The office was unusually busy that afternoon.
The final files for the Khurana Group's flagship project were being prepared to send to the international clients. It was the most important deal of the quarter.
And the responsibility for the design proposal…
Was Anika Kapoor's.
Anika sat at her desk, reviewing the last blueprint carefully on her laptop.
"Just one more file," she murmured.
Her colleague Neha leaned over the cubicle wall.
"Client meeting is in thirty minutes."
"I know," Anika replied. "I'm just exporting the final design."
Across the floor, near the glass cabins—
Rhea watched quietly.
Her expression was calm.
Too calm.
When Anika stood up to grab a printed document from the printer room, Rhea slowly walked toward her desk.
No one noticed.
The design file was still open on Anika's screen.
Rhea leaned closer.
Her fingers moved quickly across the keyboard.
One small change.
Two small changes.
Three.
Almost invisible adjustments in the structural layout.
But enough to destroy the entire design calculation.
She saved the file.
Closed the window.
And walked away as if nothing had happened.
Seconds later, Anika returned.
She grabbed the final files and rushed toward the conference room.
The meeting began.
Clients from Singapore joined through the large screen while senior managers sat around the table.
At the head sat Arman Khurana.
Anika stood beside the screen.
Confident.
Focused.
"Good afternoon everyone," she began.
"This is the final structural model for the Khurana Eco Tower project."
The slides appeared.
Everything looked perfect.
Until the client's architect frowned.
"Excuse me," he interrupted.
Anika paused.
"Yes?"
"There seems to be a structural miscalculation here."
Her stomach dropped.
"That's not possible."
He zoomed into the blueprint.
"The load distribution in section B… it collapses the entire support frame."
The room went silent.
Anika quickly checked the slide.
Her heart began racing.
The design was wrong.
Completely wrong.
"That… that's not the original layout," she said quietly.
The architect shook his head.
"It's the file you sent."
Whispers started around the table.
Someone muttered,
"This is why inexperienced designers shouldn't handle major projects."
Anika's face went pale.
She knew her design.
She had checked it dozens of times.
This wasn't her work.
Before the tension could grow—
A calm voice spoke.
"Stop."
Everyone turned.
Arman Khurana stood up slowly.
His gaze moved from the screen to Anika.
"Bring your laptop."
Anika walked toward him, slightly shaken.
He plugged the laptop into the screen and opened the project folder.
Then he checked the file history.
His eyes narrowed.
"This file was modified today."
The room grew silent.
"By someone other than Anika Kapoor."
A few heads turned around the room.
Arman's voice became colder.
"Which means," he continued, "someone here tried to tamper with the design."
Shock spread across the table.
Across the room—
Rhea's fingers tightened around her pen.
Arman closed the file slowly.
Then he looked at Anika.
"Fix the original model and send it in one hour."
His tone was calm but firm.
"I'll handle the clients."
Anika nodded silently.
And for the second time—
Arman Khurana had saved her reputation.
But this time…
Someone in that room had just started a dangerous game.
And Arman hated games he didn't control.