"After three weeks of investigation, my team has compiled a comprehensive background analysis on Logan Mercer." Paul folded his hands. "Born and raised in a middle class neighborhood outside Creston City. Public school education. No university degree. No corporate affiliations. No registered businesses, trust funds, or investment accounts."Vivian picked up the document and scanned the first page. Her eyes moved down the list of findings with the satisfied attention of someone reading a review they had written themselves."His family has no significant wealth or political connections." Paul continued. "No record of military service, government employment, or membership in any exclusive social organization. He appears to have lived an entirely ordinary life before his brief marriage to you, and an equally ordinary life after it.""I knew it." Vivian set the document down and pressed her palm flat against it. "Every time someone tried to tell me Logan was secretly powerful, I told them

Vivian stood in front of her closet wearing a silk robe and a smile that hadn't faded since she opened her eyes.She had slept well for the first time in weeks. No anxious thoughts circling her mind at three in the morning. No phantom images of Victor Kane bowing to her ex husband. No replaying of the Skyline Grand humiliation on a loop behind her eyelids. The investigator's report had done what no amount of champagne or reassurance from Ashley could accomplish. It had given her certainty.Logan was nobody.She had always believed it. Now she had proof.Vivian selected a cream colored dress, applied her makeup with the attention of a woman preparing for a celebration, and left her apartment with the energy of someone who had just been released from a prison she built inside her own head.The breakfast spot was a bistro on Lexington Avenue that served eggs Benedict on plates that cost more than the food sitting on them. Ashley was already seated when Vivian arrived, scrolling through h

"Your supply chain authorizations are being processed outside the normal approval workflow." Logan's voice was quiet, carrying no judgment, only observation. "Someone in this department has been routing purchase orders through a secondary system that bypasses the financial review stage."Richard's eyebrows lowered. "How can you tell?""The requisition forms on station twelve are unsigned but the corresponding inventory has already been received and shelved." Logan glanced back toward the department. "That means someone is approving deliveries without the authorization chain knowing about it. Either your process has a gap, or someone inside this department is using the gap on purpose."Richard's jaw tightened. He looked back at the rows of desks, at the employees who were now pretending to be absorbed in their work, and the expression on his face told Logan everything he needed to know.Someone inside Imperial Group had been abusing their position, and Richard had suspected it long eno

The meeting room held nine people when Emma walked in. Richard sat at the head of the table. Gerald Hayes occupied the chair to his right. Four senior project leads lined one side. The legal compliance officer sat at the far end with a notepad. And Sabrina Cole sat near the window, her hands folded neatly on the table, her face arranged into an expression of professional attentiveness that concealed everything happening behind it.Richard slid the anonymous document across the table toward Emma."This arrived in the company inbox this morning." Richard's voice was measured but firm. "It carries your name. The content contains multiple errors that would have caused serious problems if submitted to Meridian Capital. Can you explain this?"Emma picked up the document and turned through the pages. She recognized the errors immediately. They belonged to a preliminary draft she had created during the first week of the project, a version she had discarded and overwritten before the proposal

Richard placed both hands on the conference table and looked directly at Emma."The document was sent from an Imperial Group email account." Richard's voice carried the controlled tension of a man who needed answers and was running out of patience for explanations. "Not an external address. Not a personal inbox. A company account registered to this building. Which means whoever sent it either works here or had access to someone who does."The room shifted. Nine pairs of eyes turned toward Emma with varying degrees of suspicion, sympathy, and the quiet hunger that surfaces when professionals smell blood in water that isn't theirs.Gerald Hayes tapped his pen against his notepad. "Ms. Laurent, the question on the table is straightforward. If this document wasn't sent by you, then how did someone inside this company access your proposal, modify it, and distribute it using our own system without you noticing?""That's exactly what I intend to find out." Emma met Gerald's gaze without flin