Chapter 3

Ryan had been in sales for four years.

Long enough to know exactly how the game worked.

He'd gone on the New Zealand skydiving trip last year, collected last year's holiday bonus, and never once missed out on a company perk.

I took a screenshot of Sophie's onboarding form and sent it to Michelle.

[Check Ryan's system login records for the past three days.]

***

By day three, the backlash had spiraled completely out of control.

At nine that morning, my phone rang.

Larry Cole.

Our biggest client for the past three years.

There was no small talk.

"Mr. Tyley, I'll be straight with you. Our company has a partner risk monitoring system. Your company is all over the trending feed right now. We're putting next quarter's procurement contract on hold. We'll revisit it after things settle down. This isn't just my decision. The board is watching."

The line went dead.

The office suddenly felt a lot quieter.

Eight million dollars.

Forty percent of next quarter's revenue.

Thrown into limbo by a forty-second video from an intern.

I tightened my grip on the phone.

My chest felt heavy.

Before I could process it, Michelle rushed into my office.

"Mr. Tyley, Ryan's stirring things up."

I looked up.

Honestly, it wasn't surprising.

"He's holding a little meeting in the break room with some of the newer hires. I walked past and heard him saying you went too far this time. That Sophie is fighting alone and everyone should stand together and support her."

She paused.

"And... he sounded weirdly protective of her."

I leaned back without saying anything.

I knew Ryan.

Smooth. Friendly. Never stepped on anyone's toes.

At company retreats, he was always the first to pour drinks and the fastest to jump into the middle of group photos.

Whenever benefits were handed out, his name was always near the front of the line.

And now he was suddenly positioning himself as a victim and publicly backing Sophie.

There was definitely something underneath all this.

Michelle handed me her tablet.

"There's more. I checked Ryan's login records."

Backend data filled the screen.

Over the last three days, Ryan's account had repeatedly accessed the client management system after hours.

Most of the logins happened between eleven at night and one in the morning.

"What did he export?"

Michelle's jaw tightened. "Our three most sensitive pricing files. Biggest clients. Lowest rates. Every off-record offer we've ever made."

She swallowed. "Any competitor with that information could undercut us and steal every one of those accounts."

I stared at the data.

And suddenly everything clicked.

Sophie wasn't the mastermind.

She was the distraction.

Ryan was the one pulling the strings.

Use an inexperienced intern as cover.

Trigger a public scandal.

Keep everyone focused on social media while he walked off with client data.

"Where's he planning to land?"

Michelle pressed her lips together. "I had someone look into it. Last month he had dinner twice with the sales director from Harrison Trade."

Our biggest competitor.

I nodded. "Photos?"

Michelle pulled out her phone. "Ryan posted them himself. Caption was 'old friends catching up.'"

She zoomed in. "But the guy across from him was wearing a Harrison Trade jacket."

I stared at the screen for several seconds.

"Is he here today?"

"Yeah. When I came over, he was sitting at his desk watching Sophie's livestream. He was smiling."

I pulled up the security feed.

Ryan sat at his workstation with his phone propped sideways on the desk.

His thumb kept flicking upward.

The livestream screen wasn't clear, but for a split second, the display refreshed.

That was enough.

He was sending gifts in Sophie's livestream.

Not from his main account.

A burner account with a blank profile picture and a string of random characters.

But the recharge history and payment account still led straight back to him.

Michelle stared at the footage.

Her voice came out sharp. "That snake. He spent four years taking everything this company offered.

"And now he's stealing from us while helping stab us in the back."