Mel hung up the phone, the echo of Leila Vaughn's demand for a favor ringing in the sudden silence of her dorm room. She accepted the debt immediately. The present focus was survival.
Mel didn't need to risk telling Kallen they were corrupt; she only needed to prove she was the best person to ensure they could never be exposed.
She pulled an all-night marathon, fueled by stale coffee. Her new strategy, titled "Project Shield:Holistic Ethical Resilience," focused exclusively on the compromised European supply chain. The Proposal: It demanded a complete overhaul of Kallen's third-party auditing processes, recommending the immediate installation of a fully digitized, publicly verifiable tracking system for all raw materials. The Language: The document used terms like "proactive risk management," "brand reputation protection," and "pre-emptive regulatory alignment"—corporate euphemisms that, to a manager like Mr. Hayes, screamed: We know where the problem is, and here is the solution.
It was a cold, clinical masterpiece. It was the strategy of someone who understood the price of secrecy. With just five minutes to spare, Mel hit the 'Submit' button.
Later that morning, before she had even managed two hours of sleep, a university announcement arrived: The CEO of Kallen Capital, Mr. Rhys Kallen himself, would make an unscheduled address to the business school that afternoon regarding the RFP. This was unprecedented. The corporate head never involved himself in the initial stages of this competition.
Mel showed up to the lecture hall, exhausted but alert. She watched the stage as Mr. Kallen, a man whose image was synonymous with ruthless global finance, stepped up to the podium. He was imposing, even from a distance.
"Your submissions are in," Mr. Kallen's voice boomed. "And I will be brief. This RFP was not designed to find the best strategy; it was designed to find the 'best strategic mind'. We have received submissions that met our requirements. And we have received one submission that crossed a line."
He paused, letting the silence settle over the room. Mel felt a knot tighten in her stomach, assuming he was referring to the attempt to use illicit data.
Mel found herself outside the lobby later that evening, amidst the nervous crowd, when Chloe approached her. Chloe wore the pressure well, a crisp suit and an air of relaxed dominance.
"You look tired, Mel," Chloe observed, without malice, just professional detachment.
"You too," Mel countered.
"I saw your final submission title on the portal. 'Project Shield.' Very safe. Very ethical," Chloe commented. She tilted her head, a flicker of genuine curiosity in her eyes. "You didn't use the data, did you?"
"I decided I'm more interested in solving Kallen's problems than creating new ones for myself," Mel stated, her gaze unwavering.
Chloe let out a breath, a mixture of frustration and respect. "I get it. You were warned off by Hayes. That's fine. It's the expected move." She stepped closer, her tone shifting to intense professional admiration. "But I did. I submitted the full, documented evidence of their illegal sourcing, along with a counter-strategy so brilliant they'll have to hire me to contain the disaster I exposed."
Mel blinked, the full weight of Chloe's competitive audacity hitting her. "You took the risk yourself? After what Mr. Kallen just said?"
"Mr. Kallen said someone crossed a line," Chloe countered, her eyes gleaming with ambition. "He didn't say that crossing the line was losing. Mel, I don't want a seat at the table; I want to own the table. You gave them a solution to a problem they deny. I gave them a problem so big they cannot survive without my solution."
She tapped Mel lightly on the arm, the gesture devoid of friendship, purely competitive. "This isn't about you or me, Mel. This is about being the best. I played the necessary hand for my career. We're rivals now. Don't take it personally."
Chloe's words confirmed the rift. They were no longer friends sharing notes; they were two people who had just chosen fundamentally different paths to the summit.
"No," Mel finally said. "I won't. May the best strategy win."
"It will," Chloe affirmed, smiling coldly before walking away