I took my helmet off and walked into my security headquarters. I wasn't happy about being here. It was optimistic for me to think I could go a day without a crisis. Despite my circumstances, I was still smiling.

All because of her.

I swear I could kiss her for hours and be satisfied. The thought to throw her over my shoulder and onto my bike came to mind. But It was important, that I respected her decisions even if I didn't like them.

Alexander and my brother stood in the entrance hall, arms crossed. They both seemed less than impressed in my tardiness. It wasn't my intention to be late but because I loved kissing those pouty lips of hers, it was hard to leave.

"What took you so long, Mr. I'm always punctual and bitch at my chief operating officer when he's not," Alexander said, as he looked me up and down. "You look like you wrestled a bear. Where the hell were you at?"

I gave my brother a hard pat on the back then returned the look Alexander gave me. "You're just mad because I could get mauled by a bear and look better than you."

He laughed as we continued our pursuit towards the elevators. "You wish. You don't hold a candle to my good looks."

Matias scoffed, pressing the button to go upwards. "You guys are idiots. Last time I checked, you both are single. 'Good looks' isn't doing much for you guys. And brother, do us a solid and put a hand through your hair. Unless, you're going for the 'I just got laid', disheveled look."

"Are you shaming us for being single? Well excuse us, not everyone is fortunate to be happily engaged." Alexander whined with a mock hurt expression. "For your information, I had a very hot date tonight but It was interrupted by your call. Thanks for that, jerk. This meeting, better be worth my time."

"Yeah... what does this meeting pertain? Will it take long?" I stated, towards my brother.

The elevator door closed. Matias's demeanor changed with my question. Before I could ask why Alexander gave me a side eye. "Why? Do you have somewhere to be?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

I retrieved my phone from my pocket and read the text from Scarlett. She had arrived at my penthouse. I couldn't think about it much. Now was not the time to be excited.

The elevator door opened. I mentally prepared for what was to come as I walked into the conference room. Elijah and three others from my team dressed in black designer suits stood. I sat my helmet on the table and motioned for them to sit down. They stared attentively as they waited for my approval to speak.

"Good afternoon. From my understanding, we have new information to debrief."

Matias motioned for Elijah to take lead. He seemed surprised by that and rested his hands on the mahogany table.

"We found the hacker who used Scarlett's employee code. Not "hacker "as in singular but an entire hacking organization somewhere from Asia. They were contracted by an unknown third party. There's no physical or electronic trace that ties them to Anderson corporation. Although it's obvious that they are the perpetrators, they just covered their tracks well. At this point, we have concluded that it's more plausible that's how they discovered the deal with Oliver rather than an informant."

"What made you form that conclusion?" I said with my tone controlled and not in any way matching the frustration I felt with that statement. Everything that occurred and the subsequent actions just to result in that denouncement.

"We reviewed months of footage, computer data, questioned every employee and nobody fit the mark of an informant. Ms. Delacruz was the only employee that matched every tick but when they used her employee code it was clear it couldn't have been her. She was suspended and had no access. There's a small possibility she may have unknowingly been the informant. They could have traced her phone or car and found the location of the meeting. I'd like to check her vehicle and broken phone If she still has access to it."

I didn't understand what he meant by a broken phone. Alexander leaned against his chair. "Whoever contracted the Hacker organization didn't know of the photos that were sent to the board. Any other conclusion wouldn't make sense."

"I agree. I believe the photos were sent to further incriminate Ms. Delacruz by establishing the façade of a continuing relationship with Thomas. Which the perpetrator knew would result in termination or suspension. Ordering our system to be hacked knowing she was suspended would be detrimental to their plan. They would have either done the hacking prior to the photos or when she arrived back to work. It shows us there's a clear disconnect," My brother added.

"That is significant proof that we are dealing with two different agendas. They collided and resulted in this mishap. Do we have a motive?"

Elijah shook his head as his steel eyes showed disappointment. "Nothing concrete. The possible motive remains the same either this is some childish play for Thomas Anderson to get back at Ms. Delacruz for leaving his company. Or they wanted to neutralize their competition and she was an easy target to pin it on. Our company naturally took a hit from all this and they benefited from it."

"I dislike that we've spent this much time to still have no resolution. How do we move forward?"

My words struck a chord. Elijah's face dropped as beads of sweat fell across his dark skin. He didn't like my condemnation. He took pride in his work, it was the reason why he was the best at what he does.

He exhaled, putting his professional mask back on. "This is a lengthy process, in a short time we have accomplished a great deal. We've strengthened our firewall and overall increased security across the board. I still stand with distancing ourselves from Ms. Delacruz but If distancing is not an option, we advise for her to file a restraining order on Thomas Anderson. We can't have our Chief Financial officer amid every scandal. She is fortunate she escaped this unscathed. We need to start building the narrative that Thomas is a disgruntled ex-boyfriend. Therefore, if he pulls another stunt he has no credibility. If you have any reservations I believe the footage will clear—"

"Footage?" I interjected with my voice sharp wondering why he didn't start off with that.

Elijah, Matias and the rest of my team exchanged glances at each other. Both Alexander and I were confused with the silent conversation. My brother ran his hand over his beard before meeting my eyes. I didn't like the look he gave me. It was a warning to brace myself.

"When they deleted the footage, they failed to erase it from the data recovery system. There were some legal loopholes we had to deal with, hence the untimely hour but we successfully retrieved the hospital footage."

Matias gave me the same look as before and turned on the widescreen display. He typed something into the laptop in front of him. The widescreen now displayed a grainy black and white image.

"Scarlett ran into the stairwell around ten AM. She fumbled with her phone and that's when Thomas entered. He grabbed her phone and threw it down the stairwell. She kneed him and proceeded down to retrieve it. They argued. CCTV cameras for privacy reasons don't record audio, so we can't hear the altercation. But from the hostility in her stance, we can tell it wasn't a friendly conversation. She tried to escape him but he reached her and manhandled—"

I raised my hand to stop Matias, maintaining my eyes locked on the screen. Hearing my brother's play by play wasn't helping. I couldn't even hear my thoughts over the blood pumping through my fucking ears.

The low quality of the CCTV footage made it hard to depict her face but I didn't need to see it, to know how she felt. I watched as he forced her to the corner, keeping her hostage with his hands. I clenched my fists tight as his hand gripped on her neck. And even tighter when He kissed her cheek after choking her. Guilt, anger, rage, overcame me at once. She had dealt with this on her own and on top of that the following day I suspended her without even giving her a chance to explain.

When he made her pull a small box out of his pocket. There was more anger, more rage. This motherfucker. I couldn't decide if he was delusional, stupid or both. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse it did. My blood pumped faster. He slapped her. He fucking slapped her.

I wanted to break the screen. I wanted to throw the chair across the room. Anything to release this tension I felt in my chest. But, I couldn't do that. Reacting like a human wasn't an option for me. Especially with my team here.

Releasing a harsh breath, I gripped the table hard. Thomas was going to pay. I would see to that myself.

"What's the suggested course of action?" My voice bit through the air. I already knew what I was going to do but I was curious to hear their responses.

"We release the footage with the news of her filing a restraining order against him. We'll let the public form their own opinions. But It should be enough to get the message across. It really depends on how his team handles it with the press, but I think it's a solid move."

"I'll talk to Ms. Delacruz. It's her say, she is the victim here. Is that all?"

Elijah nodded. He and the rest of my team exited leaving only Alexander and Matias in the room. I released a pent-up breath and headed for the door. I hadn't even taken four steps before they stopped me.

"Where are you going?" Alexander asked, stepping in front of me.

"Where do you think I'm going?" I fumed.

"Elias, you are the most controlled person I know but even you have a limit. You can't talk to Thomas right now. You're too upset. You'll do something you regret. The best way to hurt him is through his wallet and you know that."

"Get out of my way."

Alexander stood still which made my blood boil even more. I pushed him out of the way and moved forward towards the door.

Matias grabbed my shoulder. "Elias, stop. There's more." He said almost apologetically.

My shoulders tensed. I stopped and turned around to face him. "What is it."

"I didn't bring this up earlier because I wanted it to be between us. With everything going on you can never be too sure. "

"Cut to the chase, Matias."

"Our friend Joseph from The Daily Report gave us a heads up on a story they are running on Anderson Corporation. It came from an anonymous sender through email. I was intrigued and asked for more information— an enemy of theirs is a friend of ours."

He walked back to his laptop and typed. I reluctantly walked forward. He turned the screen towards me. Another CCTV footage but this time of a blonde woman exiting a boardroom where an older man followed her.

Her pace increased as she looked over her shoulder and saw the door shut. He reached her quickly and whispered something in her ear. He then guided her into the elevator and wasted no time to force himself on her. It was more than apparent that this wasn't consensual. Fear evident in her body language. She did her best to defend herself but her small frame paled in comparison to his. He held her in a chokehold as he unzipped his pants.

I looked away and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Have you learned the identity of the man?"

"Of course, our facial recognition software is the best on the market. The man is Benjamin Clarke, Anderson's top investor and trusted board member. "

He paused the video, I peered up to see her on the floor, skirt and hair ruffled as the man exited. My stomach twisted.

"The woman reported to HR and to the police but it was quickly dismissed and forgotten about. The officer on the case believed the woman wanted to frame the company for a huge payout. In the report he wrote that there was no significant proof that supported the woman's claim, stating further that there was no footage of it even occurring. "

Alexander sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Was there a sexual assault assessment done?"

"Yes, but Joseph said it was misplaced by the hospital. Not only does the footage leaked, shed light to this horrible act, but it also proves that Anderson Corporation attempted to cover it by possibly paying the officer who worked the case. We can even assume they also had a part in getting rid of the assessment as well."

"Mierda. They are more screwed up than I thought," Alexander muttered.

I slammed my palms against the table and concentrated on my brother. I knew him better than anyone. "What are you not telling me?"

"After I saw the footage I wanted to know who was behind this. So, I traced the sender's IP address and found their location. That right there in itself showed we were dealing with an amateur. A professional would make sure the email was sent from somewhere random or make it untraceable. I ran the location over several databases and..." He paused and looked to the side as if he was trying to gather his thoughts.

I furrowed my brows. "And?"

"It's Scarlett.... she leaked this."

Well, everything is out of the bag. Elias now knows what Scarlett is up to and about what occurred at the hospital.

This is only the start.

What do you think will be Elias reaction? How will he confront Scarlett?

Do you think Scarlett has more information on Anderson Corporation other than this?

What other secrets will be uncovered?

Thank you for reading, until next time.