Alaric’s gaze lifted slowly from the tablet. “Define protect.”
Vidar’s mouth tightened. “Don’t play semantics. She crossed a line.”
“According to logs,” Alaric said. “According to data generated by systems that can be manipulated by anyone with sufficient knowledge and patience.”
Vidar scoffed. “That’s the point. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing. Which means either she’s more dangerous than you think, or she understood the risk she was in and took steps to protect herself long before this moment arrived.”
Alaric straightened, every impulse sharpening. “You’re making assumptions.”
“I’m making risk assessments,” Vidar replied. “She had proximity. She had trust. She had incentive. You gave her access she didn’t earn.”
“That’s not true,” Alaric said. “She earned every inch of it.”
Vidar’s eyes flashed. “Because you wanted to believe she did.”
The accusationlanded clean.
Alaric didn’t deny it. He didn’t need to. The truth of it settled, unwelcome and undeniable. He had wanted to believe in her competence, her loyalty, her restraint. He had wanted to believe that bringing her closer hadn’t been a mistake.He had wanted to believe that night hadn’t compromisedhim.
“You’re letting emotion cloud your judgment,” Vidar pressed.
“No,” Alaric said quietly. “I’m preventing fear from driving yours.”
Vidar leaned forward. “Fear keeps us alive.”
“Fear makes people sloppy,” Alaric replied. “And sloppiness gets assets erased unnecessarily.”
Vidar froze. “You sound like you’re already choosing her.”
Alaric’s eyes hardened. “I’m choosing verification.”
“While she has time to disappear,” Vidar shot back. “Or worse, sell the file.”
Alaric shook his head once. “The file’s gone.” Heturned back to the data, scanning again not for what it showed, but for what it didn’t. The absence of secondary traces bothered him. Anyone capable of this level of intrusion would have covered theirtracks more aggressively. Or they would have wanted to beseen.
Which meant theater.
Someone wanted reaction.
“You know what protocol says,” Vidar continued. “Internal breach with executive exposure. The response is immediate containment.”
“And erasure,” Alaric finished.
“Yes.”
Alaric’s fingers curled slowly against the desk. Erasure wasn’t a metaphor. It was a process. Financial ruin. Reputation destruction. Legal pressure applied until a person folded or vanished. In extreme cases, it became permanent.
Sera Carrington didn’t belong in that category.Not unless the world had shifted far more violently than anyone realized.”I’m not authorizing erasure,” Alaricsaid.
Vidar’s expression sharpened. “Then you’re exposing us.”
“I’m exposing us to truth,” Alaric replied. “Which is the only thing that matters.”
Vidar straightened, anger leaking through. “You’re letting personal weakness interfere with corporatesecurity.”
Alaric met his gaze without flinching. “You’re letting corporate security justify murder.”
Silence slammed down betweenthem.
