Amara moved through her office like a storm—quiet, fast, and unstoppable.
Her team watched from a distance, knowing better than to interrupt. This wasn't just about business anymore. It was about her reputation, her career—her name.
She slammed the door to her office shut and opened every file linked to the Cole & Partners project. Contracts. Emails. Branding drafts. All spotless.
No room for errors. No leaks from her end.
Still, guilt gnawed at her. The public didn't care about facts. All they saw was headlines. And her name was there—Bennett Creative, tied to a scandal. One false link could burn everything down.
She picked up her phone and dialed Mia.
"I need every access log. Anyone who touched our Cole project files in the last month. Internal and external."
Mia didn't hesitate. "On it."
That afternoon, Amara met with her lawyer. By the time she returned to her office, there was a single flagged file waiting in her inbox: an untraceable email sent from a dummy address the day after her gala presentation. The attachment? An internal Cole & Partners budget projection—confidential.
Amara stared at the filename:
"JC_Funding_Rebalance_FINAL.pdf"
This wasn't from her system. It came from Jaden's.
She felt a chill settle in her chest. Either someone on his team had access—or someone close to him did.
She pulled out her phone, hands shaking slightly. No text from Jaden. No call. Not since that morning.
Was he protecting her—or protecting himself?
She didn't want to believe the worst.
But she wasn't going down for someone else's mistake.
Meanwhile, across town, Jaden sat in a darkened conference room with his top advisor, Cynthia.
"It's someone internal," he said flatly. "They're trying to use the budget restructuring to make it look like fraud."
Cynthia frowned. "Any ideas who?"
Jaden hesitated. "Derrick Michaels has been sniffing around Amara. If this leak was timed to sabotage the launch and tank her credibility…"
Cynthia finished the sentence: "Then it was personal. And calculated."
Jaden stood, fury simmering behind his eyes. "We find the leak. We clear Amara's name. And we shut this down."
But in the back of his mind, a single question lingered:
What if this was meant to push her away from me—and into someone else's hands?