Chapter 61: The White ThemeThe cool morning air hit Kaelen as he descended the concrete steps leading out of the apartment block. He was still mentally cataloging the events of the previous night, his mind a messy whiteboard of business logistics and personal obligations. He reached into his pocket as his phone vibrated, the screen lighting up with Arianna’s name. A brief flash of guilt surfaced; he remembered quite clearly that he had agreed to follow her out on a coffee date days ago. It hadn’t happened eventually, mostly due to Riley’s constant input and the demands of the firm, but the oversight still weighed on him.He swiped to answer, bringing the phone to his ear, fully prepared to offer a sincere apology. "Arianna, look, about the—""Don't even start," she interrupted, her tone light and surprisingly forgiving. "I saw the news alerts and figured your phone has been glued to your ear for the wrong reasons. You’re a businessman, Kaelen. I know how the world works. Businessme

Chapter 63"Seriously?" Miranda grumbled to herself as she navigated her motorcycle through the dense city traffic, keeping a calculated distance from the black sedan ahead. "I signed up for corporate espionage, not a cross-city scavenger hunt through every back alley and red light district this town has to offer."Her job was supposed to be about data security, about digital forensics, not playing cloak-and-dagger in the literal shadows. Some days, she really questioned her career choices.The tracker was steady, leading her deep into the industrial district, a maze of warehouses, defunct factories, and shadowy loading docks. The sedan finally pulled into a derelict lot, dwarfed by a massive, windowless brick building that looked like it hadn't seen a fresh coat of paint since the last century.Miranda cut her engine, coasting silently into a thicket of overgrown weeds across the street, camouflaging her bike behind a broken-down truck.She dismounted, moving with practiced stealth,

Chapter 65: Fabricated NarrativeKaelen stepped out of the conference room with a measured calm, though a heaviness settled over him like a physical weight. The meeting had gone as expected, shifting through the necessary corporate pleasantries and veiled negotiations—nothing more, nothing less. He barely acknowledged the crisp evening air brushing against his face as he made his way to the car, the sharp chill failing to penetrate his focus. The streets were quiet, the occasional car passing by punctuating the low, rhythmic hum of the city as it began to settle into the night.He barely had time to reach the driver’s seat when his phone buzzed in his pocket.Jonah’s name flashed across the screen in stark, white letters.“Hmm,” Kaelen muttered under his breath, swiping to open the message. It was a link to a digital article from a publication that usually prided itself on investigative integrity.At first, he considered ignoring it. He had a long drive ahead through winding sub

Chapter 67The truth sat heavy in Kaelen’s chest, pressing down with a weight he could not ignore.It was a physical sensation, a dense pressure that made every breath feel labored and shallow.Whoever the mole was, they were close.Too close for comfort, and certainly too close for safety.This wasn’t someone guessing at the company's trajectory or working with scraps of information pulled from public records or overheard office gossip.The details Riley’s lawyer had presented were precise, timed with a surgical accuracy, and layered in a way only someone with deep, unfettered access could manage.It meant the person either moved freely through the innermost parts of Novax, slipping through security like a ghost, or stood close enough to someone who did.Kaelen leaned back against the headboard, his eyes fixed on the dark ceiling above him, watching the shadows shift.His mind moved steadily, dissecting the situation the same way he would analyze a failing project or a corrupted line

Chapter 69Kaelen knew something was wrong the moment he saw the crowd, a dense, restless sea of bodies that blocked the path ahead like a physical wall.He had barely turned into the street leading to the Novax headquarters when the usual flow of morning traffic slowed to a painful crawl.Cars were parked haphazardly along the road, some abandoned half-on the sidewalk, with drivers craning their necks out of windows to see the disturbance ahead.Even before he brought his own vehicle to a stop, the rhythmic, pulsing glow of flashing lights reflected off his windshield.The red and blue hues cut through the dull, oppressive gray of the morning mist with a violent urgency.His jaw tightened until the bone ached, his grip on the leather steering wheel turning his knuckles a ghostly white.When his car finally came to a grinding halt, the reason for the chaos became devastatingly clear.At the main entrance of the Novax headquarters, right on the wide stone steps he had walked up countle