Ch. 2021..2025: My Wife Is A Hacker Chapter 2021-2025

Chapter 2021

"I get it. But the outside world is full of danger." Gloria murmured, and her eyes turned red.

If it were not for the dangers outside, Nicole would have never left home for five years with no news. They did not even know if she was still alive or not.

Gloria's words made the atmosphere grow heavy. Nicole's disappearance was truly a pain in the entire family's heart, causing them an indescribable wound.

"Aunty, we'll take good care of her this time," Jared claimed, his aura determined. Jared would not allow anyone to harm Nicole anymore.

"Mom, we'll protect her too." The few brothers had the same conviction.

Daniel came home at this moment and heard their declaration. He comforted Gloria. "Take it easy. Let's give the kids a chance. Plus, we can't lock Nicole up in the house."

The family loved Nicole. It was only natural to give her space and freedom to grow. If Nicole wanted to stay at home, they would support her decision. If Nicole rather went out into the world, they would never be an obstruction in her path.

Nicole's eyes had a hint of bliss, but she felt a tingling sensation in her nose. Her family gave her an immense amount of strength. For them, Nicole had the courage to face the future. "Don't worry about me. I'll take care of myself."

Nicole noticed, even though she had lost her memories, her skills did not disappear with them. She would find ways to protect herself, not putting herself in danger.

"You must take good care of yourself." Gloria understood it was impossible to let Nicole stay home all day, doing nothing. She then looked at the boys and added seriously, "You must protect her."

"Rest assured. We'll protect her," Nicole's five brothers replied in unison. They knew the waters seemed peaceful when Nicole just returned, but that was because her identity was not exposed. Today's banquet was an announcement to the world that Nicole was back. The risks of following up would only increase, so they had to be careful.

"That's enough for tonight. Good job, everyone. It's time to go back and rest," Daniel cued.

"Are you staying back?" Gloria looked at Sean and Steve. The two of them lived on their own after marriage, occasionally visiting them. However, Gloria hoped they would stay back since it was rather late.

"We are," Sean and Steve replied, not wanting to deal with any more hassle at this hour.

"Alright then, go rest."

Soon, everyone got back to their rooms to rest. Jared and Nicole returned to their room and prepared to sleep after a quick freshening up. Leaning on the bedside, Nicole slowly moved her feet and felt the soreness from wearing high heels.

"Do your feet hurt?" Jared came over and sat on the bedside. His hand wrapped around her feet, slowly messaging them after observing her actions.

"Don't." Nicole subconsciously wanted to retreat her foot, but Jared held on even tighter.

He said, "Don't move."

Jared took a pain-relieving spray from the medical box and sprayed it on Nicole's feet. Then he continued to massage and relax her feet.

Watching his natural look, Nicole's cheeks flushed, and she felt a little hot.

"It needs to be relieved properly. Otherwise, you'll be sore from walking tomorrow," Jared said worriedly. Today's socializing went on for too long.

"I'm not used to it since it's been such a long time since I wore them." Nicole sighed. She had no idea how she was in the past, but while raising the kids in these past five years, she rarely wore high heels.

Chapter 2022

"You don't have to wear them to work," Jared reassured calmly. Her comfort was the most important to him.

Nicole nodded, thinking, 'I avoid wearing them to work. Though I have to wear them during important occasions.'

The small talk during the massage made Nicole's uneasiness gradually fade away. She felt Jared's tenderness, as if a feather brushed across her heart, making her heartthrob.

Nicole looked at Jared's soft eyes and gentle movement. Even though he was helping her massage to relieve the soreness on her feet, his expression was as if he was taking care of something precious to him.

She bit her lip and whispered, "Thank you."

Jared looked up and met Nicole's eyes, but she averted her gaze, unable to maintain eye contact. Her face blushed even redder.

Her blushed face and shy demeanor made Jared smirk meaningfully. He had a bad plan in mind. "That's all I get? If you really wanted to thank me, shouldn't you be more sincere?"

"Sincere?" Nicole frowned. She was grateful to him. What else did she need to do to express her gratitude?

She directed her confused gaze toward Jared and saw him staring at her lips. Nicole's cheeks burned and rolled her eyes at Jared. "I'm going to sleep now."

Nicole lay down and pulled the blanket over her. She even moved toward the bedside in that wrapped position, wanting to stay farther away from Jared.

Jared could not help but chuckle at Nicole's adorable gesture.

Hearing his laughter, Nicole uncovered the blanket and glared at Jared, embarrassed. "You should go to sleep too."

"Alright, let's sleep," Jared agreed with a smile.

He wanted to lift Nicole's blanket to join her, but Nicole clutched on the blanket tightly, not allowing Jared to join her. Thus, Jared embraced Nicole through the blanket.

"Let me go!" Nicole protested, feeling exasperated. Jared was doing this on purpose.

"Why don't we sleep together? I could sleep with you in my arms." Jared did not compromise. He had no intention of being under the blanket alone anymore. He would be satisfied just by embracing Nicole.

After struggling in vain, Nicole accepted that she could not move, so she gritted her teeth and warned, "Alright then, but you're not allowed to move."

Nicole had no other choice. If they kept debating like this, neither of them would not be able to sleep tonight.

Jared instantly pulled up the blanket and extended his arms to hug Nicole. He almost lost his cool when a lovely scent drifted to his nose.

"Hey!" Nicole protested, wanting to break free. However, Jared stopped moving after holding her. Only then was Nicole at ease.

"Go on and sleep." Jared rested his chin on Nicole's neck. He was fully content with Nicole in his arms.

Time passed slowly, and the both of them soon fell asleep after a tiring day.

As the sun began to rise, a new day arrived. After the welcoming banquet, all of San Joto knew of Nicole's return. Nicole, on the other hand, naturally became the Chairperson of the Riddle Corporation's headquarters. All the shares under Mr. Riddle Sr.'s name were transferred to her.

In the boardroom of Riddle Corporation, Nicole sat at the head of the table. Sean and Steve sat on her left and right side, while the other directors were seated in turn.

With Nicole's return and her role as the Chairperson, Daniel as the acting chairman was now able to rest at home, enjoying his time with Gloria.

Nicole had not regained her memories after taking over the company and had no idea about business management. However, she did not feel unfamiliar, thanks to the previous information she read. Hence, she did not show any signs of guilt while sitting at the head of the table.

Chapter 2023

"It's best if the company can operate according to the plan I executed previously. We'd have to rectify anything that could not be previously achieved." Nicole's gaze was extremely cold. The aura surrounding her was heavy and pressuring to others.

"Chairman." Someone interrupted her and said kindly, "After all, you haven't been around for the past five years. The company's situation isn't the same as it was five years ago. So, I don't think we should follow through with the plan that was made five years ago."

Nicole frowned a little. Those words sounded like kind words, but in actual fact, they were doubting her.

Five years back, Nicole had already known that she was going to take over the company. Therefore, she had made some plans for the company's development. Over the past few days, she had seen the state of the company and found it to be progressing well. However, there were some parts which were not satisfactory.

Nicole also admitted that five years had been a long time and there were some parts which needed change. But she had gone through all the details and found that the problem was not with the direction they were heading toward. It was on the implementation.

"Mr. Walker, I think we should let Nicole decide if it's necessary or not." Sean glanced at Mr. Walker coldly. There was a threat in his eyes.

Although Mr. Walker was a senior in the company, his contribution had not been helpful to the company over the years. Instead, there were signs of inactivity. Sean did not look into it as a sign of respect toward his seniority. And yet, Mr. Walker dared to publicly question Nicole.

Nicole glanced at him. It was just a quick glance, so she could not read Mr. Walker's reaction. However, that made Mr. Walker conscious and he tried to escape from making eye contact.

'She hasn't been around for five years. Why does it feel like this brat has gotten a lot more imposing than before?'

"We'll think about whether it's necessary or not. If anyone isn't involved in management, you should just follow the instructions given to you." After Nicole had finished speaking, she recomposed herself and continued assigning other work.

Soon, the meeting ended. Following Nicole's instructions to wrap up, everyone involved in the meeting got up and left the room. They were all discussing in groups.

"No wonder she's Mr. Riddle Sr. 's target successor. Even if it took five years of waiting, he would've to wait for her to return."

"Such a bold and decisive style is really admirable!"

"I think the Riddle Corporation finally has some hope."

Hearing everyone's comments, Mr. Walker's gaze turned darker. He grabbed his phone tightly and quietly walked to the stairs. However, he did not realize that there were people watching every single move of his.

The directors had all left. The ones left in the meeting room were Nicole, Sean and Steve.

"Sean, have you never doubted Mr. Walker?" Nicole asked solemnly. She felt that with Sean's ability, he would not leave Mr. Walker alone.

"At that time you went missing, we weren't in the mood to think about the company. We just tried to maintain our operations as usual. After that, when we slowly went back to work, Mr. Walker did not cross any boundaries. So, we did not bother much," Sean explained.

Steve snorted. "I just didn't expect him to make a move this quickly, as soon as you came back. I thought that he had the patience to hold it in, but it seems like it was just because he didn't feel a sense of urgency to make a move."

'Now that Nicole had just returned, he quickly made a move. Did he really think he could get what he wanted in one day?'

"That's still fine. If someone else makes a move, that'd be even weirder." Afterall, it was not only one person who had been eying on the Riddle Corporation. It would be odd or even more dangerous if things were too quiet.

"There would be someone watching him. You don't have to worry about the rest either." A hint of coldness flashed through Sean's eyes. In his eyes, no one should ever try to disturb Nicole.

Nicole turned to Steve and spoke to him. "Steve, I'll leave the new contract to you."

"Don't worry. It's not a big issue for me to handle. I love this type of work," Steve replied happily.

"It's been five years and you're still the same as before. In fact, it's even worse than before," Nicole could not help but tease.

 

Chapter 2024

One unique thing about Steve was that he loved money. As long as it was something related to earning money, he would be interested in it. It was the right move to turn him into the person in charge of the new contract.

Hearing Nicole's words, Sean and Steve widened their eyes in astonishment.

Steve almost became speechless. "W-what did you just say? You remember everything?"

'It's true, right? She remembers everything, right? Otherwise, why would she have said those words?'

Nicole was also caught by surprise. But after a while she shook her head and regretfully said, "No. I don't remember anything. It's just that very moment, this sentence crossed my mind, and I said it out loud."

Nicole did not understand what was going on either. However, she was very sure that she did not recall anything.

Seeing Nicole's expression, Sean composed himself and comforted her. "Although you don't remember it, the fact that you had such a reaction proves that your brain is active again. You'll be able to recall everything one day, don't rush into it."

Worried that Nicole would be sad about it, Steve echoed, "That's right. Don't rush into it. Even if you can't recall it, it's fine as it wouldn't affect anything."

Nicole forced a smile on her face and said, "Yeah, I understand."

Afterall, no one could force things to happen. All Nicole could do was to wait and hope for a miracle to happen.

Although it seemed like not being able to recall her memory had no effect on her life and work, Nicole still wished to remember all those things from the past. Especially those memories about Jared and her.

Jared's handsome face appeared in her mind and Nicole could not help but bite her lip. If they really were so in love as others had described, Nicole would not want to forget those moments from the past.

Nicole took a deep breath and regained her composure. With a firm tone, she said, "Alright, let's all get back to work."

"Let's go."

Sean and Steve followed Nicole out of the meeting room, and everyone headed back to their own office.

As she returned to her office and sat down, Nicole's gaze turned dark. At some point, she really wondered if she had actually regained her memory. If she could recall anything from the past, perhaps the way she interacted with Jared would be different.

Meanwhile, at Johnston Group, Jared was leaning on his office chair while going through the materials which Max had just sent over.

"Sir, there's still no news about what happened five years ago." Max did not seem to be in good shape. He did not expect the investigation to be this difficult.

"Keep searching." When Jared thought about how Nicole had returned once and almost lost her life, his eyes turned cold.

"Noted," Max replied obediently.

"Have you found anything about the Genesis Group?" Jared asked in a slightly stern tone.

Lawrence had hidden Nicole for five years. And once Nicole returned to San Joto, he had followed as well. On top of that, he expanded his business to San Joto too. What a tricky man.

Jared had to be wary of Lawrence. Although they used to be friends, Jared just realized that he did not know much about Lawrence. In fact, one could say that he did not know a thing about Lawrence.

Lawrence's appearance at San Joto this time around seemed fishy to Jared. Jared could not pinpoint what was wrong.

"I've investigated and it seems like Lawrence is a greedy man. The planning for Genesis Group is clear and there are some fringe industries on the side. However, their partnership with the Riddle Corporation is formal," Max replied truthfully.

Chapter 2025

"Get the men to continue watching." Jared gave his order with narrowed eyes.

"Noted." After Max nodded, he left the office.

Jared's eyes darkened a little. The reason he was cautious about Lawrence was not just because he liked Nicole. It was also because he had an inexplicable sixth sense toward Lawrence. He always felt that Lawrence was hiding a secret and it was about Nicole.

The sun has set, and night has fallen.

Nicole walked out of the Riddle Corporation and saw Jared's car parked by the roadside waiting. The corners of her mouth slightly lifted as she walked over slowly.

But before she could reach Jared's car, two more cars drove over and stopped beside her.

She could tell that those were Samuel and Spencer's cars. She was surprised to see them there. But after the cars came to a halt, two girls got out and ran toward Nicole.

"Nicole, did you really come back?"

"Why didn't you contact us? We only found out after we saw the news!"

The two girls who suddenly appeared hugged Nicole tightly. Nicole was a little surprised and almost wanted to push them aside instinctively. However, she sensed a familiar feeling and resisted her instincts. She just froze and let those two girls hug her while bawling.

"That's enough. It's good news that Nicole is back! Why are you girls crying?"

"That's right. The both of you have been crying to meet her. Isn't she here right now?"

Samuel and Spencer were comforting Lulu and June. It was heartbreaking to see them cry.

The two girls hugged Nicole and cried for a long while before letting go. While sizing Nicole up, they questioned, "It seems like you haven't changed at all. Where have you been over the past five years? Why didn't you contact us?"

Facing a series of questions, Nicole sighed internally and tried to calm herself down. "I ran into some problems but all that has passed."

Nicole knew that these two girls were Lulu and June, her best friends from Royal Creek Institute. It was mentioned in the materials which Jared had given Nicole. She knew that these two girls were trustworthy. However, Nicole did not plan to tell them about her incident.

For one thing, it was better if less people knew about her problem. Another was that Nicole did not want the girls to worry about her after seeing how nervous they were.

On the other hand, Lulu and June could tell that Nicole did not want to talk about what happened in the past five years. So, they did not press Nicole with more questions. That was the chemistry they've built over the years. When it came to anything related to Nicole, they would not ask if she did not want to talk about it.

"Since you're back, you won't leave anymore. Right?" Lulu asked the question bluntly.

June glanced at Lulu and said while shaking her head, "She's already taken over the Riddle Corporation. How could she leave?"

Lulu stuck out her tongue. She was dwelling in the heat of the moment, so she did not think through it. But as soon as she knew that Nicole would not be leaving, Lulu was genuinely happy about it. She carefully asked, "Then, can we have dinner together tonight?"

"Why don't we schedule another day?" Nicole replied hesitantly. After all, she had no memory of them. All she knew were their identities only, and that would make it hard for her to connect with them. Nicole needed more time to process and accept things.

She was also clear that she could not treat these two girls coldly just as how she did to others. Yet, Nicole could not force herself to be close with them.

"She must be tired since she had just taken over the company. Why don't the both of you wait till she has adjusted herself to the environment? Then we'll have a good meal together." Samuel attempted to save Nicole out of that situation.

The boys were not sure about Nicole's decision on her loss of memory. Therefore, they did not tell June and Lulu about it. But looking at how Nicole was acting, they roughly guessed that Nicole did not want to reveal it. With that, the boys could only remain silent about the matter.

It was only then that Lulu and June realized something. They turned to Samuel and Spencer, and said, "The both of you had already known about Nicole's return and yet you guys kept it a secret from us?"