Chapter 2 - Five Minutes to Find a Traitor
“Four minutes.”
Roman stood behind Tessa’s chair.
“You said five.”
“I used one explaining it to you.”
Her fingers moved across the keyboard.
Roman almost smiled.
Almost.
Tessa opened the building’s access records.
“Chloe received temporary executive clearance yesterday.”
“I authorized it.”
“I know.”
“You disapprove.”
“I disapprove of giving anyone access before I vet the access personally.”
“She’s supposed to become my wife.”
Tessa stopped typing.
Roman immediately regretted the sentence.
She looked at him.
“Then perhaps your wife can explain why her credentials accessed the east records room at 2:14 this afternoon.”
Roman stepped closer.
“What’s in there?”
“Old infrastructure documents.”
“Valuable?”
“Not unless you’re looking for blind spots.”
His expression hardened.
Tessa pulled up another screen.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“Elias Mercer entered through the service garage eight minutes later.”
“Together?”
“No.”
“Then we don’t know they met.”
Tessa turned the monitor.
“We do now.”
A security image showed Chloe entering a private corridor.
Four minutes later, Elias followed.
Roman’s face became stone.
“What were they doing?”
“Camera coverage ends there.”
“Why?”
“Because that corridor was designed for you.”
Roman understood.
No cameras.
No microphones.
No electronic monitoring.
A private route connecting his office wing to an emergency elevator.
Tessa leaned back.
“Someone told Chloe exactly where our surveillance ends.”
“Who knew?”
“You. Me. Marco. Two security engineers.”
“One died last year.”
“The other lives in Arizona.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“Marco.”
“No.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I lied to him.”
Roman stared at her.
Tessa continued calmly.
“The corridor plans Marco has contain a fake blind spot twenty feet farther north.”
Roman almost laughed.
“You gave my underboss false building plans?”
“I gave everyone false plans.”
“Including me?”
“You received the real ones.”
“I’m touched.”
“Don’t be.”
She typed again.
“Chloe had information she should never have possessed.”
Roman looked toward the ballroom.
“I’ll bring her upstairs.”
“No.”
“Tessa—”
“If she knows we suspect her, we lose the advantage.”
“What do you suggest?”
Tessa checked the time.
“The engagement toast starts in twelve minutes.”
Roman nodded.
“My speech.”
“Exactly.”
She stood.
“You’re going downstairs.”
“And you?”
“I’m going to give Chloe something worth stealing.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“No.”
Tessa stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“I know that expression.”
“What expression?”
“The one you wear immediately before doing something that forces me to threaten three different people.”
“I’m touched by your concern.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Tessa removed a small encrypted drive from the safe.
“What is that?”
“A fake ledger.”
Roman looked at it.
“Fake how?”
“Real names. Real accounts. False balances. False routes. False offshore holdings.”
“You already had that?”
“I created contingency packages after the Santoro breach.”
“That was three years ago.”
“Yes.”
Roman stared at her.
“You prepared for somebody infiltrating my organization through marriage three years ago?”
“I prepare for everything.”
“Apparently except my engagement.”
The room went silent.
Roman immediately wished he could take it back.
Tessa’s expression closed.
“That was personal.”
“I know.”
“And I don’t prepare for personal.”
“I know.”
She picked up the drive.
Roman caught her wrist.
Not hard.
Just enough to stop her.
Tessa looked down at his hand.
Roman released her immediately.
“Don’t do this alone.”
“I’ve been doing everything alone for five years.”
“That wasn’t what I wanted.”
“It was what you allowed.”
He had no answer.
Tessa walked toward the door.
Roman followed.
“What’s the plan?”
She glanced back.
“You announce that I’m leaving.”
“What?”
“Publicly.”
“No.”
“Roman.”
“I am not announcing your resignation to four hundred people.”
“You want Chloe to believe she’s won.”
“She’ll believe it.”
“Exactly. Then I make sure she sees me carrying this drive.”
“And?”
“She’ll come for it.”
Roman studied her.
“And if she doesn’t?”
Tessa opened the door.
“Then maybe you really are marrying her.”
She stepped into the corridor.
Roman remained motionless for a moment.
Then he followed.
“Tessa.”
She stopped.
“If this proves Chloe betrayed me…”
“Yes?”
“The engagement ends tonight.”
Tessa’s expression remained controlled.
“That’s your decision.”
Roman watched her walk away.
For once, he understood something painfully clearly.
His decisions had consequences.
May you like
And this time, the woman paying for them might actually leave.
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