Page 169
“Yes,” Elias says and I can tell by his tone he already knows where my mind is at. “The trigger could have been planted at any point after the last system reset.”
“Which was?”
“Forty-eight hours ago.”
Forty-eight hours gives Sloane opportunity, along with half the executive floor and every cleared engineer.
Jace studies the screen, then looks at me, anger coloring his features as he finally catches on. “She was asleep beside us.”
“That proves where she was when the command was executed. It does not prove she didn't created it.”
“The woman moved in with us. She trusts us with everything, and your first response is to turn her into a suspect.”
“My first response is to protect the company.”
“Even if that means accusing her first?”
I hold his gaze, letting none of the impact show.
“Proximity is not proof of loyalty,” I say. “Sometimes it's exactly what makes betrayal possible.”
“Can you stop thinking with your paranoia for five damn minutes?”
“Can you stop mistaking love for evidence?” I snap back, stepping toward him. “Your need to defend her makes you a liability.”
“And your need to suspect her makes you terrified. God dammit, Nate! She is not him!”
His words should be enough, but it's not.
“Look, we need to be smart about this." Elias says, running a hand through his hair as he tries to de-escalate. "We investigate everyone with access, including Sloane. Quietly. If she is involved, the audit will show us. If she is being framed, treating her like she is guilty gives whoever did this exactly what they want.”
We turns toward the glass wall to see several engineers who have found reasons to work within sight of the conference room.
“Jace, rerun every process during the breach, including dormant commands. Nate, pull personnel access for the last forty-eight hours. I’ll review physical security and the devices.”
“And Sloane?” Jace asks. “You both think it’s okay to keep her in the dark?”
“We say nothing until we know more,” Elias says, his voice low and final.
I give a single, sharp nod. “Agreed.”
Jace’s jaw clenches, fury tightening his expression. “Right. Because nothing says ‘I love and trust you’ like secretly investigating your lover for corporate espionage. But what the hell do I know? I’m just the one who lets his heart get in the way of business.”
“Jace—” Elias calls, but he doesn’t stay to hear it. He storms out of the conference room, and the door slams shut behind him, causing the nosy fucking works to whisper.
“You do this, Nate," Elias whispers as his eyes stay on Jace's retreating form. "And you’ll break a trust you might not be able to get back.”
I turn to face him fully, my expression hardening. “If she’s innocent, she’ll understand.”
“And if she isn’t?”
“Then we’ll have protected SOLAÉ from the one person who could destroy it.”
Elias studies me for a long moment, and I wonder if he can see how carefully I’m holding it together.
By noon, every conversation on the executive floor is a grating assault on my focus. I shut my office door, frost the glass, and pull up the logs again.
Every entry around Sloane’s name is clean; impossibly precise. Whoever did this knew our architecture well enough to erase the path without disturbing the surrounding data.
