The next morning Emily was summoned to Human Resources.
Inside waited:
Sophia.
Legal counsel.
Internal compliance officers.
A document sat on the table.
A confidential acquisition contract—
Signed electronically under Emily's employee credentials.
Emily stared at it in shock.
"I never signed this."
Legal counsel looked grim.
"The signature trace came from your staff terminal."
Emily's heart pounded.
Someone had planted it.
And the forged contract involved illegal offshore transfers.
Corporate fraud.
If proven—
Emily could face criminal charges.
Alexander arrived ten minutes later.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
He read the evidence in silence.
Then looked at Emily.
"Did you do this?"
The question cut deeper than she expected.
Emily's voice shook.
"No."
Alexander held her gaze for several seconds.
Then turned to legal.
"Freeze all accusations until forensic review."
Romano—recently stripped of authority but still on the board—entered moments later.
His smile was thin.
"Protecting family again, Alexander?"
Alexander's voice became lethal calm.
"If this is yours, I will destroy you."
By evening, IT forensics found malware routed through a proxy server.
The source traced back to an executive private board terminal.
Romano's division.
But Romano had vanished before security could question him.
Emily was cleared.
Yet the damage lingered.
That night, alone in the mansion library, Emily whispered:
"You doubted me."
Alexander stood by the fireplace.
"I questioned evidence."
Emily looked at him with hurt in her eyes.
"You questioned me."
For the first time—
Alexander had no immediate answer.