“What kind of problem?” Eleanor asked.
Albright lowered his voice, but the office was so quiet everyone heard him anyway.
“Our cybersecurity team just flagged it. Confidential Halston acquisition documents. Our internal valuation models, our negotiation limits, our board memos. They were copied off the secure data room last night.”
Eleanor’s face hardened. “Copied to where?”
Albright hesitated.
“To a computer in this office.”
You could have heard a pin drop on the carpet.
The tall man with the buzz cut, the one who’d been standing by the window, stepped forward. “Which machine?”
Albright turned his phone around.
On the screen was a device ID. And underneath it, a user profile.
CHRISTOPHER BENNETT.
My entire body went cold.
“That’s impossible,” I said.
I looked at Gavin, expecting him to be as shocked as I was.
He wasn’t shocked.
He looked afraid.
He was staring at the company laptop still sitting on my desk, still plugged into its charger, still closed, right where I’d left it that morning.
“Chris,” Gavin said. His voice was barely a whisper. “Don’t open your computer.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
His face had gone completely gray.
And in that one moment, I understood something horrifying.
Gavin knew exactly what was on it.
The tall man walked over and stood right beside my desk. He introduced himself without taking his eyes off the laptop.
“Daniel Reyes. Head of security and investigations for Halston. Twenty-two years with the FBI before that.” He looked at me. “Mr. Bennett, I’d ask you not to touch that keyboard until our people are on the line. For your own protection.”
“I haven’t touched it since yesterday.”
“Has anyone else used this device?”
“It’s company equipment. IT has admin access. Gavin has admin access.”
Gavin stepped forward. “This is ridiculous. Christopher has nothing to do with confidential documents.”
Eleanor was standing by the glass wall with her arms folded.
“I certainly hope not,” she said.
Ethan Blake is a skilled Creative Content Specialist with a talent for crafting engaging and thought-provoking narratives. With a strong background in storytelling and digital content creation, Ethan brings a unique perspective to his role at TheArchivists, where he curates and produces captivating content for a global audience.
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