~Alessia~
The cafeteria hummed with midday chatter, forks clinking against plates as I hunched over my tablet, the screen glowing with search results.
Varela Enterprises, Isabella's domain... kept surfacing in odd corners: a shared vendor from two years back, a joint conference panel last spring, and even a minor investment overlap in tech startups.
Nothing damning, but the threads wove a subtle suspicion. My sandwich sat untouched, crumbs scattering as I tapped notes, the pieces clicking like a half-solved jigsaw.
Why Isabella? Her gala flirtations with Lorenzo replayed... her card in his pocket, a memory I couldn't forget. If she tied to the audit snafus, it explained her smug proposals.
I forwarded the links to myself, resolve hardening because Lorenzo needed to see this.
Back at my desk, the afternoon dragged in a whirlwind of calls, but I cornered Lorenzo during a lull, slipping into his office with a printout.
