I walked to the window, pressing my forehead against the cool glass. Down below, the headlights formed arteries of glowing red and white. If it were merely a broken heart, I could have walked away. But this was an assault on my professional integrity and a betrayal of the colleagues who trusted me.
“I cannot be complicit in this,” I said, my reflection staring back at me with hollow, determined eyes. “Not for revenge. But to protect my baseline. I will report him tomorrow.”
The next morning, I bypassed my cubicle and took the elevator directly to the twelfth floor. The executive suite was hushed, smelling of leather and high-end floor wax. I knocked on the heavy oak door of the VP of Operations.
Inside sat the VP, the General Counsel, and the Director of Projects. They looked up, surprised by the unannounced intrusion.
“Catherine. What’s the emergency?” the VP asked.
I approached the polished mahogany table and placed the silver flash drive dead in the center. “I need to report a catastrophic breach of our internal data security. The employee responsible is my husband, Jason.”
The room’s atmosphere instantly morphed into a war room. The General Counsel snatched the drive, inserted it into her machine, and rapidly scanned the files. I watched her face drain of color as she recognized the highly classified client rosters.
“Are you certain this was extracted from our servers?” the General Counsel demanded, her tone razor-sharp.
“I authored half of those documents,” I confirmed.
The VP of Operations leaned forward, steepling his fingers. His eyes bored into mine, searching for a crack. “Catherine. I need you on the record. Are you implicated in this exfiltration?”
“No,” I stated, unflinching. “I discovered this breach privately, and I came straight to you to mitigate the firm’s liability.”
He studied me for three agonizing seconds before giving a terse nod. “I believe you.” He turned to the General Counsel. “Revoke Jason’s network access immediately. Confiscate his hardware. Initiate a full forensic IT audit. No one breathes a word until we lock him out.”
I thanked them and returned to my desk, my spine feeling like a rod of forged steel.
At exactly 11:43 AM, my cell phone vibrated violently against my desk. The caller ID flashed Jason’s name. I let it ring four times before answering.
“What the hell did you do?” Jason’s voice was unrecognizable. It was a breathless, panicked screech.
“My job,” I replied calmly.
“They locked me out of the system! Security is at my desk! Are you insane? Work is work, Catherine! You don’t mix personal revenge with a man’s livelihood!”
“You mixed them first, Jason,” I whispered, the ice in my voice crystallizing. “You weaponized my company’s intellectual property to buy your way into a new bed. I didn’t ruin you. I just stopped being your shield.”
“I am coming to the apartment tonight,” he growled, the panic giving way to desperation. “We are going to fix this.”
“There is nothing left to fix. Come get your suitcase. I packed it for you.”
I hung up, placing the phone face-down. The corporate guillotine had dropped, and I wasn’t going to stick around to watch his head roll.
Chapter 5: The Eviction Notice
