Chapter 3 - The Corporate Web

By midnight, the grand ballroom had emptied of its high-society parasites, leaving behind only the wreckage of broken crystal, spilled champagne, and a shattered dynastic alliance. Alexander refused to leave the room, demanding answers that his father was finally forced to provide in the private mahogany-paneled library. I sat across from them, no longer the maid standing at attention, but an equal force holding all the leverage.
Mr. Montgomery poured himself a heavy glass of scotch, his hands visibly shaking. "Arthur Harrow—the rival developer trying to sink our upcoming commercial merger—hired a shadow crew six months ago. We couldn't plug the intelligence leaks. Every board meeting, every acquisition plan was making it to their desk before our ink dried."
Alexander stared at his father in horror. "What does that have to do with Rachel?"
"Everything," Colonel Hayes answered, stepping out from the shadows of the bookshelf. "When Vance worked for us, she specialized in counter-espionage and asset isolation. When she took the job here under an assumed surname, it wasn't by accident. She was tracking a digital footprint that led straight from the Montgomery corporate server to someone inside this estate."
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My gaze shifted toward the grand double doors of the library. I didn't need to name the suspect; the puzzle pieces were already assembling themselves in Alexander’s mind. Brianna Collins hadn't just arrived at the estate by chance eighteen months ago. She was the primary shareholder’s daughter of Harrow Developments, positioned precisely to infiltrate the Montgomery family ahead of the merger. Her petty cruelty toward me, her demand for absolute submission, and her paranoia about my presence in the kitchen hadn't stemmed from romantic jealousy alone—she had recognized my silhouette from an old intelligence brief her father had kept under lock and key.
"You brought a corporate spy into your bed, Alexander," I said softly, standing up from the leather armchair. "And she nearly got away with it because you were too busy planning a society wedding to look at the numbers."