Chapter 2

The email from Apex Ventures arrived on a Tuesday morning. It was a simple confirmation. They loved the final demo. The money was approved. The official signing was set for Friday.

I read the words "We are pleased to proceed" and my stomach lurched with a wave of such intense joy and relief that I had to grip the edge of my desk. We did it. After all the sacrifice, all the sleepless nights, we had finally done it.

The next thing I knew, the world tilted. Black spots danced in my vision. I remember reaching for my chair and missing.

I woke up in a sterile white room, the antiseptic smell stinging my nostrils. A nurse was checking my vitals. She told me I had fainted from exhaustion and dehydration. She recommended rest.

But all I could think about was the signing on Friday. I thanked her, got dressed, and took a cab straight back to the office, my mind buzzing with plans.

I walked through the glass doors of Innovate, the logo I had designed myself gleaming on the wall. I headed for the executive wing, a smile on my face, ready to celebrate with Caleb.

My keycard beeped red at the door to our section. Access denied.

That' s strange, I thought. A glitch.

I tried again. Red.

I felt a prickle of unease. I pulled out my phone to log into the company' s internal network. My credentials were not recognized. My email account, my project management tools, my access to the very code I had written-all gone.

A junior programmer, a kid named Leo I had personally mentored, walked by. "Leo, hey. Can you let me in? My card isn' t working."

He looked at me, then at the door, his face pale. He avoided my eyes. "Uh, Brooke... I don' t think I can."

That' s when I saw it. Next to the door was a large plastic trash bin. Sticking out of the top was the corner of a framed photo. My photo. It was a picture of me and Caleb from our college graduation, our arms slung around each other, grinning like idiots. Someone had taken a black marker and drawn a thick, jagged 'X' over my face.

My heart stopped.

Through the glass wall of my office, my office, I could see someone sitting at my desk. It was Krystal Schroeder, the marketing intern Caleb had hired a few months ago. She was young, ambitious, and always wore dresses that were a little too tight for a professional setting.

She was leaning back in my chair, her feet propped up on my desk, talking on the phone like she owned the place.

She saw me looking. A slow, venomous smile spread across her face. She held up a hand, motioning for security.

"As per my new directive as Chief of Operations," she announced loudly to the entire open-plan office, her voice dripping with artificial authority, "all non-essential personnel are to remain clear of the executive wing. We have a major deal to close, and we can' t afford any distractions."

She looked directly at me. "That includes former employees who show up unannounced."

Former employee? Chief of Operations? My mind couldn' t process the words. This had to be a joke. A sick, twisted prank.

I stormed past the useless keycard reader and threw open the door to Caleb' s office. He was standing by the window, looking out at the city.

"Caleb, what the hell is going on?" I demanded, my voice shaking. "Why is Krystal at my desk? Why is my access revoked? I was at the hospital, I fainted."

He turned around slowly, his face a mask of cold indifference. "Krystal' s directive is company policy now. We need to be more professional, more streamlined. She has experience from a bigger firm."

"Experience? She' s a twenty-two-year-old intern!" I shot back, the anger finally boiling over. "I built this place! And what about my things? In the trash?"

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down for the baby' s sake. "Caleb, I' m pregnant. The doctor said I need to take it easy. I fainted because of the stress and the pregnancy."

He waved a dismissive hand, his impatience a physical blow. "Everyone gets sick, Brooke. People get pregnant every day and still do their jobs. The team can' t be expected to slow down for you."

The cruelty of his words sucked the air out of my lungs. The man who had held me and promised me the world just a few days ago was looking at me like I was a stranger. An inconvenience.

A cold, hard knot formed in my gut, a feeling far worse than any morning sickness. It was the chilling realization that this was not a prank.

This was a coup.