The morning air felt thick when I stepped into the office. There was a chill in the building that hadn't been there before. Even the hum of the elevator seemed quieter, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath. I could sense it immediately—something had shifted again.
Claire caught my eye from across the floor. Her usual bright smile was gone, replaced by something that looked almost like fear. I gave her a small nod, reassuring her to stay calm, even though my own pulse was quickening.
I sat at my desk, opened my laptop, and pretended to go through emails. But I wasn't reading them. I was waiting. Waiting for the next move.
It came sooner than expected.
The sound of heels clicking against the marble floor echoed through the space. Heads turned as a woman entered the room—confident, poised, and dangerously calm. She wore a crisp white suit and carried herself with the kind of authority that didn't need to be spoken. Mara.
Her gaze swept through the office until it landed on me. The corners of her lips lifted in a faint smile. Not friendly. Predatory.
"Selina, right?" she asked, stopping beside my desk. Her tone was smooth, polite even, but there was something sharp beneath it. "I've heard a lot about you."
I met her gaze, returning the smile with equal politeness. "All good things, I hope."
"Of course," she said softly, her eyes glinting. "Everyone seems to think you're the best assistant Adrian has ever had."
I didn't answer that. Compliments from people like Mara were never genuine. They were calculated—small probes to test reactions.
She placed a file on my desk. "I'm auditing some of the internal transactions for the last quarter. I'll need full access to the department logs by noon."
"Sure," I replied, keeping my voice steady. "I'll have them compiled for you."
Mara smiled again, but her gaze lingered a moment longer than necessary. "Perfect. I'm sure you know where everything is." Then she walked away, her perfume lingering faintly in the air like smoke.
The moment she was out of earshot, Claire leaned close. "She's dangerous, Selina. Everyone says she used to work for corporate intelligence. The kind that makes people disappear from company records overnight."
"I know," I said quietly. "Which means she's exactly the kind of person Trent would send."
The rest of the morning passed in a blur of false smiles and quiet observation. Mara made her rounds across departments, questioning employees, collecting data. Her charm was disarming, but her intent was clear—she was hunting.
Around noon, Adrian called for me. His tone over the intercom was brisk, nothing unusual, but something in the background—an unfamiliar tension—made my heart beat faster.
When I entered his office, Mara was already there, standing by his desk. She gave me that same polite smile.
"Selina," Adrian said, his expression unreadable. "Mara is assisting us with an internal review. She had some questions about your work last week."
"Of course," I said, stepping forward. "How can I help?"
Mara opened a tablet and began scrolling. "There were system log discrepancies on Tuesday night. You were the last recorded login."
My mind flashed back to that night—the Helix breach, the encryption, the data transfer. I kept my tone even. "I stayed late finishing the project for Ethan. He can confirm that."
Adrian glanced at me. "Ethan did mention you stayed late. But there are still concerns about external connections from your workstation."
I forced a calm smile. "Then maybe we should check the network's firewall. There's been interference before."
Mara's smile didn't waver. "I'm sure we'll find the truth soon enough."
Her eyes locked with mine for a second longer, and I saw it there—the quiet certainty that she already suspected me.
When the meeting ended, I returned to my desk, the tension in my shoulders like a knot. Claire slipped me a note, handwritten, folded twice. Rina found something. Meet her after work.
Hours dragged on. Every keystroke felt heavier, every sound sharper. By the time the office emptied out, the air felt suffocating.
At home, I tossed my bag on the couch and powered up my monitors. Rina appeared on the encrypted call within seconds, her face half-lit by the glow of her screen.
"I traced Mara's access points," Rina said quickly. "She's been mirroring your login activity. Every time you connect, she records your data flow."
I frowned. "She's setting me up."
"Exactly," Rina said. "She's good. Almost as good as you. But she doesn't know you built a shadow path in the system. You can use it to redirect her trace."
I leaned closer. "Send me the coordinates."
Rina typed rapidly, sending a series of encrypted codes. I copied them into my terminal and activated the hidden subnetwork I had built months ago. The room filled with the quiet hum of processors spinning up. Lines of data streamed across my screens like an electric river.
My fingers moved fast, bypassing security protocols, creating false trails. If Mara wanted to trace me, she would find what I wanted her to see. A ghost file, planted deep in a forgotten folder, pointing to another employee's credentials—someone close to Trent.
It was risky, but it was perfect.
Half an hour later, my phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number. You think you can outplay me?
I smirked. I already did.
I closed my laptop and leaned back, letting out a slow breath. The adrenaline buzzed under my skin. Every move now mattered. Every mistake could expose everything. But that was the thrill of it.
For a long moment, I sat in the quiet of my apartment, staring out the window at the city lights. I thought of Adrian—his calm tone, the way he looked at me today. Was he starting to doubt me too? Or was he beginning to see that I wasn't the fragile assistant everyone assumed I was?
I wasn't sure which possibility scared me more.
As the night deepened, my screens blinked again. A security alert appeared. Someone was probing the system from inside the company—again. Mara was still awake. Still hunting.
I smiled faintly. Let her dig. The deeper she went, the closer she'd get to the trap I'd left waiting.
Tomorrow, she would find something. But it wouldn't be me.