"Read it aloud!" Ethan urged, his voice filled with adrenaline.

Ellie began to read the terms of the original agreement, her voice clear despite the early hour. "The original, untampered information states that the VH Group had actually invested in Five Star Softwares during their initial financial crisis. Since Five Star Softwares did not want VH board members interfering with their internal operations, they came to a different kind of agreement. In exchange for the investment along with initial five year of one time payment, Five Star Softwares would provide all four core software products to the VH Group for free, along with good customer service, for a total period of twenty-five years."

She paused for dramatic effect. "Furthermore, the VH Group had already paid five years of service in advance at the time of the agreement. It explicitly mentions that the VH Group doesn't owe Five Star Softwares anything. All payments were cleared. This means... they still have to serve us for five more years of free service."

A collective sigh of relief filled the room.

Nick leaned back in his chair, running his hand over his face. "Fifteen years of debt... compared to five years of free service left." He looked at Freya. "Any information on the current CEO of Five Star Softwares?"

"Yes," Freya replied, quickly checking her notes. "His name is Luke Walter, and he only took charge three months ago. He likely had no idea about this twenty-year-old agreement."

Tony, who had been quietly working on the metadata of the tampered file, spoke up. "Freya, I need you to find out which physical system this IP address belongs to."

Freya looked up the IP address in the network logs. "It's System No. 32," she confirmed. "And the last authorized user listed for that access was David."

Everyone looked at Tony.

"It was David who made the changes," Tony stated plainly. "He used his system access to upload the fraudulently edited document two days ago, right before he quit."

It was 4 AM. Everyone looked absolutely exhausted, running purely on adrenaline.

Ellie looked at Nick, her face pale with fatigue and worry. "We are going to win the case now, right, Nick?"

"No," Nick said, his voice quiet but firm.

Everyone stared at him.

"I am going to make them withdraw the case," Nick corrected, a steely glint in his eyes.

He stood up. "It’s very late. All of you, get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

Ethan and Freya took the green room. Tony headed for the guest bedroom. Nick and Ellie walked toward the red bedroom.

Nick quietly closed the door behind them. Ellie was standing near the bed, her shoulders slumped with the weight of the last few hours. He walked directly to her. Ellie looked up, meeting his tired eyes. The fear, the exhaustion, the relief—it all poured out. They both wordlessly moved toward each other.

Nick wrapped his arms around her tightly, and Ellie held him just as fiercely. They hugged for a long moment, venting out their emotions. Just hours ago, they had believed this was the end of the VH Group, that Nick would fail, and that their fathers’ legacy would be ruined. But they found everything just in time, and now, the company was saved. It was the deepest, most necessary embrace they had shared.