Chapter 5 The Blue Tie

The campus auditorium buzzed with the kind of energy only free pizza could create. Elena stayed around the back, her hoodie pulled low. The event was a lecture on "Ethical Leadership" hosted by Hart Industries, a joke, considering what she knew. But she had come for one reason, which was Liam.

Jess elbowed her. "Why are we here again? You hate business stuff."

"Research," Elena muttered, her eyes scanning the crowd.

"On what? How to bore people to death?"

Then a flash of navy silk near the stage caught Elena's eye. Liam stood adjusting his blue tie with silver stripes while chatting with a professor. Elena's chest tightened. He looked exactly as he was the day they had first met: polished smile, perfectly clean hair, and that tie. The tie he had later use to strangle her trust.

"I will be right back," Elena said, slipping away.

She ducked behind a curtain, her heart pounding. Her backpack held two "weapons": a cup of coffee and a thumb drive she had programmed that morning. The plan was simple: spill the coffee on Liam's laptop, swap his speech with a file labeled Hart Ethics Lecture, and watch him unravel.

"Easy, unless I panic", She said

She sneaked toward the backstage table where Liam's things were. His cologne hit her first sandalwood and lies. Her hands shook as she opened his laptop.

Password Required.

"Think, Elena. Think." Elena said as bite her her finger nails

In her past life, Liam used the same password for everything: his childhood dog's name. Buddy. She typed it in.

Access Denied.

Crap.

"Need help?"

Elena shocked. Noah stood behind her, holding a stack of flyers. His hazel eyes flicked to the laptop. "Uh... are you hacking someone?"

"No! I am just... admiring the keyboard. Very... clicky."

He raised his head slightly and smiled. "You're a terrible liar."

A voice echoed from the stage: "Liam Blackwood, everyone!"

Everyone applauded him as he walked up to the stage. Elena's pulse spiked. "Please. I need to stop him," She said to Noah sweating.

Noah looked at her face really hard. She looked super worried, and her forehead was shiny with sweats like she had been running all day! So he didn't say anything... shhh! He just took out a shiny, silver device from his pocket and boop! he stuck it into the computer. The screen lit up.

"Military grade decrypter," he said. "Don't ask."

The speech file popped up. Ethical Leadership: A Hart Industries Vision. Elena inserted in her thumb drive, replacing it with her version: Ethical Leadership: How to Steal a Fortune.

"Thanks," she whispered and smiled to him, showing a sign of relief.

"Whatever you're doing..." Noah hesitated. "Be careful."

Liam's speech started smoothly. He charmed the crowd with jokes about his "humble beginnings" (a big fat lie, his father was a convicted embezzler). Then the screen behind him lit up.

"Hart Industries prides itself on transparency," he read, oblivious.

Gasps spread through the room. The screen now displayed:

STEP 1: MARRY THE HEIRESS

STEP 2: FORGE HER SIGNATURE

STEP 3: BLAME HER FOR THE FRAUD

Liam froze and stammered. "This... this isn't mine! Tech issue!"

Elena smirked from the back. But her victory soured when she spotted her, Serena Cole, leaning against the exit. Her icy gaze locked onto Elena, a smirk playing on her blood-red lips.

"She knows", Elena thought to herself

Serena pulled out her phone and typed. Seconds later, Liam's phone buzzed onstage. He glanced at it, face paling, then glared into the crowd. Elena ducked, but not before he saw her.

Chaos erupted. Students filmed the meltdown as Liam left the stage angrily, shouting, "Someone call IT!"

Jess grabbed Elena's arm. "Did you do that?!"

"Maybe."

"Awesome. Let's frame him for murder next!"

As they were going outside, Elena noticed Serena following. She quickened her pace, cutting through the biology lab's overgrown garden.

"Elena Hart." Serena's said in her charming and eloquent voice she used to deceive and manipulate her in the past life. "We need to talk."

"Do I know you?" Elena kept walking.

"You will." Serena stepped in front of her, designer perfume smothering the scent of roses. "That stunt was cute. But play again, and I will burn your little bird nest to the ground."

Elena laughed, cold and sharp. "Try it. I have already survived worse." She said.

Serena's smiled. For a few second, fear showed in her eyes like she had seen a ghost.

A thought hit Elena like lightning. "Does she knows I'm from the future," She thought to herself.

But then Serena scoffed. "You're just a rich girl playing rebel. I'll enjoy breaking you."

She left, heels crunching gravel. Elena's phone buzzed again:

Unknown Number:

Told you not to trust the blue tie.

That night, Elena couldn't sleep. She replayed Serena's threat, Liam's rage, and Noah's quiet help. At 2 a.m., she went to the rooftop holding her mother's photo in hand.

"What do I do, Mom?" she whispered.

Wind blew the trees. For a moment, the stars seemed to form into a woman's face (Clara) pointing west towards Hart Industries' old research lab.

She heard a creak behind her. Noah leaned against the doorframe, holding two mugs. "Would you like hot chocolate?" He asked.

She nodded. He then sat beside her, handing her a mug with cartoon penguins.

"You are not gonna ask?" she said to him.

"You will tell me when you are ready."

They sipped the hot chocolate in silence, the city lights stretching below. Elena's phone buzzed again, a news alert:

BREAKING: Hart Industries VP Resigns Amid Fraud Allegations.

She smiled widely, "First strike" She said quietly.

Noah followed her gaze and noticed she was looking towards the lab. "You're planning something else," He asked out of curiosity.

"I am always," She replied smiling.