Jax's grin was unrepentant. "I set up distractions. Little chaos grenades. Kept him off-balance while you were poking through his expense reports. Autocorrect changed 'team' to 'clown troupe.' His calendar kept spawning fake meetings. His phone wouldn't unlock unless—"
His phone buzzed.
APRIL:Watching me through cameras? That's something you ask about first.
"It helped," Arthur said.
"Huh." Jax leaned back. "Thought that one would get me in trouble."
JAX:noted. surveillance requires consent.
JAX:creating new "don't watch people without asking" protocol
JAX:also creating "texts I failed to think better of" folder for the poetry
"It helped." Arthur's tone made it clear the discussion was over. "He made errors he wouldn't have made otherwise."
JAX:both infractions logged for future punishment/reward consideration.
JAX:your call.
"What else do you need?" Jax asked, eyes back on Arthur.
APRIL:I'll think about it.
"Everything you have. Technical violations. Security breaches. Access logs. We combine your evidence with my financial audit and build a case Killian can't ignore."
JAX:badge log: chad left at 3:47pm
JAX:facial expression analysis: punchable
Arthur reached into his folder and pulled out a printed spreadsheet.
"April sent me this," Arthur said. "Operational impact. Every project he's delayed. Every bottleneck he's created."
Jax leaned forward, scanning it. His leg slowed.
He surveyed every arrow, every delay light with red cells marking delays like a trail of casualties, every project stalled at "Waiting on Chad."
He already knew she was beautiful. Already knew she was kind. But her brain. He was looking at her brain—the way it saw the damage and turned it into evidence no one could lookaway from. He hadn't thought he could want her more than he already did. He was wrong.
His leg stopped.
"You know what kills plausible deniability? A chart."
Arthur gave a single approving nod—like someone had just correctly filed a form.
They worked in focused silence after that. Arthur laying out documentation in precise chronological order. Jax queuing up technical evidence, organizing files by severity and impact.
"Password reuse," Jax said, pulling up logs. "Seventeen instances. Clicking phishing links—four times in six months. Unauthorized file access. Using April's credentials to access documents above his clearance."
"Expense fraud," Arthur countered, tapping a spreadsheet. "Double-billing for rideshares. Marking personal meals as client entertainment. Using company card for non-business purchases."
Jax's fingers drummed against the edge of his laptop. "Logging in from unsecured locations. Bars. Gyms. That one Uber with no doors."
He looked at Arthur, eyebrows up, head tilted.You hearing this?
"Missing receipts totaling four thousand dollars."
