Our systems logged everything. Every access. Every touch point. We’d been staring at accounting, at who authorized the payments to the shadow company.
But what if it had nothing to do with accounting at all?
What if the person wasn’t in accounting either?
I hesitated, then pulled up a log.
When I’d been moved to the top floor, within a few weeks Hale had given me high-level clearance. Enough to see more than most. Enough to be dangerous. But not enough to do everything.
Hale was the only one with full clearance to certain systems. The kind that left no fingerprints unless you knew exactly where to look.
Micah and his team were in the same category I was. Trusted. Necessary. Still locked out of some doors.
Several logins from different stations, but it didn’t make sense until I opened our absence log and started scanning employee emails.
The dates lined up too neatly to be a coincidence.
Vacations. Sick days. Conferences. Desks that should’ve been empty lighting up like Christmas trees.
My stomach tightened.
Someone wasn’t just hiding their tracks.
They were borrowing other people’s absence.
I stopped scrolling.
Because one name appeared more than once.
And it shouldn’t have.
I saved everything to my thumb drive and slipped it into my pocket. I was halfway through pulling on my shoes when a knock sounded at the door.
I sighed and glanced toward the flowers, assuming it was another delivery. Another apology wrapped in guilt for fucking me while I was blindfolded, letting me believe he was a stranger when he was anything but.
I didn’t bother checking the peephole. When I opened the door, my stomach dropped, and I automatically went to close it.
Stan stuck his foot in the doorway before I could get the door shut and shoved it open, knocking me back a step.
He closed and locked the door behind him.
“Where’s your phone?”
I backed up toward the kitchen, making sure I left room to get away.
“Lost it.”
He chuckled. “You’re a really bad liar, Ms. Rhodes.”
Before I knew what was happening, Stan lunged forward, grabbed my purse off the table, and dumped the contents onto the table. He picked up my phone and slid it into his back pocket.
I moved at the same time, trying to move past him to get to he door.
He cursed and stumbled back a step, reaching inside his jacket.
“Don’t,” he snapped.
The word cracked as he pulled the gun out too fast, like he hadn’t meant to show it just yet.
