Nancy didn't sleep that night.
She sat at the edge of her bed, staring at the ceiling, Adrian's folder clutched tightly in her hands. Her company, her people, her life—they were all targets now. And the worst part?
She didn't know who she could trust.
Mia had double-checked every security protocol. No breaches. No leaks.
Which meant the traitor was already inside.
---
Tuesday – Carter & Co. Boardroom
Nancy stood at the head of the long glass table, eyes sharp, voice steady.
"We've been compromised. Effective immediately, all ongoing deals are to be handled offline and internally only. No cloud uploads. No external communications."
Her team nodded, some more nervously than others. She scanned their faces.
A dozen employees.
Eleven she trusted.
One was a knife in her back.
---
Meanwhile – Downtown Parking Garage
Adrian waited in the shadows, leaning against the hood of his car. He'd called in a favor—an old contact who now worked in cybersecurity surveillance.
A black SUV pulled up. A man in a navy coat stepped out, handing him a phone.
"We traced the leak," the man said. "Your ex-girlfriend didn't do this alone."
Adrian swiped through the data. Encrypted messages. Anonymous payments. Fake IDs.
And then a name.
One of Nancy's senior partners.
Adrian's jaw clenched. "She trusted him."
"He's been on Lily's payroll for months," the man added. "And now? He's trying to sell her expansion blueprint to your competitor."
Adrian didn't wait.
He was already dialing Nancy.
---
Back at Carter & Co.
Nancy stood in the hallway, phone pressed to her ear as Adrian's voice filled her head.
"Stephen Meyers," he said. "Your strategist. He's the mole."
Her pulse pounded.
Stephen. The one who helped her scale the entire firm. The one who'd stood by her through every late night, every crisis. She even defended him when others doubted.
Nancy didn't hang up.
She stormed straight to Stephen's office.
He looked up, startled. "Nancy—"
She threw the folder onto his desk.
"Tell me I'm wrong."
His silence told her everything.
"You were family," she whispered. "Why?"
Stephen stood, cold now. "Because loyalty doesn't pay the bills. And neither does idealism."
She stared at him. "You sold out everything we built."
He smirked. "You mean everything you built."
And that's when she knew. He was never proud of her success. He resented it.
Before he could speak again, security was at the door.
"Escort him out," Nancy said.
And just like that—her company was bleeding.
But she had pulled the knife out herself.