Pacing restlessly, Elias Thorne wore a path into the expensive Persian rug. His phone remained stubbornly silent. Every second that ticked by felt like an hour, stretching his nerves thin. He had given Marcus, his head of security, a clear directive: find the source. Find the leak that had plagued his operations for months, the one that Eliza’s discovery had finally confirmed was real, and worse, linked to Evelyn. Minutes later, the office door clicked open. Marcus entered, his posture rigid, a secure tablet clutched in his hand. The grim set of his jaw spoke volumes before he uttered a single word. Elias stopped dead, turning to face him. "Well?" "We have something, Elias." Marcus didn't try to soften the blow. "It's worse than we thought." Marcus approached the imposing mahogany desk, placing the tablet squarely in the center. Its screen glowed with lines of code, network diagrams, and highlighted entries. "We traced the breach, not to an external hack, but an internal conduit," Marcus explained, his voice low and precise. "A user account, specifically." Elias leaned over the desk, his eyes scanning the data. "Whose?" "It wasn't easy to find. They were exceptionally good at masking their activity, rotating proxies, using encrypted channels. But every ghost leaves a trace, eventually." Marcus swiped, bringing up a detailed log. "This account," he pointed to a highlighted entry, "has been accessing project files, strategic development plans, even sensitive financial projections. All without raising flags until we specifically hunted for irregular patterns linked to Evelyn’s known methods." Fingers brushed the cold glass of the tablet. "Level-seven access," Elias murmured, reading the accompanying clearance level. His voice was laced with disbelief. "That's… almost unrestricted. Only a handful of people have that kind of clearance." "Exactly." Marcus's gaze met Elias's, unwavering. "The account belongs to Julian Reed." A cold, hollow dread settled in Elias's gut. Julian. His oldest friend. His Chief Operations Officer. The man he had implicitly trusted with the inner workings of his entire empire. His vision blurred for a split second, the polished office walls seeming to tilt. "Julian?" The name felt foreign, a betrayal on his tongue. "The evidence is undeniable, Elias." Marcus remained stoic. "Repeated data extractions, timed perfectly with major development phases, always routed to untraceable external servers that, through further forensics, we've linked to a cluster known to be operated by Silverstream Acquisitions." Elias clenched his fists, knuckles white against his dark trousers. He remembered Julian's counsel, his loyalty, the late nights spent strategizing. All of it a carefully constructed lie. "He’s been feeding her information for years, hasn’t he?" Elias's voice was barely a whisper, thick with a venomous realization. The puzzle pieces clicked into place with horrifying clarity. "It appears so." Marcus nodded. "The pattern of data extraction dates back to almost five years ago. Coinciding with the start of several critical projects that later faced inexplicable setbacks or leaked details." Five years. Half a decade of carefully calculated treachery. Elias felt a surge of raw, untamed fury. It wasn’t just a breach; it was a deep, personal wound. "His access allowed him to see everything," Elias stated, more to himself than Marcus. "Every project, every acquisition target, every strategic maneuver I planned." Marcus scrolled further, displaying a timeline. "He even had oversight on the Horizon Data Systems contract, before it was awarded. He was instrumental in pushing for their bid." That piece of information hit Elias like a physical blow. Horizon Data Systems. The same company Eliza had exposed as being secretly owned by Silverstream Acquisitions. Julian had ushered the wolf into the sheepfold. "He actively vouched for them," Elias said, his voice flat, devoid of emotion, a dangerous calm settling over him. "Ensured they got the contract, knowing Evelyn owned them." "It seems he was her eyes and ears, and her hand, within Thorne Enterprises," Marcus confirmed. "He planted the vulnerabilities, or at least ensured they remained unaddressed, allowing Evelyn to exploit them at will." Elias walked to the large window overlooking the city, his back to Marcus. The glittering cityscape seemed to mock him. All that power, all that vigilance, undone by someone he considered family. "What's his current access level?" Elias asked, his voice low and dangerous, barely audible above the hum of the city. "Still level-seven, Elias. Unchanged. He has access to our most sensitive ongoing projects, our current financial standing, and the entire new security infrastructure we've been building." Marcus paused, letting the implication sink in. "He knows everything. Every counter-measure, every defense. He's still inside, Elias." Still inside. The words echoed in Elias's mind. Julian, the man who knew every secret, every weakness, was still operating at the heart of his company. The betrayal cut deeper than any corporate espionage. This was an assassination from within, aimed not just at his business, but at his trust, his legacy. The mole’s reach was disturbingly extensive, suggesting a betrayal from someone Elias had implicitly trusted with his very foundation.

Chapter 30: Inside the Walls