Chapter 185 A Different Type of Betrayal

Chapter 185 A Different Type of Betrayal
"What is it?" Alex asked, pausing in his stride.

"It's better if you see for yourself, Sir."

Alex took the tablet and scanned the information; his expression shifted—the relaxed contentment that had softened his features moments ago hardened into something cold and calculating.

He looked back at Brie, who was observing him. She caught the change immediately. Her brow furrowed slightly, worry creeping into her eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked, moving closer.

Alex's jaw tightened. He glanced at Lewis, then back at Brie, weighing something in his mind. Finally, he asked, "Do you trust me?"

The question seemed to catch her off guard. She blinked, then nodded without hesitation. "Of course I trust you."

"Good," Alex said, his voice firm but gentle. "We need to go back. Let's get your things."

"Alex, what—"

"Please, Brie. I'll explain everything, but we need to leave now. I’ll have dinner ready before we arrive."

She nodded in agreement, giving him a reassuring smile. Alex felt relief. There was so much on his plate right now. So much was happening, but he couldn’t worry her. That was why he had arrived late. After his meeting, the company had experienced a hit. A sudden leak in his team's work.

“Get the plane ready.” He turned to Lewis, who nodded and walked away.

\---

Brie stirred. Her hands trailed lazily on the sheets beside her, feeling for Alex. But the warmth she sought was nowhere to be found. Slowly, she sat up, rubbing her eyes. For a moment, she was slightly disoriented, then remembered—Alex's penthouse. She had never been in this house before. When they'd arrived late last night, Alex had kept to his words. He took her straight to have dinner, then made sure she was comfortable for bed before telling her he rhe was going to join her in a bit. Looking around now with exhaustion in her bones, she realized he had not come to bed.

"Alex?" she called out, but only silence answered.

Sliding out of bed, Brie padded barefoot across the hardwood floor and out of the bedroom. The apartment was massive—she'd barely seen any of it last night—and it took her a moment to orient herself. Voices drifted from somewhere down the hall, low and slightly muffled.

She followed the sound to a set of double doors that stood partially ajar.

“Alex,” she called out his name softly as she pushed the door wide to go in, only to stop in her tracks.

Alex stood in the center of a huge study, surrounded by at least a dozen people she'd never seen before. Multiple laptops were set up on a long conference table, their screens glowing with data and code. Several people wore headsets, speaking rapidly into microphones. The whole scene looked like some kind of command center.

They all turned to see who had intruded, and their eyes widened at the sight of her. She was wearing his white T-shirt that barely grazed her thighs. She hadn’t taken the time to button it all the way up, so she had one shoulder almost falling off, displaying a perfectly white shoulder. Alex’s eyes widened when he saw her. He cleared his throat and approached her at the same time she took a step towards him.

“What’s going on?”

"Brie," he said, his hands gentle on her arms as he guided her back into the hallway, pulling the doors partially closed behind them.

Stunned, she looked up at him. "What's going on? I didn't find you in bed, and now there's—who are all those people?"

Alex pulled her close, one hand cupping the back of her head. "It’s just work. I'll explain everything later, I promise. You should rest."

But Brie pulled back slightly, searching his face. "I'm worried now. I'd like to know what's going on. Isn't this exactly the kind of thing you're supposed to let me in on? I could help."

She watched the internal struggle play out across his features—the desire to protect her warring with his promise to include her, to treat her as an equal partner. Finally, he sighed.

"You're right," he admitted. "A lot is happening, but the most critical issue right now is that there's been a leak. Someone accessed and copied the new designs we were planning to design for the investors, especially the Sterling Group. "

"What?" Brie's face went pale. The Sterling Group deal was massive—millions of dollars at stake. "Howt?"

"We're on it," Alex said, but she could see the tension in his shoulders.

“But how did it happen?” Alex didn’t say, making Brie agitated. “What aren’t you telling me, Alex?”

“It was from your work laptop, Brie,” he said, quietly watching her face.

Brie was stunned. She didn’t snap out of her shock until later. “What? How?!” she gaped in shock, panic setting in. “I would never! Alex, you know me, I would never…."

Alex pulled her close, “Baby, I know/ My team is working on it.”

Brie looked back at the team, who were now focused on their task, “Who are they? Shouldn’t the company’s IT handle this?”

“The office is compromised, Brie. I can’t trust anyone right now.”

“I have to help," Brie said immediately, her mind already racing. Then something occurred to her, a detail that had seemed insignificant at the time. "Alex—Margaret. She came to my office the same day Adam showed up at the company. I thought it was strange, but—"

"We've checked," Alex interrupted gently. "The security footage doesn't show Margaret doing anything suspicious in your office."

"Show me."

Alex hesitated, then nodded. He led her back into the study, and several heads turned at their entrance, but just as immediately, they continued their work.

Alex pulled up the footage on one of the screens. Brie watched herself leave the office, then Margaret entered a few minutes later. The woman moved around the space, appearing to simply look at things—the awards on the shelf, the view from the window. She touched nothing, opened no drawers, accessed no computer.

"It doesn't make sense," Brie murmured, her arms crossed tightly. "How could this have happened? I was so careful. The designs were encrypted, password-protected..."

"Carl," one of the IT team members suddenly spoke up, a young man with a Mohawk style. "I found something."

Everyone's attention shifted to her station.

"Some seconds are missing from the video feed," he continued, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "Precisely fifty-eight seconds."

The room went silent except for the rapid clicking of keys. Alex moved closer, Brie right beside him. The IT specialist's fingers tapped the screen vigorously, pulling up code, running programs Brie couldn't begin to understand.

After what felt like an agonizing minute, he suddenly straightened. "We have it. Whoever did this is an expert—they knew exactly how to splice the footage to make it look continuous. But they left a signature in the metadata."

"Show us," Alex commanded.

Alex supported Brie, his hand firmly pressed against her shoulder as they looked at the missing piece.

As they watched, Brie’s face turned pale. Her fingers trembled slightly as she tried to silence the strangled sob from her lips.

"No," Brie whispered. "No, it can't be...Jen," Brie muttered, her voice breaking. "How could it be her?"