Chapter 2 - The Secret Inside the Flash Drive
The elevator doors opened slowly.
I raised my gun before I even saw the person standing behind them.
"Don't move."
The man stepped into the hallway with both hands visible.
It was Marcus Vale.
My head of security.
The man who had protected my life for twelve years.
The man Sadie had just accused.
But something was wrong.
He wasn't carrying a weapon.
He wasn't trying to fight.
He was holding a folder.
My missing security file.
The same file that disappeared from my private office three days ago.
"Declan," Marcus said quietly. "You need to listen to me."
I kept the gun pointed at him.
"Funny. That's exactly what she said."
His eyes moved toward Sadie.
For a brief second, I saw something I had never seen before.
Fear.
Not from Sadie.
From Marcus.
"Where did you get that drive?" he asked.
Sadie stepped behind me.
"You already know."
Marcus looked away.
That was enough.
Because Marcus Vale never avoided a question.
Never.
He was the kind of man who could walk into a room full of enemies and make everyone else nervous.
But tonight, he couldn't look at a frightened woman standing behind me.
"Explain."
Marcus took a slow breath.
"Not here."
I almost laughed.
"Someone breaks into my organization, my secretary arrives bleeding at my door, my security system gets disabled, and you want privacy?"
His jaw tightened.
"Because if they are listening, we are already dead."
The words hung in the air.
I looked around the penthouse.
The cameras were off.
The lights were still out.
The only sound was the rain hitting the glass windows.
Then I noticed something.
The elevator.
The doors were still open.
Marcus hadn't come alone.
"Who else is coming?"
His expression changed.
"Nobody."
A second later, the elevator screen flickered.
The number above the doors changed.
From twenty-seven.
To twenty-eight.
My floor.
But my penthouse only had one private access code.
Mine.
Marcus saw it too.
His face went pale.
"Declan..."
I raised the gun again.
"What?"
He whispered:
"Someone copied your access."
The elevator stopped.
The doors began opening.
But this time, nobody stepped out.
Just an empty hallway.
A message was written on the wall.
Three words.
"YOU TRUSTED HIM."
My eyes moved toward Marcus.
Then toward Sadie.
Someone wanted me to doubt both of them.
And whoever it was knew exactly how to get inside my head.
I grabbed the folder from Marcus.
"Open it."
Marcus hesitated.
"Declan, you don't understand what's inside."
"Open it."
He didn't move.
That was the moment I knew.
The folder wasn't just important.
It was dangerous.
I walked closer.
"Did you steal this?"
Marcus looked directly at me.
"No."
"Did you hide it from me?"
Silence.
That was his answer.
My grip tightened around the gun.
"Why?"
Marcus looked at Sadie.
"Because I was trying to keep her alive."
Sadie froze.
"What?"
Marcus opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
Bank records.
Surveillance images.
But the first picture made my blood run cold.
It was me.
Taken outside my own building.
Three months ago.
Another photo.
Me entering a restaurant.
Another.
Me shaking hands with a government official.
Someone had been watching me.
Not for days.
Not for weeks.
Months.
I flipped through the pages faster.
Then I saw Sadie.
My secretary.
A photo of her entering my office.
A photo of her leaving work.
A photo of her sitting alone in her apartment.
Every movement tracked.
Every conversation recorded.
"Why was she being watched?"
Marcus didn't answer.
I looked at him.
"Why was Sadie being watched?"
His voice lowered.
"Because she found something."
Sadie shook her head.
"I didn't find anything."
Marcus looked at her.
"You found the account numbers."
Her face changed.
I turned toward her.
"What account numbers?"
She didn't speak.
For the first time since she arrived, she looked guilty.
Not scared.
Guilty.
"Sadie."
She closed her eyes.
"I didn't want to tell you."
My anger rose.
"Tell me what?"
She looked at the flash drive.
"The money being moved through your companies."
I stared at her.
"What money?"
"Millions."
The room became silent.
Marcus continued.
"Someone inside your organization has been moving money for years."
I looked at the documents again.
The signatures.
The transfers.
The fake companies.
All connected to people I trusted.
My enemies had always been outside.
I never thought to look inside.
"Who?"
Marcus shook his head.
"We don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I found the pattern two weeks ago."
He pointed at the drive.
"But before I could tell you, someone attacked my team."
Sadie looked down.
"They killed the only person who helped me copy the evidence."
I studied her face.
She wasn't lying.
I had spent years learning how people lied.
Sadie wasn't hiding guilt.
She was hiding pain.
"Why come to me tonight?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Because they found my apartment."
She touched her injured arm.
"I barely escaped."
A quiet sound interrupted us.
A notification.
Not from my phone.
Not from Marcus's.
From Sadie's.
She looked terrified.
"I turned it off."
I grabbed it.
The screen showed a new message.
Unknown sender.
A photo was attached.
I opened it.
My stomach dropped.
It was a picture of us inside the penthouse.
Taken seconds ago.
Someone was watching.
Someone was inside.
Marcus immediately moved toward the security panel.
"Impossible."
"What?"
He looked at the system.
"The cameras are off."
"Then how did they take the picture?"
Nobody answered.
Because we all knew.
The person who sent that image wasn't outside.
They were already here.
I moved through the penthouse quietly.
Every room.
Every hallway.
Every shadow.
Nothing.
Until I reached my private office.
The door was slightly open.
I knew I had locked it.
I always locked it.
I placed my hand on the handle.
Marcus whispered behind me.
"Declan."
I stopped.
"What?"
His voice was barely audible.
"Before you open that door..."
I looked back.
Marcus was holding another photograph.
A photograph that had fallen from the folder.
A photograph I hadn't seen.
My fingers tightened around the door handle.
Because the person in the picture was someone I knew.
May you like
Someone who was supposed to be dead.
And the office door slowly opened by itself.
