Chapter 20 Chapter 20

Chapter 20 Chapter 20


Liana's Pov

I was already parked in the garage lot, in the back recess and out of sight of the security cameras, when Jonathan opened the side door and crawled into the back seat beside me. The movement was swift but not agitated, a silence of confidence to his posture that suggested this was not the first time he had engaged in something so secretive. But today was not for him. Today was for what he needed to tell me.

He didn't waste any time. He reached into his messenger bag, got a folder, and set it down gently in my lap, his eye flicking toward the windshield like he was checking how soundproof a Lexus was supposed to be. 

"Everything you asked for," he said softly.

I opened the folder, bracing myself. Rows of Wi-Fi log data, timestamped sessions, login histories. And then the banking transactions. My heart thudded painfully as I looked at the page.

"That's Andrea's personal phone?"

Jonathan nodded, swallowing hard. "She synced it to the corporate network a few times. Most folks don't know the system tracks every device that logs in. Every domain they access. Including banking sessions."

I looked at the figures on the printed page. One transaction stood out like a burning fuse. A deposit. A large one.

"This found its way into her account two days before the leak?"

"Right. Three times her monthly salary. From a shell company we traced back to an offshore business listing. No website, no client file. Just a phony created to move money."

My fingers were numb at the edge of the paper. I looked at him. "Someone paid her."

Jonathan nodded once. "To hurt you. This wasn't gossip gone wrong. It was a hit job. Well-timed. Orchestrated."

I sat back against the seat, the folder still open on my lap, my stomach knotted into a hard ball. I had felt the betrayal, the whisper of sabotage. But seeing it quantified, printed in black and white? That changed everything.

Jonathan stepped closer to me. "I shouldn't be saying this. Legal hasn't even talked to me yet. But Sasha asked me to invite you in on it. She thought you'd want to move ahead of it."

My mouth was dry. I could do no more than nod.

"I trust you know what to do with it," he whispered.

"I do."

He didn't require more. He gave me a last glance- half concern, half warning then exited, leaving me sitting in the quiet of my car, with a folder that was heavier than paper ought to be.

I didn't drive. I couldn't. I sat rigid, my hands gripping the wheel so tightly my knuckles whitened. Betrayal was cold. Cold and charged, like static on my skin. I saw Andrea in the break room this morning. She had smiled at me.

My phone vibrated. Sasha.

"Tell me you got it," she said as soon as I answered.

"I got it. It's worse than we thought."

She exhaled slowly. "Really?"

"A deposit. Two days prior to the leak. Triple her pay. It was her."

"It was her hand, i knew it was her" Sasha cautioned gently. "But not her plan."

I swallowed. "Jonathan said the same thing. That someone wanted to discredit me. That Andrea was just the spark."

"She's the knife," Sasha stated. "Now we have to find the hand that used her."

There was a silence between us.

"You now have power," she added. "Use it well."

I slowly nodded, though she couldn't see me. "I will."

As I hung up, I looked out at the empty parking bay in front of me. Andrea's words from a week ago came back to me, their meaning suddenly sharpened: 

"Maybe some people aren't meant to lead. They just think they are."

I used to let it slide then. I thought it was a jab. Now I knew what it was. A slip. A sign.

I saw her standing by the printer, chatting with one of the junior associates. She wore that silk blouse she wore every big day. Her hair was perfect. She looked as if she hadn't just torpedoed someone's career two weeks ago.

"Andrea," I said quietly, no shouting in my voice.

She turned, her smile pinched. "Liana. All right?"

"Got a minute?"

She paused, nodded. "Sure."

I led her down the hall to the glass conference room. The same one we used for board prep. It was empty, sunlit, antiseptic. I closed the door behind us.

Andrea sat without permission. She crossed her legs and placed her hands on the table, fingers clasped.

"Is everything alright?"

I sat across from her, setting the folder down in front of me. I did not open it. Not yet. "You know we monitor every device that hooks into our network," I said to her. "Including personal phones."

Her expression didn't change. "Is this an IT policy matter?"

"No. It's about you."

Andrea raised one eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"We monitored a login to your personal banking account while you were at work. Off our Wi-Fi."

She said nothing.

"There was a deposit. A large one. From a shell company. Two days before I was dragged."

There it was. The first shudder. A tightening around her mouth, implicit suggestion.

"I don't know what you're implying," she said in a steady voice.

I opened up the folder now, letting her view the top sheet. I didn't push it towards her, didn't make her glance. But I knew she would.

And she did. Her eyes dropped. For a second, then she leaned back in her chair, breathing quietly.

"That's a good theory," she said. "Do you have evidence?"

"I have enough to ask some questions. Like why you were outside my office the night of the leak. Or why you were the first to react to the viral post or why you have that much in your account."

She smiled then. It was minor, but there it was. "People talk. I was just… hearing. "

"No. You were sowing, or rather wagching the seed you had sown grow."

Andrea inched forward, her eyes on me. Like I was a game. Like she questioned how much I remembered.

"Let's imagine I did get a deposit. Let's say someone paid me. Why do you think it was taken from your account?"

"Because all the things that you did following that payment equaled one thing. The same day you were sick you called in sick and took a few days break, now i see why.."

She was quiet for a really long time. Then she said, "You're asking the wrong question Liana."

I blinked. "What?"

Andrea's voice fell, almost-whisper conspiratorial. "You're wondering who did it, who leaked it. Who was paid. But that's surface stuff. If I were you,I would  be wondering why someone would want to hurt me. Who benefits if I'm hurt?"

I stared at her, a shiver creeping up the back of my neck.

"Who paid you?"