Chapter 1 THE LEAK

Sloane’s POV

This coffee is shit.

I took another sip from the flimsy paper cup and grimaced.

It burns my tongue on the way down, bitter and cheap, like everything else in this building that pretends to be premium, yet the security office keeps brewing around the clock.

But at least it was caffeine, and right now, caffeine is the only thing keeping me from either passing out or committing a felony, if I’m being honest.

I lean back in my chair, eyes fixed on the monitors in front of me. The shareholder meeting is still on, dragging into its second hour. Same room. Same suits. Same bunch of old men pretending they’re not just arguing over who gets richer faster.

My earpiece crackled.

“All quiet on the west perimeter, Lead.”

“Copy,” I murmured while taking another sip.

My eyes stay locked on the main screen.

Cassian Hayes sits at the head of the table like he owns the world. Which, honestly, he probably thinks he does. Whoever had installed these cameras was clearly a fan or a sycophant—the resolution was so sharp it practically looked like a Snapchat filter had been applied to his face. It captured every sharp angle of his jaw and the icy, piercing blue of his eyes that seemed capable of dissecting a soul from across the room.

He’s speaking—can’t hear him, but I don’t need to. His hands move, controlled but deliberate. The kind of gestures that make people listen even when they don’t want to.

And the men were listening or more accurately, they leaned in out of fear of missing the moment he decided to cut them out of a deal.

Geez! Does he enjoy that attention?

Prick, I scoff under my breath.

Cassian Hayes was everything I despised. He was a visionary, sure, but he was also a predator who saw the world as a giant balance sheet where everyone had a price.

This morning, I’d seen the memos he’d authorized, mass layoffs disguised as "operational streamlining". It took every ounce of my professional discipline not to march into his office and smack the arrogance right off his face

My father had worked for a man like that once and obviously it hadn't ended well.

A flicker on Monitor 3 caught my attention. A man in an ill-fitting suit near the back was fidgeting, his hand dipping into his jacket.

“Jenkins,” I called into the mic, my voice steady.

“Guy in the gray suit, section C, back row. Left hand in his jacket. Keep an eye.”

“On it, Lead.”

I hoped it was some killer disguised as a shareholder about to kill Cassian. Of course a part of me—the dark, vengeful part—would like that, but that'll only make my job harder. Having my break time shortened to just thirty five minutes for the entire day was already driving me crazy, and any more need to tighten security or focus, I’d literally blow my brains out myself.

But as Jenkins subtly shifted into a flanking position, the man in the gray suit pulled out a phone and started typing with trembling thumbs.

A phone? I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

Geez… I felt like smacking the shit out of him. No one should look that guilty or nervous for using their phone on a Friday afternoon. “Even I don’t.”

Soon the meeting was wrapped up. On the screen, Cassian stood, nodding curtly at the board members as they filed out. I finished the dregs of my coffee, thinking about my lunch date with Maya. I was starving, and I was going to make her pay for the most expensive salad and meat on the menu.

“Post-meeting sweep is a go,” I commanded my team fanning out on the monitors.

My personal phone buzzed on the desk with a text from Maya.

Don’t you dare stand me up.

I’m really hungry, I feel like I'm going to have a baby.

I snorted and started typing back—“Wouldn’t dream of it. Just wrapping up. Order me the…”

Half way through my last sentence, my earpiece exploded with thousands of voices at the same time cutting me off.

“—the hell is this?”

“—coming from everywhere—”

“Sloane! Are you seeing this?”

I froze, then dropped my phone and looked up.

The monitors were now flashing with urgent news alerts. My work cell started skittering across the desk, then the landline on the wall.

“Report!” I barked, my heart hammering against my ribs.

I reeaaallly needed that salad.

“It’s an internal report,” a panicked voice came through my earpiece from Jenkins. “The Veritas merger file, the whole damn thing is all over the internet. Did the boss even finalize the deal yet?.”

Ice water flooded my veins. The Veritas merger was the biggest deal in the company’s history—the one Cassian had staked his entire reputation on in total secrecy. It was shady as hell, of course, because Cassian had a hobby of taking risks in his free time.

Chaos erupted around me. On one monitor, I saw a junior executive sprinting down a hallway, his face pale. My phone buzzed again with a text from Maya; she must have seen the news.

"Lock it down!" I ordered, my voice tight with anger and frustration. "No one in or out of the executive wing without my direct authorization. I want a full log of everyone who accessed the server room in the last 48 hours. Now!"

I stared at the main monitor, at the news channel now playing on the big screen. A smug-looking anchor was holding up a tablet, the Hayes Enterprises logo clear as day next to a headline that read: CORPORATE ESPIONAGE? LEAKED DOCUMENTS SINK SHADY HISTORIC MERGER.

The phone on my desk rang again, shrill and demanding. I knew who it was without looking at the caller ID. My afternoon off was officially cancelled.

"Fuck!" I hissed