It was barely past dawn when Damien stood in the boardroom of Vale International, flanked by his most trusted legal team, Edward Kim, and the head of security. The room was stone silent—except for the click of a flash drive being inserted into the presentation console.
"Diana Roth," Damien said, voice cold and precise, "has been feeding confidential information to Gregory Langston of Dreycott Holdings for at least seven months."
A collective gasp rippled through the table.
Edward, standing beside the projection screen, tapped the keyboard. Surveillance images flashed: Diana entering the server room at 3:14 a.m. A mirrored IP address logged into internal systems. Wire transfers to a Singaporean account.
"This is beyond corporate espionage," Damien continued. "It's federal."
Victoria crossed her arms. "Where is she now?"
"Under arrest," Edward replied. "My head of security handed her over to the FBI twenty minutes ago."
Someone let out a low whistle.
"She had access to almost everything," Damien said, then paused, his voice tightening. "And she attempted to frame Elena Rossi to cover her tracks."
Several heads turned toward Elena, who sat calm and composed, her fingers folded neatly over a leather-bound notepad.
She didn't gloat. Didn't smirk. She'd been vindicated, yes—but her eyes were steel.
This was about justice, not victory.
"I want every department head to perform a security sweep," Damien added. "And anyone who thinks about pulling a Diana better pack their office today."
No one moved.
Elena lifted her chin. "And I'll be overseeing the internal communications initiative personally. We need transparency from the top down."
Damien smiled faintly. "You'll have full authority."
"Effective immediately," she added.
Victoria tilted her head. "You're stepping into an executive role now?"
"I'm stepping into the role that's already mine," Elena replied, her tone calm but unyielding. "The difference is, now no one's questioning it."
Victoria didn't smile—but for the first time, she nodded with respect.
---
That evening, Damien and Elena slipped out of the office after hours and drove to the riverfront, parking beneath a canopy of twinkling fairy lights from a local festival.
It was quiet. Unassuming. Perfect.
They walked side by side along the water's edge.
"How do you feel?" Damien asked.
"Relieved," Elena said. "Exhausted. Still a little angry."
"Understandable."
"I gave everything to prove myself. And still, the first time things got rough, people were ready to turn on me."
"Not everyone."
She looked at him. "No. You didn't."
"I never doubted you."
He reached for her hand, twining their fingers together.
They stopped beside a street violinist playing something haunting and romantic. The city sparkled around them, the breeze laced with salt and spring.
"Do you miss it?" she asked suddenly.
"Miss what?"
"Being untouchable. Alone. Safe."
Damien looked at her like she'd just spoken in a language only he understood.
"I was never safe," he said softly. "I was just… shielded. Like a man hiding behind bulletproof glass. Watching the world live without him."
"And now?"
He lifted her hand to his lips. "Now I'm living. Because of you."
Elena swallowed, her eyes stinging.
"I never thought I'd fall for someone like you," she said. "Everything about you scared me. The power. The mystery. The arrogance."
"And yet," he said with a grin, "here you are."
"Here I am."
---
The next morning, Elena received an anonymous package at her apartment.
It was wrapped in black matte paper, sealed with a crimson wax emblem—a stylized "L."
Inside was a single item: a USB drive.
No note. No instructions.
She hesitated for half a second before plugging it into her encrypted laptop.
A video file loaded.
It was surveillance footage.
But not of Damien.
Of her.
The image was grainy but unmistakable: a younger Elena, years ago, in a courtroom hallway. She was speaking to someone off-camera—then slipped a sealed envelope into their bag. She looked nervous. Skittish.
The file ended with a glitchy static and a single line of text:
> "Not the first time you've sold secrets, is it?"
Her stomach dropped.
She knew exactly what this was.
A threat.
But worse… it wasn't entirely false.
---
Six Years Ago
Brooklyn Family Court
Elena was twenty-one. Broke. Desperate. Her younger sister, Sofia, was caught in a brutal custody battle between their neglectful father and a manipulative foster family. Elena had taken legal guardianship, but the state was dragging its feet.
She'd needed proof—something to tip the balance.
So she'd slipped a confidential report to a friend of a lawyer. A minor breach. But illegal.
The case had been ruled in her favor.
And Sofia had stayed with her.
But now, someone has unearthed it. Dredged it up like a corpse from the bottom of a river.
---
Elena paced her apartment, heart racing.
Should she tell Damien?
Would he believe her?
Before she could decide, her phone rang.
A blocked number.
She answered.
A deep, modulated voice filtered through. "You have forty-eight hours to walk away from Vale. Or we go public. The press, the bar association, the Board. Everyone."
Her fingers tightened around the phone. "Who is this?"
The line clicked dead.
She stood there in silence, the past threatening to collapse the future she was finally building.
---
That night, Damien returned home to find Elena already there, sitting in the dark, the USB drive lying on the table between two untouched glasses of wine.
She looked up, her expression unreadable.
"Damien," she said, "I need to tell you something."
He approached slowly. "What happened?"
She slid the drive toward him. "This showed up today."
He inserted it into his own secure laptop, watching the footage, jaw tightening.
"I was twenty-one," she said quietly. "I was fighting for my sister. I leaked a sealed report to push a custody decision in my favor. It worked. But I broke the law to do it."
He didn't interrupt.
"I've never told anyone. Not even Sofia."
Damien closed the laptop.
"And now someone's threatening to use it," he said.
"Yes."
He turned toward the window, hands on his hips.
"Do you think it's Langston?" Elena asked.
Damien shook his head. "He wouldn't wait this long. This… this is personal."
Silence stretched between them.
Finally, he turned to face her. "You made a call to protect your family. I'd have done the same."
Elena blinked, stunned. "You're not… disappointed?"
"I'm angry that someone's using your past to manipulate your present. But no—I'm not disappointed."
Then he crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.
"I trust you," he whispered. "More than I've ever trusted anyone."
She closed her eyes and let herself lean into him.
But deep down, she knew:
Whoever sent that drive wasn't finished.
And this time, they weren't just after her reputation.
They wanted to destroy everything.