Adrian sat at the desk in his room late into the night, papers spread across every available surface, the folder Victor had given him now marked with countless notes and calculations scribbled in the margins.At first, he’d approached the problem exactly as Victor had presented it, a struggling business partnership that needed some kind of creative solution to satisfy competing financial demands between the two companies involved. He’d read through the supply chain issues, the profit distribution disagreements, trying to find some clever compromise that might finally make both sides happy.But the deeper he dug, the more something else began catching his attention, something that had nothing to do with the actual partnership dispute at all.Expenses.Adrian frowned, flipping back through several pages, cross-referencing numbers that didn’t quite add up properly. He pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and began tracking every single expense listed within the project’s history, month by m

Adrian looked down at the wet stain spreading across the front of his shirt, cold liquid soaking through the fabric, then looked back up at Preston, who was already stepping back with a satisfied expression, clearly waiting for embarrassment or anger to follow.Instead, Adrian remained perfectly calm.“That’s an interesting accident,” Adrian said, his voice carrying quiet, even tones despite the obvious situation. “Considering there was plenty of space between us before you moved directly into my arm.”Preston’s smug expression flickered slightly. “It was crowded. These things happen.”“It wasn’t crowded,” Divine said sharply, stepping forward beside Adrian. “I was standing right here. There was easily three feet of space between you and Adrian before you deliberately closed that gap.”Several nearby students, who had gathered to watch the scene unfold, exchanged glances, clearly beginning to see through Preston’s thin excuse.“I saw it too,” another student added quietly, though loud

Adrian spent the following two days quietly working through the office's filing system, cross-referencing digital access logs against the physical records still available, careful and methodical in his approach despite the whispered suspicions still trailing him through the hallways.He started with the basics, examining exactly who had accessed the filing room during the timeframe when the Wellington contract had gone missing. The building's security system tracked entry and exit times through employee badges, and Adrian requested the full access log for the relevant week from the building's security office.The list included several names, most of them belonging to staff members with legitimate reasons for being in the filing room during that period. Adrian cross-referenced each entry carefully, noting timestamps, comparing them against known work schedules, building a clear picture of everyone's movements throughout the building.His own name appeared exactly once, precisely matchi

The next morning, Wyatt didn't wait for her answer privately.He found Divine near the courtyard, a small crowd of students nearby, and raised his phone with a slow, deliberate smile."Everyone should see this," he said loudly enough for people to turn and look. "Divine's got quite the history back in America. Real interesting stuff."Divine felt her stomach drop. "Wyatt, don't.""Should have given me an answer yesterday," Wyatt said, thumb hovering over his screen.Students began gathering, curious whispers spreading fast. Divine's face burned with humiliation, her mind racing for something, anything, to stop what was about to happen.Then Adrian stepped through the crowd."Wait," he said calmly.Wyatt glanced at him, unbothered. "This doesn't concern you.""It does now," Adrian said. "Since you're about to broadcast something you don't actually have the right to share."Wyatt smirked. "And what exactly are you going to do about it?""Nothing dramatic," Adrian said. "I'm just going t

By the following week, the rumor had spread through nearly every grade at Kingsley Academy.“Did you see them at lunch again?” one student whispered near the vending machines. “She literally leans on his shoulder every single day.”“They say they’re cousins,” another added, “but come on. Cousins don’t act like that.”Adrian caught fragments of these conversations occasionally but didn’t bother responding to any of it. It wasn’t worth his time correcting strangers about something that had nothing to do with them.Daniela, on the other hand, found the whole thing hilarious.“Someone asked me today if we were official yet,” she told Adrian, laughing as they walked to class. “Official. Like we’re some kind of couple who just haven’t announced it publicly.”“What did you tell them?” Adrian asked.“I told them to mind their business,” Daniela said, grinning.“You didn’t correct them?”“Why bother?” Daniela said with a shrug. “It’s funny. Let people think whatever they want.”Adrian didn’t p