THE LEAK WITHIN

THE LEAK WITHIN
The building was on lockdown.

Security had sealed the exits while a swarm of media camped outside the front gate, cameras raised, shouting questions no one had answers to yet. A slow buzz of uncertainty hummed through the air like electricity. Inside the boardroom, assistants scrambled to compile press statements, and executives whispered in hallways, their nerves fraying by the minute.

Adrian sat at the far end of the now-cleared board table, one hand pressed to his temple as he reviewed the legal brief again. I sat near him, my phone resting in my lap, screen dark, but heart pounding.

And then, it buzzed.

Ethan.

"Need to talk. Privately. Something’s off."

I excused myself, stepping into the glass-walled corridor. I called him immediately.

“Ethan?”

“I’ve been scanning the system logs from earlier today,” he said without greeting. “You’re not going to like this.”

“What is it?”

“There was unauthorized access to your file transfers. The ones sent to the media and legal teams. Someone inside your building mirrored them at the same time.”

I froze. “You mean… someone on the inside knew we were leaking the evidence?”

“More than that,” Ethan replied. “They passed it on to Victoria. That's how she got that injunction ready so fast. She had advance warning. Someone tipped her off.”

My blood ran cold.

“Do you know who?”

“Not yet,” he said. “But the access came from the internal admin server. Someone with board-level credentials.”

I turned, looking through the boardroom glass. Half the people still inside had voted for Adrian. The other half… now I wasn’t sure.

“I’ll keep digging,” Ethan said. “But be careful who you trust.”

I hung up and returned to the room. Adrian looked up immediately.

“Something’s wrong,” I said quietly.

We stepped aside. I told him everything.

By the time I was done, Adrian’s expression had darkened.

“We need to find out who it is,” he said. “Tonight.”

By 6:30pm, most of the board had left under tight security escort. Only a few remained: those Adrian trusted—at least enough to keep in the loop. The executive conference room on the 27th floor was cleared for a closed-door meeting. Just five of us now.

Adrian. Me. Chairperson Miles. Ellen from legal. And Julius Norwood—senior board member and, according to Ethan’s logs, one of only four people with the access credentials to reach the mirrored files.

Julius was quiet. Too quiet.

He had been civil during the vote, but he hadn’t raised his hand until the last second. And when Isla Crane entered with Victoria’s injunction, he hadn’t reacted with shock… just quiet calculation.

Ethan’s words echoed in my head: “Be careful who you trust.”

We took our seats.

Adrian started. “We believe there’s been a breach from within. Someone accessed confidential files and relayed them outside this building. Possibly to Victoria.”

Ellen leaned forward. “Are we sure it wasn’t someone on her legal team?”

“We’re sure,” I said. “The IP address was local. The user had board-level clearance.”

Julius raised a brow. “That’s a serious accusation.”

“It is,” Adrian said. “Which is why we’re not making it lightly.”

Julius tapped a pen slowly against the table. “So what now? We’re playing detective?”

“We’re protecting the company from further sabotage,” Adrian replied. “And we’d appreciate everyone’s cooperation.”

Chairperson Miles cleared his throat. “For the record, my credentials are only used from my office, and I was with security all morning.”

“And mine,” Ellen added, “are locked behind a biometric gate. No one could use them without my fingerprint.”

Julius remained silent.

Adrian’s gaze locked on him.

“You hesitated during the vote,” Adrian said. “You were also the only one who left the boardroom when we went to vote privately after Farnsworth stormed out.”

“I went to the restroom,” Julius said evenly. “Didn’t realize I needed an escort to pee.”

I leaned forward slightly. “You didn’t seem surprised when Victoria’s lawyer walked in. Almost like you were expecting it.”

Julius smiled thinly. “I’ve been on this board for 18 years. Nothing surprises me anymore.”

A long silence.

Then Ethan’s voice crackled through the Bluetooth earpiece Adrian wore.

“She’s right,” Ethan said. “I just got confirmation. Julius’s ID was used to access the transfer files—about twenty minutes before Isla Crane arrived.”

Adrian didn’t blink. “Julius?”

Julius’s face didn’t move.

But then he exhaled… and smiled.

“You think this is over?” he said softly. “You think Victoria is the top of this pyramid?”

My heart dropped.

“What are you talking about?” Adrian asked.

“There are investors,” Julius said. “People you’ve never met. Names you’ll never find. Victoria was their face. Their glove. If she goes down, they lose billions. And they won’t let that happen.”

“You sold us out,” I said, my voice low.

“I protected the real interests of this company,” Julius said. “And believe me, Adrian—reclaiming your title won’t save it. They will bury you. Her too.”

Adrian stood slowly. “Get out.”

“You don’t want to do this,” Julius warned.

“I already did,” Adrian said. “Security is on their way. You’re done.”

But just then—the lights flickered.

A sharp ping echoed from the wall monitors.

Ellen stood. “Something’s wrong with the system—”

Adrian’s phone buzzed. A message from Ethan:

“The building’s being hit. Someone’s hacking the internal servers. From inside.”

I turned to the glass wall. Red lights began flashing in the hallway.

Adrian looked at Julius. “What did you do?”

“I told you,” Julius said calmly. “Victoria was never the only enemy you had.”

The screen on the wall blinked again—lines of code filling the dashboard as system controls were overridden one by one.

“Secure the files!” Ellen shouted. “Back up everything—”

“I already did,” I said, pulling out my phone. “It’s on Ethan’s off-grid vault.”

“But the building’s systems—payroll, legal, infrastructure—they’re all going dark,” Adrian muttered.

The intercom buzzed with static.

A mechanical voice echoed through the ceiling:

“System lockdown in progress. Emergency override initiated.”

Julius stood and straightened his coat. “They’ll gut the company from the inside. Make it worthless. And then buy it back at scraps.”

“You’re insane,” I said.

“No,” Julius said. “I’m loyal. Just not to you.”

Security burst through the door seconds later.

“Take him,” Adrian ordered.

Two guards restrained Julius as he grinned.

“You’re not ready for what’s coming,” he said as they dragged him out.

But even as the door slammed shut, the walls continued to blink with collapsing systems.

Victoria might have been the head of the snake.

But the venom ran far deeper.