Beneath Her Bastard Boss

Chapter 125

“Luca,” Nicole said, a smile spreading across her face. “I’m so glad you could join us. I was just updating everyone on the situation.”

“So I heard,” Luca replied, his voice deceptively calm. He moved into the room with Sutton beside him. “Please continue. I’m very interested in your theory about sabotage.”

Nicole’s smile flickered but held. “I was explaining that the attack appeared to coincide with recent structural changes in the development department.” Her eyes flicked to Sutton, cold and calculating. Sutton was shocked by the depth of hatred in her eyes. “And that perhaps certain rushed promotions might need to be reconsidered.”

Luca nodded slowly, as if considering her words. “That’s an interesting hypothesis. Also interesting that you would question my judgment in front of everyone here.” He moved to the chair at the opposite end of the table from Nicole. “But before we continue with that, I’d like to review some evidence

we’ve uncovered.”

Nicole’s smile disappeared entirely now. “Evidence? I thought the Kingston system was wiped. How can you have evidence? Unless of course it’s been fabricated to cover a certain person’s tracks.”

“They didn’t try,” Luca confirmed. “Our system got shut down to protect our customers and also our systems from the threat.” He gestured to Sutton, who had taken a seat beside Jake. “Ms. Warner, would you please share what you found?”

Sutton tapped a few commands on the conference room system. The screen behind Nicole changed, displaying the security footage they had captured.

“This was recorded at 3:12 a.m. this morning,” Sutton said, her voice steady. “It shows two individuals accessing the building.”

The room watched in silence as the footage played. Nicole, clearly recognizable, stood next to a hooded figure who was typing at a terminal.

Nicole’s face drained of color.

“That’s not possible,” she said, her voice uncharacteristically thin. “This is… this must be doctored.”

“It’s not. Luca and I watched it as it unfolded,” Sutton replied calmly. She tapped another key, and the screen split to show a second feed. This one displayed the keystroke log from the terminal being used. “These are the exact commands entered at that terminal, at that exact time. By someone using Jake’s stolen security badge.”

All eyes turned to Jake, who looked genuinely shocked. “My badge was in my locker,” he said. “I swear, that’s not me.”

“We know it wasn’t you,” Luca cut in. “The man on the video is considerably larger than you. The badge was duplicated or stolen and returned later. We will of course need to give you a new one just to be safe.”

Nicole’s hands gripped the edge of the table. “This is absurd. I was working late. I happened to be in that area. I saw someone suspicious and followed them to investigate.”

“Why didn’t you activate a security alert? Why did you walk in with him, Nicole… Stop

was going to

person‘ you were supposedly investigating be using an advanced script specifically designed to corrupt Kingston’s database? That happened

silence in the room was

a log of system access records. “This shows the deactivation of the virus protection system. It was done using Nicole’s credentials, from her office computer, at 7:43 p.m. yesterday. Right before she left for the evening. There is proof

setting me up! You’re the one with the computer

hadn’t heard anything about Miles Miller yet, Luca might have to contain Nicole

his voice dangerously quiet. “Why would I?” He

finger! It’s the only thing that explains her fast track through the company. She is just another little slut working her way up the ladder on her

neutral, though her heart was pounding. She wanted to get

“You’re only

voice rising. “You never used to question her pregnant

Luca commanded, his voice like

fell silent, breathing

a team. Until she showed up

facts are these,” Luca said, addressing the room at large. “Someone deliberately deactivated the security protocols on Kingston’s server using Nicole’s credentials. Hours later, a professional hacker accessed our systems with Nicole present, attempting to corrupt or destroy client data. When that failed, a second

“You’re lying,” Nicole screamed.

put not only Kingston but Cyber10 in

Nicole looked away.

stood, buttoning his suit jacket. “This constitutes corporate espionage and attempted sabotage. These actions have put our client relationships at risk and potentially cost this company millions. Also, you could

“You can’t prove I had anything to do with this. That footage doesn’t show me doing

“The object you passed to him was a data drive containing the specific bypass codes needed to access the Kingston database. Codes only you and Luca and I had. Luca and I were together

Nicole’s face went ashen.

continued, “we’ve traced the hacker. His name is Miles Miller, codename Ghost. He’s a known cybercriminal who

deposited into an offshore account linked to him. Money

looked at him, surprised.

been

ab

boy.

completely silent now, all eyes fixed