Chapter 2: The Name on the Screen
Ethan didn't move right away.
He sat at his corner table, watching his CFO — Marcus Hale — scroll through files on his laptop.
Files that should have required board-level clearance to open.
Ethan pulled out his phone and quietly texted his head of security: *Lock the server access.
Now.
Don't say a word to anyone.*
Three seconds later, Marcus looked up from his screen.
His face went pale.
He knew.
Ethan stood slowly and walked over.
He didn't raise his voice.
"How long, Marcus?"
Marcus closed the laptop.
"Ethan, I can explain—"
"How.
Long."
A pause.
Then, barely a whisper: "Eight weeks."
Eight weeks.
Not six.
The leak had started two weeks before Ethan had even suspected a problem.
Ethan felt something cold settle in his chest.
Because eight weeks ago, only three people had access to those records.
Marcus was one of them.
The other two were people Ethan would never have questioned.
He turned to leave — and that's when he saw her.
Vanessa Reed.
Still at her table across the room.
Laughing.
Completely at ease.
Her phone was face-up on the table.
And the name on the screen was one Ethan recognized immediately.
---
What Ethan saw on that screen exposes a betrayal no one saw coming.
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