The first photograph almost made me forget how to breathe.

Back in the forty-second-floor office, the rain continued to lash against the glass as Adrian Vance stared down at the flash drive and the stolen corporate documents spread across his desk. The room was deathly quiet, save for the low hum of the HVAC system and the distant rumble of thunder.

Adrian did not look angry. Anger was loud, messy, and inefficient. Instead, his eyes were as cold and sharp as shards of obsidian. For months, Vance Global had been dealing with subtle, persistent data leaks—breaches that had cost millions in aborted mergers and compromised bids. He had suspected an internal mole, a high-level executive selling secrets to rival developers.

He never imagined the leak led straight to the doorstep of Richard Bennett, hidden behind a facade of charity galas and civic leadership.

“He thought he was being clever,” Adrian murmured, his voice cutting through the silence like a scalpel. “Using his wife as a walking vault. He believed if I ever traced the breach, Sophia would take the fall for corporate treason while he sat back and played the grieving, betrayed husband.”

Emily crossed her arms, watching him closely. “What does this mean for her, Adrian? Legally, she’s tied to those documents now. If Richard realizes she brought them here instead of being caught with them by his associates, he’ll destroy her completely before the authorities even get involved.”

“Richard won’t have the chance to destroy anything,” Adrian replied smoothly, walking back to his desk and picking up the flash drive. He plugged it into a secure, air-gapped terminal resting on a side table. Lines of code began scrolling across the monitor, instantly decrypting the contents. “Because as of ten minutes ago, my legal and forensic teams have traced every single outbound packet from this drive back to Richard’s personal home server in Winnetka. He didn’t just plant it here—he downloaded it using his private cryptographic signature.”

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