Chapter 118

The alarm pierced the quiet like a slap.

Sutton jolted, blinking hard as the sound cut back to the here and now with brutal clarity.

the thick fog in her head. The noise wasn’t deafening, but it was sharp and urgent. It snapped her

Saved by the bell.

She looked over Luca’s shoulder toward her

rworkstati

the red light flashing on the security panel.

“Shit,” she muttered.

Luca stood quickly, already alert, already all business again. But when he turned to look at her, there was something softer lingering in his eyes. Something that she had never seen in him before.

“You okay?” he asked.

Sutton nodded, even though her body ached and her thighs still felt shaky. “Yeah. Just… give me a second.”

She pulled her dress down as best she could and stood slowly, ignoring the dull ache that followed. Her underwear was gone. Didn’t matter. Her limbs were jelly, her head still going over everything that had passed between them. She moved toward her desk and silenced the alarm.

The screen lit up.

System breach alert.

Her heart stuttered.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she

breath

“What is it?” Luca asked, already moving in beside her.

She didn’t answer right away. Her fingers were flying across the keyboard now, checking logs, cross–referencing data, scanning for the entry point.

“It’s not a breach,” she said finall

“It’s an internal trigger I set up without anyone knowing to monitor tampering attempts on the server.” Her jaw tightened. “Someone just tried to wipe a backup file connected to Kingston.”

Luca’s expression hardened. “From inside the building?”

Sutton nodded once. “Yeah.

From a secured login.”

His voice dropped. “Nicole?”

you said, we need proof and I’m going to get that proof. That’s why I set up the trigger.” She

keep secrets,” she said, “but I couldn’t risk her getting away with it. I also didn’t want anyone to hear I

jaw clenched, staring at the monitor. “If it is Nicole, I have to say this has to be very upsetting. She has been with me for years, but there is

log,” Sutton said, already sliding into her chair. “You might want to lock down executive–level credentials while I do. Maybe lock everyone out of the system, including the development team. Just

Sutton flushed. She knew how she looked, hair mussed, lips

He hesitated.

“Sutton.”

She didn’t stop typing.

what I said.

hovering over the keyboard. Her

now, we’ve got other things to worry about.

and moved to one of

fingers flew across the keyboard, getting

puzzle. Soon, there was no trace of emotion

his job.

over her shoulder. “Only you and me

already rerouting

code scrolled fast. She bypassed their internal audit tools, tapping straight into the

was done

delete backup files tied to Kingston’s contract. They’d failed. But that didn’t matter now. What

open the internal IP logs and copied the identifier. Then

asked. “Fuck, Sutton. I’m

to her computer. “I’m cross–referencing badge data with security footage,” she said, not looking away. “They logged in from the third floor east end of the building. We’re going to see exactly

fast, tracing

s of

terminal used.

It pinged. She rerouted.

And the feed opened.

black and white, time–stamped, just past

she was, Nicole. Just as she had thought.

beside her. Sutton could tell the person was a man, but he was wearing a

at the man. No,

“He

tightened. “That’s

badge.”

than Jake Sutton agreed. They watched as Nicole handed something to the man…a drive? A phone? It

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