Chapter 32 THE SURVEILLANCE
The face on the screen belonged to Amanda Chen, Sebastian's assistant of eight years.
Harper felt Sebastian go rigid beside her, his hand still crushing hers. The silence in the conference room stretched until it became unbearable.
"There has to be a mistake," Sebastian said finally, his voice hollow. "Amanda would not do this. She has been loyal since I took over as CEO."
Ryan fast-forwarded the footage. More clips appeared, all timestamped over the past two months. Amanda enters the penthouse with her security access. Amanda in Sebastian's office after hours. Amanda met with someone in a parking garage, exchanging what looked like documents for an envelope.
"I have been tracking her movements since I found the cameras," Ryan said. "She has been coordinating with Marcus for at least three months. Phone records show regular calls between them starting in early summer."
"Early summer," Claire repeated softly. "That is when the board first started questioning Sebastian's leadership."
Harper's mind raced backward through the timeline. Amanda had been there for everything. She had scheduled Sebastian's meetings, managed his calendar, had access to his files and his private communications. She had even helped arrange some of Harper's visits to the penthouse in those early days.
"Why would she do this?" Sebastian asked. "I trusted her completely. I paid her well. I promoted her twice. What could Marcus possibly offer that would make her betray me?"
Ryan pulled up another document on screen. A bank statement showing regular deposits into Amanda's account. Large deposits that could not be explained by her salary.
"He has been paying her fifty thousand a month," Ryan said. "For the past four months, that is two hundred thousand dollars. Plus a promised bonus of half a million once you were removed as CEO."
Sebastian stood abruptly and walked to the window, his back to them. Harper could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides.
"I need to talk to her," he said. "Confront her. Find out what else she has told Marcus."
"That is not a good idea," Ryan cautioned. "If she knows we are onto her, she will destroy evidence. We need to catch her in the act of passing information. Set a trap."
"A trap," Sebastian repeated, still staring out the window. "You want me to use my assistant the way she has been using me."
"I want you to protect yourself and your company. Amanda made her choice when she took Marcus's money." Ryan closed the laptop. "We have proof of corporate espionage, breach of confidentiality, possibly fraud depending on what documents she accessed. But we need to know who else is involved. Marcus could not have orchestrated all of this alone, even with Amanda's help."
Harper stood and crossed to Sebastian, putting her hand on his back. She felt him flinch at the touch, then lean into it slightly.
"We will figure this out," she said quietly. "Together."
"Will we? Because right now I cannot trust my own judgment about people. I thought Amanda was loyal. I thought Marcus was just bitter but manageable. I have been wrong about everything." Sebastian turned to face her. "What if I am wrong about other things too?"
"You are not wrong about us."
"How do you know? Maybe I am just seeing what I want to see because the alternative is too lonely to consider."
Harper felt the words hit her chest like a physical blow. "You do not mean that."
"Don't I?" Sebastian's eyes were dark with doubt. "Someone I trusted for eight years has been spying on me. Recording my private moments. Selling my secrets to my enemies. How am I supposed to trust anyone after this?"
"By remembering that Amanda's betrayal does not define everyone else. By remembering that I am not her." Harper kept her voice steady even though her heart was breaking. "I love you, Sebastian. That is not manipulation. That is not a lie. That is real."
Sebastian looked like he wanted to believe her but could not quite manage it. "I need some air."
He walked out of the conference room, leaving Harper standing there with Ryan and Claire.
"He does not mean it," Claire said immediately. "He is in shock. He is lashing out because he does not know what else to do."
"I know." Harper sat down heavily. "But that does not make it hurt less."
Ryan cleared his throat. "For what it is worth, Mrs. Colton, I have been investigating you too. Standard procedure when there is a question of corporate security. You are clean. No connection to Marcus, no suspicious financial activity, no communication with Amanda beyond what would be normal for the CEO's wife."
"You investigated me?"
"I investigate everyone close to Sebastian. It is my job." Ryan's expression was matter of fact. "The point is, you are not the problem. You are actually one of the few people in his life who has not betrayed him. He will remember that once the shock wears off."
Harper hoped he was right. She pulled out her powered down phone and stared at it, wondering if turning it back on would trigger another threatening message from whoever was watching them.
"What do we do now?" she asked.
"We set the trap Ryan mentioned," Claire said. "We feed Amanda false information through Sebastian and see where it goes. If she passes it to Marcus or whoever else is involved, we will know for certain she is the leak."
"And if Sebastian will not cooperate because he is too busy spiraling into trust issues?"
"Then we convince him. Because the alternative is letting Amanda and Marcus win, and I do not accept that outcome." Claire stood with determination. "Come on. Let us go talk some sense into my brother."
They found Sebastian in the parking lot, leaning against Ryan's building and staring at nothing. Claire approached him first while Harper hung back.
"Sebastian," Claire said gently. "I know you are hurt. But you cannot let that hurt turn into paranoia. Harper is not Amanda. She is not working against you."
"I know that logically. But logic is not helping right now." Sebastian's voice was flat. "Eight years, Claire. Amanda worked for me for eight years. She knew everything about my life. My habits, my passwords, my security codes. She had access to information that could destroy me, and she handed it over to Marcus without hesitation."
"For money. She did it for money, which tells you everything about her character." Claire touched her brother's arm. "But Harper turned down two million dollars to protect you. She stood up to a boardroom full of people and defended you when she could have walked away. Those actions matter more than Amanda's betrayal."
Sebastian finally looked at Harper. The doubt in his eyes made her chest ache.
"I want to trust you," he said. "I want to believe that what we have is real and not just another manipulation I am too blind to see."
"So believe it," Harper said simply. "Choose to trust me the way I am choosing to trust you despite everything that has happened today."
"It is not that simple."
"Yes, it is. Trust is always a choice." Harper walked closer but did not touch him, giving him space. "I cannot prove my feelings are real. I cannot provide evidence or recordings or witnesses. All I can do is show up and keep choosing you. The rest is up to you."
Sebastian closed his eyes. When he opened them again, some of the doubt had receded. "I am sorry. You do not deserve to be questioned because someone else betrayed me."
"No, I do not. But I understand why you are questioning everything right now." Harper finally closed the distance and took his hand. "We will get through this. But Sebastian, I need you to not shut me out. Do not let Amanda's betrayal destroy what we have built."
He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight enough that she could barely breathe. "I will try. That is all I can promise right now. I will try to trust and try to believe and try to not let this break me."
"That is enough."
They stood like that for several minutes while Claire gave them privacy. When they finally separated, Sebastian's expression had shifted from despair to determination.
"Okay," he said. "Let us set the trap. What do we need to do?"
Back in Ryan's office, they planned their strategy. Sebastian would return to work tomorrow as if nothing had changed. He would have a private conversation with Amanda about sensitive company information, something valuable enough that she would immediately pass it along to her handlers.
"Make it good," Ryan advised. "Something Marcus would pay a lot to know. But not something that could actually damage the company when he acts on it."
"A fake acquisition," Sebastian suggested. "I will tell Amanda I am planning to buy a competitor. Give her specific details about the target, the timeline, the financing. If she passes it to Marcus, he will start making moves based on false information."
"And we will catch him in the act," Claire finished. "Perfect."
They refined the plan until late into the evening. By the time they returned to Claire's apartment, Harper was exhausted. The adrenaline from the board meeting had long since faded, leaving her drained and anxious.
Sebastian seemed equally tired, moving through Claire's guest room with mechanical precision as they prepared for bed. He had barely spoken during the drive back, lost in his own thoughts.
Harper changed into borrowed pajamas and climbed into the guest bed, expecting Sebastian to do the same. Instead, he stood by the window, staring out at the city lights.
"Are you coming to bed?" she asked.
"In a minute."
Harper waited, watching him process the day's revelations. She could see him compartmentalizing, filing away his emotions to deal with later, putting on the CEO mask that kept him functional when everything else fell apart.
"Sebastian, you do not have to be strong right now. Not with me."
"If I am not strong, I will fall apart. And I cannot afford to fall apart when someone is actively trying to destroy me." His voice was quiet but strained. "So I will be strong tonight and maybe tomorrow I can fall apart. But not yet."
Harper got out of bed and crossed to him, wrapping her arms around him from behind. She felt him resist for a moment, then lean back against her.
"I am so tired," he admitted. "Tired of fighting. Tired of wondering who else might betray me. Tired of this constant vigilance."
"Then rest. Just for tonight. Let me keep watch."
Sebastian turned in her arms and kissed her, desperate and seeking comfort. Harper gave it willingly, pouring everything she felt into the kiss. Love and trust and the promise that she was not going anywhere.
They made their way back to the bed, holding each other in the darkness. Sebastian's breathing eventually evened out into sleep, but Harper stayed awake longer, her mind spinning through everything that had happened.
Amanda's betrayal. The threatening texts. The surveillance footage. Marcus's coordinated attack. It all pointed to something bigger than a simple power struggle within Colton Industries.
Someone wanted Sebastian destroyed completely. And they were willing to use anyone close to him to make it happen.
Harper's phone, still powered down on the nightstand, suddenly lit up on its own. A message notification appeared on the lock screen despite the phone being off.
That should not be possible.
With shaking hands, Harper picked up the phone. The message was from the same unknown number that had been threatening her all day.
"Enjoy your last peaceful night, Harper. Tomorrow, everything changes. And this time, Sebastian will not be able to protect you from what is coming."
Below the text was a photo. Harper's breath caught when she saw it.
It was a picture of her at the Adriatic earlier that day, standing in the ballroom reviewing the window installation. But in the corner of the image, barely visible, was a figure in shadow. Someone was watching her from the construction site.
Someone who had been there while she was alone and vulnerable.
The timestamp on the photo read: 2:47 PM. Hours before she had received the first threatening text. Hours before the board meeting. Hours before they had discovered Amanda's betrayal.
Which meant whoever took this photo had been planning their next move long before Marcus was removed from the board.
Harper's hands trembled as she zoomed in on the shadowy figure. The image was grainy, but something about the person's stance felt familiar.
She zoomed in further, trying to make out any identifying features.
And then she saw it. A detail that made her blood run cold.
The figure was wearing a distinctive bracelet. A silver bracelet with a small blue stone.
Harper had seen that bracelet before. Recently.
Her mind raced backward through the day, through the week, trying to remember where she had seen it.
And then it hit her.
The bracelet belonged to someone they both trusted. Someone who had been supportive and helpful and present for every major moment of their relationship.
Someone who had access to both Sebastian's world and Harper's.
Someone neither of them had suspected.
Harper looked at Sebastian sleeping beside her, peaceful for the first time in hours. She needed to wake him. I needed to show him the photo and share her terrible realization.
But before she could move, her phone buzzed with another message.
"You figured it out, didn't you? I can always tell when someone has made the connection. Do not bother warning Sebastian. By the time he wakes up, it will already be too late. Sleep well, Harper. You are going to need your strength for what comes next."
The phone went dead in her hands. Completely dead, the battery drained despite being nearly full minutes ago.
Harper sat frozen in the darkness, her heart pounding, staring at the now useless device.
Someone had complete control over her phone. Someone who could turn it on and off remotely, send messages, track her location.
Someone who had been one step ahead of them this entire time.
And now they had revealed themselves, confident that Harper had figured out their identity but equally confident that it was already too late to stop whatever they had planned.
Harper looked at the door to the guest room, wondering if she should wake Claire. Wondering if they were even safe in this apartment.
Wondering who the traitor really was and what they were planning to do next.
The answer was somewhere in her memory, in that silver bracelet and the familiar stance of the figure in the photo.
She just needed to remember before morning came.
Before it was too late.
Before whoever was hunting them made their final move.