The storm inside Veloria showed no signs of calming.
Each day brought new complications a server bug here, a missed deadline there, minor mistakes piling into major headaches. It wasn't just the lawsuit or the severed partnerships anymore, the spirit that had once bound Veloria together was fraying at the seams.
And Aruna could feel it slipping through her fingers.
They had to find the leak the traitor before it destroyed them from the inside.
The team gathered in the war room: Aruna, Reza, Naya, Vincent, and a few trusted senior engineers.
"We need to be realistic," Aruna said, her voice low but firm. "This wasn't an accident. Someone gave Giselle access. Someone here."
Murmurs filled the room, a mixture of outrage and dread.
Naya's jaw was set, eyes sharp with suspicion. Reza paced the room, too restless to sit.
Vincent leaned back casually in his chair, arms folded, his expression unreadable.
"I suggest we start with new hires," Vincent said smoothly. "They have the least loyalty. It's the most logical place to look."
Aruna hesitated. It made sense though a part of her still hated thinking that anyone inside Veloria could betray them.
Then Reza added, "There's that new girl… Nadia. She joined just a few weeks before everything started falling apart."
Naya immediately nodded. "She came in during the rush, right after we expanded the dev team. Nobody vetted her properly."
Aruna's stomach tightened.
It was unfair, perhaps, but it was also true. Nadia had slipped into Veloria almost unnoticed, hired during a time of frantic growth when they were desperate for extra hands. She worked as a data integration specialist a critical position, with limited but important access to sensitive backend systems.
Not core enough to build the tech but enough to see it.
Enough to steal it.
They brought Nadia into the meeting room under the pretense of a "status review."
The young woman, no older than twenty-four, sat nervously at the end of the table, glancing from face to face. She had soft features, her long black hair tied into a neat ponytail, her ID badge swinging slightly against her plain grey sweater.
"Nadia," Aruna began carefully, "we're conducting an internal review regarding recent... incidents."
Nadia's eyes widened. "I—I haven't done anything wrong," she said quickly.
"We're not accusing anyone," Reza said though his tone suggested otherwise. "We just have some questions."
They asked her about her access logs, the projects she'd worked on, any interactions she might've had with external consultants.
Nadia answered everything, flustered but consistent.
Still, the more she spoke, the more uncomfortable the room grew.
Small inconsistencies emerged nothing definitive, but enough. She had logged into systems at odd hours. She had sent encrypted files to her personal drive, claiming she needed to "study code at home."
On any other day, under less pressure, they might have brushed it off as rookie mistakes.
But today?
Today, they were hunting blood.
And Nadia smelled like fear.
When Nadia left the room, Reza immediately said, "It's her."
Naya agreed without hesitation. "She's the only one that fits."
Vincent kept his expression neutral, but inwardly, he exhaled slowly.
Perfect.
Exactly as Giselle had planned.
Vincent remembered the night Giselle had contacted him an encrypted message first, then a secret meeting in a dark parking lot on the outskirts of the city.
"I don't want you to destroy Veloria immediately," she had said, her voice low, her smile cold. "I want you to guide the collapse from within. Quietly. Patiently."
Vincent had hesitated but ambition, old resentments, and the promise of a golden future eventually won over loyalty.
He hadn't delivered any classified documents himself. He didn't have to. His role was simpler, stir the pot. Misdirect. Seed doubt. Let Veloria rot from its own wounds.
And now, they had a convenient scapegoat.
Nadia.
An outsider. A name no one would question losing.
The decision was made within the hour.
Aruna summoned Nadia back to the conference room, this time flanked by two members of their outsourced legal team.
"Nadia," Aruna said, keeping her voice steady, "after reviewing recent security breaches, we have serious concerns about your conduct."
Nadia's face drained of color. "But—but I didn't—"
"You violated company protocols," Reza interrupted sharply. "At the very least, you compromised sensitive information."
"We have no choice but to terminate your employment immediately," Aruna finished.
Tears welled up in Nadia's eyes.
She opened her mouth to protest but in the end, she said nothing.
Just a small, choked sob escaped her lips before she turned and fled the room, her footsteps echoing down the cold hallway.
When the door clicked shut behind her, a heavy silence fell over the team.
A part of Aruna twisted painfully inside her chest. Doubt. Guilt. But she crushed it down.
They had no choice. They had to move fast, to stabilize Veloria before it was too late.
"We need to issue a statement," Reza said. "Internal leak discovered and removed. Crisis contained."
Naya nodded grimly. "Damage control."
Vincent simply smiled faintly and typed a message into his encrypted app when no one was looking.
"Progress".
The reply from Giselle came almost instantly:
"Good. They're exactly where we want them."
That night, as the office emptied and Aruna sat alone by the window, watching the rain fall against the glass, she wondered:
Had they really found the traitor?
Or were they only treating a symptom while the true sickness spread deeper beneath the surface?
She had no way of knowing.
Not yet.
But the worst was still to come.
And somewhere in the shadows, Giselle and her true agent waited for the perfect moment to strike again.