I promise to let you see Mommy."