Emma Hayes sat at her desk, staring at the blinking cursor on her screen. The note she'd found in Adrian Cross's office the day before played on a loop in her mind: Trust no one. She had shoved it to the back of her thoughts last night, but after her tense meeting with Adrian this morning, it was impossible to ignore.
The hum of the office surrounded her: fingers clacking on keyboards, muted conversations, the occasional ring of a phone. Normal. Routine. Yet Emma couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
She glanced around, her gaze skimming over her coworkers. Was it her imagination, or did their laughter sound more forced than usual? Were the hushed conversations at the water cooler just idle gossip-or something else entirely?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a ping on her phone. It was a message from Lucy Carter, her best friend and ex-colleague.
Lucy: Coffee? I have news.
Emma felt a flicker of unease. Lucy had been laid off just two weeks ago in what Arcadia called a "restructuring effort." But Lucy had always suspected there was more to it.
An hour later, Emma pushed open the door of their favorite coffee shop. The comforting scent of freshly brewed coffee greeted her, but Lucy's grim expression dampened any sense of relief.
"Hey," Emma said as she slid into the booth across from her friend. "What's going on?"
Lucy didn't answer right away. Instead, she pushed a steaming cup of coffee toward Emma and leaned forward, lowering her voice. "I've been digging into what happened at Arcadia."
Emma's stomach twisted. "Lucy, you're not still—"
"I need to know the truth," Lucy cut in. "It wasn't just me, Em. Do you know how many people were let go in the last six months? And all of them had one thing in common—they worked on high-profile projects."
Emma frowned. "What are you saying? That they were targeted?"
Lucy nodded, her face dark. "Exactly. I don't have proof, but there's a pattern. And here's the kicker-after they were gone, those projects mysteriously tanked. Budget overruns, missed deadlines, entire teams falling apart."
"That doesn't prove anything," Emma said, though doubt crept into her voice.
Lucy's lips thinned. "Maybe not. But it's not just layoffs. I've heard rumors-about someone inside Arcadia sabotaging the company from the inside.
Emma's breath caught. The word sabotage rang out a little too clearly, and co linearly, with that note she'd found. "Where are you hearing this?"
Lucy hesitated before leaning closer. "People that worked on those projects-most won't say much, 'cause they're scared. One guy did tell me, though. Said his whole team database vanished overnight. No explanation. No backup."
Emma's mind was racing. It wasn't uncommon for companies to have their internal struggles, but sabotage? That was a whole other story.
"Why are you telling me this?" Emma asked.
"Because you're still there," Lucy said bluntly. "And I don't want you to end up like me-or worse."
Emma's heart sank. She wanted to dismiss Lucy's fears as paranoia, but the pieces were starting to fit together. Could the note be a warning about the sabotage? And if so, why had it been left for her to find?
"Just… promise me you'll be careful," Lucy added.
"I will," Emma said, though her resolve was shaky.
Back at the office, Emma couldn't focus. Lucy's words were still echoing in her head, making every interaction seem suspicious.
As she walked through the halls, she caught snippets of conversation.
"…heard the Reynolds contract fell through…"
"…another IT issue? That's the third one this month…"
"…Adrian's furious. Someone's getting fired for this."
The whispers were constant, creating an undercurrent of unease that Emma couldn't ignore.
She sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen as she weighed her next move. The safest thing to do would be to do nothing at all-to pretend the note and Lucy's warnings didn't exist. But Emma wasn't wired that way. She hated injustice, and if someone was sabotaging Arcadia from within, she couldn't just sit back and let it happen.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. A quick search for "Arcadia sabotage" brought up nothing but public-facing press releases. She tried variations-discreetly, of course-but came up empty.
Her pulse quickened. If there was sabotage happening, whoever was behind it was covering their tracks well.
That evening, Emma stayed late at the office, using the quiet to her advantage. Most of the staff had already left, and the floor was eerily silent.
She started by reviewing files on recent projects—specifically, the ones Lucy had mentioned. At first, everything seemed normal, but as she dug deeper, she noticed odd patterns. Missing documentation. Incomplete financial records. And in one case, an entire folder marked as classified, which struck her as strange for a routine project.
Her stomach churned. This wasn't proof of sabotage, but it wasn't nothing, either.
"Burning the midnight oil, Ms. Hayes?
Emma jumped, spilling coffee on her desk. She turned to see Adrian Cross standing in the doorway, his sharp suit immaculate as always. His expression was unreadable, but his piercing blue eyes seemed to take in every detail of her desk.
"I… had some catching up to do," Emma said, her voice steady despite her racing heart.
Adrian stepped into the room, his presence commanding even in the empty office. "And what, exactly, are you catching up on?"
Emma's mind raced. If he saw the files she had been reviewing, he'd know she was poking around where she didn't belong. "Just sorting through old project reports. Amanda asked me to clean up the archives."
He raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "At this hour?"
Emma shrugged, forcing a smile. "It's easier when it's quiet."
For a moment, Adrian said nothing, his gaze lingering on her. Then he nodded. "Be careful, Ms. Hayes. Working late can lead to. complications."
The way he said it sent a chill down her spine. She watched as he turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the hall.
Emma slowly let out her breath, her hands trembling. Adrian's warning felt like so much more than a casual comment. Did he know she was digging into something? Or was he warning her off from somebody else?
The next morning, Emma found herself hyper-aware of everything around her. Every glance from a coworker, every passing comment felt charged with hidden meaning.
At lunchtime, she sat with several coworkers in the break room to blend in and hopefully catch on to something useful.
"…Cross has been in a mood lately," said one of them, a junior analyst named Derek.
"Can you blame him?" another one countered. "The company's bleeding money, and no one seems to know why."
Emma stayed silent, but her ears perked up.
"It's not just money," Derek added, his voice low. "I heard there was a breach last month. Somebody pulled out confidential files from the boardroom server."
"What files?"
"No idea, but if the rumors are true, it's bad."
Emma's heart raced. A breach? Could that have something to do with the sabotage Lucy had mentioned?
That night, Emma called Lucy again.
"You were right," Emma said the moment Lucy answered.
"About what?"
"There's something going on at Arcadia. People are talking about breaches, missing files. it's real, Lucy."
"I told you," Lucy said, her tone a mixture of vindication and concern. "But if you're hearing this stuff, you need to be extra careful. The bigwigs won't think twice before throwing somebody under the bus to save their own behinds."
Emma hedged. "Do you think Adrian knows?
Lucy hesitated. "Hard to say. If he does, he's probably trying to handle it quietly. But if he doesn't…"
Emma didn't need her to finish the sentence. If Adrian Cross didn't know about the sabotage, then anyone who brought it to his attention could be seen as a threat-or worse, a suspect.
The next morning, Emma decided to keep her eyes open but her head down. If there was one thing she had learned, it was that Arcadia's gleaming exterior hid more than just office politics.
As she passed by Adrian's office, she couldn't help but glance inside. The note was gone, but its message lingered in her mind: Trust no one.
For now, Emma decided, she would keep her discoveries to herself. But she couldn't ignore the sinking feeling that she was stepping into something far more dangerous than she had anticipated.
She wasn't just a bystander anymore. She was part of the game-and the stakes were higher than she'd ever imagined.