Chapter 5 The Realization

The next morning, Mara sat with Lila at a café near her office. The sunlight was soft through the windows, casting warm stripes across the table.

"So?" Lila asked as she stirred her tea. "Did the little accountant flip?"

Mara nodded. "She flipped. And she's afraid enough to stay flipped."

Lila grinned. "Afraid of you?"

"No," Mara said softly. "Afraid of him. I just gave her a safer direction to fall."

Lila whistled low. "You're becoming someone he's not ready for."

"He made me that someone."

Lila lifted her cup in a mock toast. "To the long game."

Mara clinked her glass gently against hers.

"To the long game," she echoed.

Outside, the city moved on with its usual indifference.

Inside, alliances shifted like tectonic plates beneath everyday life.

Tessa had become a weapon-fragile, guilty, but sharp in the ways Mara needed.

And Marcus?

Marcus was still walking confidently across a bridge

whose ropes Mara had only just begun to cut.

The office always smelled faintly of ambition-too much cologne, freshly printed documents, desperation disguised as productivity. Marcus thrived here. Or at least he used to.

This morning, the air felt different.

Whispers moved quicker.

Eyes lingered a little too long.

People shifted when he passed, not out of respect-out of curiosity.

He sensed it instantly.

Something was wrong.

The Email

But the real punch came at 9:12 a.m.

A notification pinged on his monitor. A forwarded email. Internal. Sent to every team lead and copied to the board.

Subject line: "REVISED REPORT - CONFIDENTIAL"

It came from his email.

Marcus blinked.

He hadn't sent anything today.

He opened the file.

His blood turned to ice.

It was the draft report he'd written last month-raw, unpolished, full of internal notes and snarky comments meant only for himself.

Comments like:

"If the sales team screws this up again, I'm firing someone."

"Creative is useless; they never hold deadlines."

"Board wants miracles but funds nothing."

"Fix later - this part is bullshit."

Not meant for ANYONE.

And it had been sent with a perfectly polite message:

"Attaching Marcus's updated report for review."

Everyone saw it.

Everyone.

He felt the blood drain from his face. "No, no, no-this isn't-this wasn't-"

Coworkers peeked over their monitors.

A few whispered.

Someone stifled a laugh.

Marcus slammed his office door shut.

"How the hell did this happen?" he hissed at his computer. His fingers shook as he checked the outgoing mail server. There it was. A legitimate send. From his account. Timestamped. Perfectly executed.

A setup. It had to be.

His phone buzzed.

Tessa: Are you okay? People are saying something happened.

He didn't respond.

Couldn't.

Then another message, from his boss:

Boss: We need to talk. Immediately.

Marcus felt the room tilt.

"This isn't happening," he whispered.

But it was.