Kelvin
I was neck-deep in spreadsheets and analytics when the door creaked open. I didn't bother looking up at first, assuming it was one of the interns bringing the files I had requested earlier. But the silence that followed the creak made me raise my head, and when I saw Michael, my most trusted logistics man, standing there with a grim expression on his face, I knew instantly that this wasn't about files.
"Kelvin, we have a problem," he said, voice low but urgent. I sat back in my chair, rubbing my temples.
"What kind of problem? I thought the Lagos shipment was already cleared—don't tell me there's an issue with the customs again."
"It's not Lagos. It's Ghana," he said, and I felt a twinge of unease crawl up my spine. Ghana? What now?
I narrowed my eyes. "What about Ghana?"
He shut the door behind him before continuing. "The shipment there, one of our biggest hauls this quarter—it's… well, there's been a serious issue. Apparently, the funds meant for the clearance and transport got diverted." He paused, searching my face for a reaction.
I blinked. "Diverted to where?"
"That's the thing," he said, stepping forward and dropping a printed financial report on my desk.
"To a private offshore account. The suppliers over there are pissed, man. They've halted all activities. They're threatening to burn the bridge completely unless we sort this out in twenty-four hours."
I leaned over the document, scanning through the figures, the codes, the transfers. "What the hell is this? This isn't my doing." My voice trembled slightly, but it was more out of shock than fear.
Michael hesitated before responding. "Kelvin… the transfer authorization came from your passcode. The encryption ID is yours. I double-checked with the finance team and IT. There's no way this came from anywhere else. It was you, or someone using your credentials."
I stared at him like he'd slapped me. "That's not possible. I haven't approved any rerouting of funds. I didn't even know we were that close to final clearance in Ghana! I've been here all morning dealing with local audits and tightening vendor chains. You've seen me."
"I know. That's why I'm here," he said quietly. "Something's not adding up. But the facts, on the system, say otherwise. The timestamp even shows that the authorization happened at 3:12 a.m. yesterday. You were logged in."
"Bullshit," I snapped, standing up so fast my chair hit the file cabinet behind me. "I was asleep at 3:12 a.m., Michael! Why the hell would I be moving funds to a private account I've never even seen before? Look at this—do you recognize this destination account? I don't. Does it even belong to anyone in our network?"
He shook his head. "I ran a trace with IT. It's masked. There's no name attached. Whoever did this used military-grade rerouting protocols. This wasn't amateur stuff."
"So someone has my details," I said, my voice dropping as the realization sank in. "Someone accessed my code. Someone got into my life."
The room seemed to spin slightly as I processed the weight of what that meant. Every decision. Every deal. Every message. Every line of command. It could all be compromised.
Michael's jaw tensed. "Kelvin… the only people with that level of access, aside from you—are either ex-board members or someone on the inside who's been watching closely. Someone who knows your habits. Your login patterns. Maybe even your voice."
"Jesus," I whispered, dropping back into my seat. "Do you know what this means? If someone is framing me, using my credentials—they're not just trying to siphon funds. They're trying to destroy my credibility from the inside."
"We need to act fast," Michael said. "If the suppliers don't get a resolution soon, they'll go public. And once word gets out that your financial security isn't tight, we'll lose every deal lined up this quarter. We'll be dead in the water."
I ran both hands through my hair, letting out a bitter laugh. "This is unreal. I've worked my ass off for this company. Made enemies, yes. But none I thought had the brains or balls to pull this off. If someone's watching me… we need to find out who. Immediately. Start with finance. I want to see the logs. Every single system access point for the past two weeks. I want names. I want IP addresses. I want anomalies. Bring in Chris from cybersecurity too. Tell him it's a Level Red breach. Don't let him give me his usual two-day crap, tell him I want something on my desk in the next four hours."
"You got it," Michael said, already pulling out his phone. He stopped at the door, looked back.
"You'll get through this, Kelvin."
"I don't want pep talks, Michael," I muttered, my voice hard. "I want blood."
As soon as Michael shut the door behind him, I slumped back on my chair, closing my eyes for a bit as I thought about what this could mean not only for my company but for everything else I held dear. This was my life at stake and heavens knows what would happen if this news got out.
"Who the fuck is doing this to me?" I muttered.
No matter how much I thought of whoever it might be, no one was coming to mind which just made all of this worse because if I couldn't pinpoint where the problem was coming from then it only meant I'm doomed.
My mind went to Anastasia… No! That couldn't be. Anastasia was dead and buried, I had made sure of that. Surely, she couldn't come back from the grave and do all of this. It had to be someone else and not knowing who it was had me boiling from the inside.
Just then, there was another knock on my door as Michael walked in with a file in his hands. There was a grim expression on his face and I knew that whatever he wanted to say at that moment wasn't good.
"Spill it out." I said.
He placed the files on my table, taking a step back like the files would suddenly bite him. Whatever was in it, I wasn't sure I was ready to see it.
"You need to see that." he muttered, looking everywhere else but at me.
Reading through, color drained from my face as I felt weak down to my bones. What I was reading at that moment was unlike anything I'd ever seen.
"Is this some kind of joke?"
I didn't want to believe what I was seeing but there it was, right before my eyes. No… she's dead, it can't be.
"She's dead! The dead have no business with the living Micheal! This is fucking bullshit!" I screamed, flinging the file away.
Security footage captured showed that it was Anastasia who had diverted the funds but through a secure line, one that couldn't be traced.
"With this, she could be anywhere in the world and tracking her down is going to be very difficult."
"No! There is no one because she is dead. She's fucking dead and buried don't you get that?!"
I paced, running my hands all over my hair. I didn't want to believe this but here it was, the proof I'd been looking for.
I stood still, trying to bring a moment of calm to my fast beating heart but the more I thought about what this meant, the more I knew I was in deep shit.
"What does this mean? That she's alive?" Michael asked.
"No Michael, it means that I need to do some investigation and this time, on my own."
I didn't know if this was a foul trick but one thing I wasn't about to allow happen was for Anastasia, either dead or alive to ruin everything I'd built. And if she was alive somehow then I think it was time for her to die a second death.