Alaric's pov
"Explain it again."
I'd said it three times and yet, no one had volunteered. Cowards. I paid these men six figures to build fortresses out of data, yet someone had walked through my firewall like it was nothing.
"The route was diverted manually, sir," the Tech Lead stammered. His forehead was slick with sweat. "But the command trail is gone."
"The Aegis Controller prototype is currently offline," he blurted, his voice cracking. "Whoever took it didn't just divert the shipment, sir. They activated the stealth protocols. It's like the hardware just stopped existing on the map. We can't ping it. We can't even see the truck it's sitting on."
"So either my system is incompetent," I leaned forward, my shadow swallowing the glass table, "or someone inside this company has developed a death wish. Restore the logs."
Amid the red-lit chaos, Valeria was moving through the panic like a ghost in a storm. Efficient. Composed.
Handing out files and checking schedules as if I hadn't had my hand at her waist in the elevator less than a few hours ago.
Psychotic woman.
The messy hair from 9:00 a.m. was gone, her hair was now pinned back into a tight coil. The purple bruise on her wrist was now buried beneath a fresh layer of cotton and lies. I hated how quickly she had recovered. I was still simmering, she was already ice, and foolish of me to be worried about my secretary when theree was a rat in my company.
"The logistics head is on line four," she said. "Should I tell him you're busy, or should I let him hear you fire him?"
"Tell him to hold." I tracked the sharp line of her jaw. "And stop moving so much, Valeria. You're giving me a headache."
The monitors flickered. A new alert flashed. My eyes narrowed at the timestamp of the diversion.
"It's your biometric signature, sir," the Tech Lead blurted. "But the command wasn't sent today. It was a time-locked override. Signed off forty-eight hours ago."
"Check the location of the signal."
"It originated from your private study at home, sir. But the system shows you were the only one in the room."
My jaw tightened. Impossible. I hadn't touched the logistics server two days ago. I wasn't even home.
I looked at Valeria. She was standing by the window, adjusting the blinds. Her tablet was tucked under her arm. Her face was a mask of professional boredom.
Two days ago, Valeria hadn't even been in the office. She'd called out with a migraine.
There was no way she could have bypassed my home security from her cramped apartment across town.
I didn't suspect her. I couldn't. She was a dropout with a messy claw clip and a cheap suit. She didn't have the hardware to do such a clean strike.
"If we're vetting the floor, Mr. Von," the Head of Security interrupted, "we should be thorough. Everyone who has touched your personal schedule in the last week needs to surrender their devices."
He paused, his eyes sliding toward Valeria.
"Including Miss Onyx. She handles your home access codes. Who vets the secretary?"
The room went silent.
Valeria didn't flinch. She pulled her tablet from under her arm and held it out.
"Be my guest," she said. "But if you find my search history for cheap dry cleaning offensive, that's on you."
The Head of Security reached for it, but I stood up. My chair scraped harshly against the floor.
"Miss Onyx's devices are my personal property. If you want to vet her, you vet me. Is that understood?"
The man bowed his head. "Of course, sir."
I sat back down. I hadn't defended her because I trusted her. I defended her because the idea of anyone else digging through her life made my skin crawl, especially when I still haven't found out what the damn woman was hiding.
"Miss Onyx, if this company collapses, I'm blaming your coffee schedule," a junior analyst chirped as the room cleared. He leaned too close to her desk. "It's the only thing keeping us alive."
Valeria didn't recoil. A faint, genuine smirk played on her lips.
"Please. If this company collapses, I'm billing all of you for emotional damages."
The analyst laughed.
The air in my lungs turned to ash. I didn't look up, but the glass screen of my tablet nearly cracked beneath my thumb.
"If everyone is done flirting through a logistics disaster," I said, "perhaps we can return to the fact that someone just stole from me."
The room went dead. Her smile vanished.
Good.
Michael stepped in as the last of the tech team cleared out. He looked frustrated and i am beginning to learn that news about Valeria keeps him so.
"She goes home. Lights on at 8:30. Curtains shut by 9:00."
"And?"
"Then, at 10:00 p.m., she's gone."
"Gone?" I stood by the window, staring at the jagged city skyline.
"Whoever is moving her knows how to disappear. No rideshare trail. No cams. Either she's careful… or someone is helping her. Someone who knows my team's blind spots."
The bruise on her wrist. The exhaustion. The antiseptic smell.
A man.
It had to be a man. Someone who kept her in a cage from 10:00 p.m. and sent her back to me marked and lying. The thought of another man's hands on her, hurting her, hiding her made my vision blur.
"Find him," I rasped. "I want a name, Michael. Find him."
The sun was beginning to dip when she walked back in.
She placed a final report in front of me. She had undone the top button of her blouse. It was subtle, but i always notice any little thing about her.
She leaned over.
"You've been glaring at me for forty minutes, Mr. Von. Should I be worried… or flattered?"
"You should be honest."
"That wasn't one of the options."
I reached out. My fingers caught her sleeve, pulling it back to reveal the darkening purple on her skin. I traced the edge of it with my thumb.
"If whoever you're entertaining after work is stupid enough to leave marks… find someone with better self-control."
Valeria didn't flinch. She leaned in closer.
"You sound strangely invested in my social life for someone who signs my salary."
"Is he worth it, Valeria? The secrets? The pain?"
She offered a cold, mocking smile.
"He's everything you aren't, Alaric," she whispered. "He's… necessary."
My grip tightened.
Necessary. She called a man who hurts her necessary.
"Get out," I growled. "Before I decide to make myself necessary too."
She turned and walked out. I watched the door click shut.
I wasn't just angry.
I was obsessed.
And I was going to break hernecessary man into pieces when I find him.