Alarms weren't supposed to sound on the executive floor.
Aria flinched as red lights pulsed along the ceiling. A shrill siren echoed through the walls like a warning bell in a burning castle.
"What the hell…?" she whispered, stepping back from Lucien.
He didn't move. His eyes were already fixed on the glowing console in front of him, fingers flying over the touchscreen.
"Someone just triggered Level Three breach protocol," he muttered. "Only four people in the company have clearance to do that."
His voice was dangerously calm.
"Was it you?" he asked suddenly, turning to her.
"No," Aria said, breath catching in her throat. "I don't even know what that means."
Lucien stared at her like he could see straight through her skin. Then a voice cut through his earpiece.
"Sir, the breach is coming from your personal subnet. It's accessing Project Storm Vault."
Lucien's eyes darkened.
Storm Vault.
No one outside his core team even knew that name.
And now the system was pulling Aria's new employee login credentials as the breach's access point.
She saw the shift in his expression—the flicker of betrayal, the suspicion crawling in.
"I didn't do it," she said quickly, stepping back. "I swear, Lucien—I don't even know what any of this is!"
But he was already moving, crossing the room with that predator's grace. One hand closed around her wrist.
He didn't hurt her—but he didn't let go either.
"Then you better start talking," he said coldly, "because someone just made you the trigger for a top-secret protocol designed to wipe out every digital trace o
f my company's darkest secrets."
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