Chapter 14 - The Counter-Strike
By Friday morning, Daniel’s desperation had morphed into something far more dangerous. Stripped of his family fortune, blackballed from the corporate sector, and facing impending criminal indictments for corporate fraud, he turned to the only person left in his miserable orbit: Rebecca Lawson.
I was sitting in my corner office reviewing the final asset allocation reports from the Sterling trust when my corporate security chief, Marcus, knocked urgently on my door and pushed it open without waiting for a reply.
"Mrs. Sterling, we have a security breach downstairs," Marcus said, his face grim. "Rebecca Lawson managed to slip past the ground-floor security desk by using an old, unexpired corporate visitor badge. She’s currently in the main lobby screaming that you stole her life, and she’s refusing to leave until you come down and face her."
I didn't bat an eye. I calmly closed my laptop, stood up, and adjusted my blazer. "Call the police, Marcus. Have her arrested for criminal trespassing and harassment immediately."
"We already called them," Marcus replied, a faint smirk touching the corner of his mouth. "They're five minutes away. But Rebecca isn't acting alone. Our tech team just flagged a massive, coordinated cyber-attack hitting Vanguard Tech’s public relations servers. Someone is trying to leak forged financial documents to the media, claiming you embezzled the Sterling trust funds through illegal corporate maneuvering."
A cold spike of adrenaline sharpened my focus. Rebecca and Daniel weren't just throwing a tantrum; they were staging a desperate, coordinated smear campaign to ruin my reputation before the final legal documents were filed.
"Track the IP address of the data upload," I instructed sharply, walking briskly out of my office toward the private elevator. "Find out exactly where those forged documents are being sent."
May you like
"Way ahead of you," Marcus said, tapping his tablet as we walked. "The data leak originated from a burner laptop logged into a public Wi-Fi network at a diner three blocks away from here. And according to our traffic cameras... Daniel Sterling is sitting right there in the booth with her."
The trap was fully set. They had walked right into the final snare.
