I sat. “Who are you?”
“I am the CFO of Vanguard Capital, the firm that was supposed to underwrite Alexander’s new venture,” Meredith said, swirling her wine. “After the… spectacle at the airport, I did some digging. A man who lies so effortlessly about his personal life is usually lying about his ledgers.”
“And?” I asked, leaning in.
“And he is,” Meredith’s eyes flashed with a lethal, icy fury. “Alexander isn’t building a legitimate consulting firm. He’s set up a network of shell companies. If Pierce Global signs that vendor contract today, Alexander plans to funnel thirty percent of the operational budget directly into his offshore accounts. I have the paper trail proving the shell companies belong to his cousin.”
My jaw dropped. “Why are you telling me this? Why not just go to the police?”
“Because white-collar fraud is notoriously difficult to prove without a smoking gun connecting the fraudster to the victim’s internal systems,” Meredith explained. “He needs your company’s proprietary algorithms to make the shell companies look like legitimate, high-performing vendors. He framed you to get the data out, and to remove you because you’re the only analyst smart enough to notice the discrepancies in his pitch.”
“So he steals the data, frames me, gets the contract, and steals the money,” I whispered, the sheer scale of his malice making me dizzy.
“Exactly,” Meredith slid a sleek, silver USB drive across the table. “This contains the financial tracking of his shell companies. But it’s not enough. We need proof that he physically used your computer to steal the algorithm. Without that, it’s his word against a suspended, scorned ex-girlfriend.”
“The security cameras,” I realized, my heart leaping. “There’s a camera in the hallway outside my office. If I can get the timestamped footage of him entering my office while I was gone…”
“The vendor review meeting with Daniel Pierce is at 4:00 PM today,” Meredith checked her Rolex. “It’s 1:00 PM now. If Alexander signs that contract, my firm is legally exposed, and you go to prison for corporate espionage. Women like us don’t let mediocre men destroy our lives, Victoria. Get the tape.”
I left the restaurant with my blood practically humming. I was locked out of the building, but I knew the architecture of my own prison.
At 2:30 PM, I slipped through the loading dock behind the building, timing my entry with the daily delivery of office supplies. I wore a baseball cap and kept my head down, navigating the labyrinthine basement corridors until I reached the service stairwell.
Climbing twenty flights of stairs felt like ascending Everest, my lungs burning, but adrenaline fueled my legs. I cracked the door to the IT department.
The security server room was at the back. It required keycard access, but IT was notoriously lazy. At 2:45 PM, exactly on schedule, the security chief left his desk to grab his afternoon coffee, leaving the heavy door propped open with a fire extinguisher.
I darted inside. The room was freezing, humming with the sound of a hundred server racks. I slipped behind the main console, my hands flying across the keyboard. I bypassed the standard login using a backdoor diagnostic code Chloe had once drunkenly bragged about.
Search: Camera 4B. Date: Thursday. Time: 19:00 to 20:00.
The footage loaded. I held my breath. There it was. Alexander, looking over his shoulder, slipping into my dark office. Ten minutes later, he emerged, slipping a small flash drive into his pocket.
“Got you,” I whispered. I plugged Meredith’s USB drive in and initiated the download.
Transferring… 40%… 60%…
Suddenly, the heavy server room door creaked open.
“Hey, who left this door propped?” a gruff voice echoed in the room. Heavy work boots thudded against the raised floorboards.
I dove under the main console desk, pulling my knees to my chest, the cold metal biting into my spine.
Transferring… 85%… 95%…
The footsteps stopped right in front of the desk. Through the gap, I saw the tips of a security guard’s boots. My heart hammered so violently I was sure he could hear it over the hum of the servers.
Ping. The transfer complete notification flashed softly on the screen above me.
The boots shifted. A hand slammed down on the desk directly over my head.
I clamped my hand over my mouth, suffocating my own scream.
“Damn servers always overheating,” the guard muttered. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard above me, oblivious to the completed transfer window hiding behind the diagnostic screen.
He turned and walked back toward the door. “Better tell maintenance to check the cooling units.” The heavy door clicked shut behind him.
I let out a breath that felt like it had been trapped in my lungs for a century. I snatched the USB drive, scrambled out from under the desk, and slipped out of the server room like a ghost.
It was 3:50 PM.
I didn’t take the service stairs this time. I walked directly into the executive elevator, hitting the button for the top floor. I wasn’t sneaking anymore. I was going to war.
The glass walls of the main executive boardroom were frosted, but I could hear the murmur of voices inside. I pushed the heavy double doors open with enough force that they banged against the walls.
The room went dead silent.
Alexander stood at the head of the table, a laser pointer in hand, projecting a slick graph onto the screen. Penelope sat to his right, looking horrified. And at the far end, leaning back in his leather chair with his fingers steepled, sat Daniel Pierce.
“Security!” Penelope shrieked, jumping up. “Victoria, you are suspended! How did you get in here?”
Alexander’s face drained of color, his charm instantly dissolving into panic. “Mr. Pierce, I apologize. This is the deranged ex-employee I warned you about. She’s unstable.”
I ignored them both. I walked straight down the length of the mahogany table, my eyes locked on Daniel.
“I have the floor,” I said, my voice ringing with an authority I didn’t know I possessed.
Daniel raised a single, commanding hand, silencing Penelope’s frantic calls to security. He looked at me, his dark eyes glittering with a dangerous, unpredictable intensity. “Proceed, Ms. Victoria.”
“This man,” I pointed a shaking finger at Alexander, “is attempting to defraud Pierce Global out of millions. He framed me for corporate espionage to cover his tracks.”
Alexander let out a loud, theatrical laugh. “This is pathetic, Victoria. Where is your proof? Because IT has the logs showing you stole the data.”
