"Silence," Elias roared. "Are you accusing me of fabricating surveillance footage from my own penthouse?"
Vivian shrank under his stern glare. "I..." She faltered, but she regained her composure quickly. "I only want to know whether the footage is authentic."
"Questioning the authenticity of this footage is questioning me directly." Elias’s tone turned colder.
The room seemed to hold its breath. Everyone looked rattled. No one had the courage to challenge their boss so openly.
"Elias." Elena was calm. "Let me handle this, please."
Elias looked at her. He wanted to shut everyone down immediately. He wanted to protect her from every accusation. But if he did that, the board could accuse him of being biased.
It would only make things more difficult for Elena. After a moment, he nodded.
"Fine."
"Thanks." Elena turned to Marcus. "Marcus, can you verify the authenticity of the footage?"
Marcus nodded. "Of course."
He turned toward the laptop and began working. His fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard as he accessed the file’s metadata, timestamps, and security records.
Everyone watched him with a mixture of curiosity and unease. No one knew what the result would be.
Vivian clenched her fists. She was desperate to know what Marcus would find.
Finally, Marcus stopped typing and lifted his head. "It’s done," he said. "The footage is authentic. It has not been fabricated or altered."
A collective breath seemed to leave the room.
The corners of Elias’s lips lifted slightly.
But Vivian looked troubled. She shook her head.
"Are you sure?" Her voice was tense. "Couldn’t you have made a mistake?"
Marcus merely glanced at her. Then he turned his attention back to Elias.
"I made no mistake, sir. If anyone has doubts, they are welcome to verify it independently."
No one spoke. No one raised another question.
"Vivian." Elias rose from his seat. His gaze settled on her.
"I hired Marcus five years ago based on his ability. I made him head of the security department because of his performance and expertise."
He paused. "In five years, he has never given me a reason to question his ability."
Vivian swallowed. She was nervous and anxious. Her confidence was beginning to crumble.
"If you still have doubts," Elias continued, "I can call the best security team in the city and have them verify the footage themselves."
Vivian’s heart raced unsteadily. "There is no need." She forced a smile. "I have no doubts."
"Good." Elias swept his cold gaze across the executives. "Now it has been established that Elena was at home that night."
He placed both hands on the table and leaned forward.
"That means someone else used her access card, entered her office, and accessed the confidential project files without authorization."
His eyes hardened. "That person is the one who leaked the information. And that person is inside this room."
Everyone looked at one another. Suspicion and fear spread through the room.
Vivian went pale. Cold sweat formed at the back of her neck. She couldn’t even imagine what Elias would do if the investigation led to her.
’If he discovers my involvement...’ Her stomach twisted.
"It won’t take long to find out the truth," Elias continued. "And once I do, I will make the traitor pay dearly."
He looked at each person around the table.
"So come forward and confess." His voice was frighteningly calm. "Tell the truth now. If you cooperate, I may consider showing you mercy."
He straightened. "You still have time to rectify your mistake."
No one moved. The room was so silent that even breathing seemed difficult.
Vivian shifted slightly in her seat but said nothing. She forced herself to remain calm.
’He can’t trace it back to me.’
She had chosen that night precisely because she knew the entire building was undergoing maintenance.
The surveillance system had been offline.
She had entered and left without leaving a visible trace. She had made sure none of the security guards saw her.
There was no footage, no witness, no direct evidence.
Whatever damage she needed to cause had already been done. The project files had already been transferred to Victor Kane. Orion Holdings would develop the platform and launch its own version.
Novacrest Global would have no choice but to cancel the project.
And Elena...
Vivian’s lips curled into the faintest smile.
’This time, she is lucky. But she won’t be so lucky next time.’
"Fine." Elias’s stern voice suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts. "Since you’ve all chosen to remain silent, I won’t show any mercy."
Vivian’s heart sank. She looked at him. For one terrifying moment, it felt as though he already knew who the traitor was.
Meanwhile, Elena stood and faced the executives. "You all started accusing me before anything was confirmed. No one stopped to think that this entire project is my hard work."
Disappointment was evident in her voice.
"I designed the framework. I built this project from the ground up. Why would I leak it to a rival company? Why would I destroy my own work?"
The executives lowered their heads. Shame and guilt spread across their faces.
They had accused Elena based on suspicion alone.
"You had every right to question me," Elena continued. "You had every right to be suspicious. But how is it fair to accuse someone before an investigation is complete?"
Her gaze moved from one executive to another.
"If suspicion alone is enough to condemn someone, then why do we need investigations? Why do we need evidence? Judgments would simply be passed based on doubts."
No one answered.
"We’ll get to the bottom of this. We’ll find the person responsible. I only hope everyone here will cooperate fully with the investigation."
"Yes, we will."
"We all want to know the truth."
"Someone used your access card to enter your office. This is a serious security breach. It could happen to any one of us."
"The traitor must be found and punished severely. Otherwise, no one will fear doing something like this again."
One after another, the executives voiced their support for a proper investigation.
Elias raised a hand, silencing them. "Have faith in me. In three days, we will hold another meeting. By then, I expect the traitor to be found. The meeting is adjourned."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vivian couldn’t stay calm the rest of the day. Her plan had failed.
Elena had managed to prove that she was at home that night, destroying the most important piece of evidence against her.
"Why didn’t I think of that before?" she muttered under her breath. "How could I overlook something so important?"
She had been so focused on the surveillance failure at the company that she had completely forgotten about the possibility of Elena having an alibi elsewhere.
Her phone vibrated on the desk. Vivian immediately picked it up.
A message from her father was waiting.
’Did Elias dismiss Elena?’
Vivian let out a frustrated sigh. She quickly typed back, ’Nothing has happened as we expected. She proved her innocence. She showed the surveillance footage from the penthouse.’
No immediate reply came.
Vivian stared impatiently at the screen. After a few moments, she typed another message: ’If Elias finds out my involvement, we are doomed.’
The reply came shortly afterward.
’Stay calm. Don’t lose your temper. If you panic, you’ll make yourself look suspicious.’
Vivian’s temper seemed to flare up even more as she read those words. ’Then what are you expecting me to do? She is still here in the office, acting high and mighty. I hate her.’
’Calm down. The game is not over yet. We still can prove that she is a spy working for Orion Holdings.’
Vivian frowned as she read her father’s reply.
’Remember, Noah is now working with Orion Holdings. We can use her connection with Noah to turn things against her.’
Vivian suddenly remembered that Noah had signed an agreement with a seemingly small mid-cap company. But the company wasn’t independent. It was secretly connected to Orion Holdings.
A slow smile spread across Vivian’s face. Her anger began to disappear, replaced by renewed confidence.
’All you have to do is fabricate the connection between her and Noah. Create an encrypted trail of communication between them. Make it look as though Noah was receiving confidential information about the project from Elena and passing it to Victor. And this will make Elias furious. He will never tolerate betrayal.’
Vivian stared at those words. She knew her father was right.
Elias trusted Elena deeply. But that trust was also her weakness.
If she could make him believe that Elena had been secretly communicating with Noah, especially about the project, Elias would begin questioning everything he thought he knew about his wife.
Then another message appeared.
’And remember, no man will ever accept his woman keeping a connection to her ex secretly. Use that. Make Elias wonder whether Elena ever truly stopped loving Noah.’
Vivian’s eyes gleamed. She knew exactly where Elias’s weakness lay. She could turn his love for Elena into doubt, jealousy, and eventually betrayal.
"I now know what to do. Your career and marriage, both will be destroyed."