CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ADRIAN’S POV

By eleven o’clock that morning, Laurent Group stock had dropped by another six percent. By noon, we had already lost two international partners.

Nobody inside the executive boardroom looked comfortable anymore.

Reports were all over the table, phones kept vibrating, assistants moved in and out quietly while the financial projections on the large screen continued getting worse by the hour.

“Riverton officially terminated the final shipping exclusivity clause thirty minutes ago,” one of the executives said.

“Singapore investors are asking for reassurance before signing,” another added.

“They won’t sign,” Damien muttered from his seat near the end of the table. “Not while Arden Corporation keeps swallowing supply routes.”

I leaned back into the chesterfield chair I was seated, listening while the room argued over damage control.

Selene Arden had been back in the city for just three days, and already half the market was reacting to her movements strategically.

None of her movements felt rushed. Every acquisition connected perfectly to the next one, like she mapped it all out long before she arrived.

“She’s forcing investors to panic,” one board member said.

“No,” I corrected calmly. “She’s giving them a reason to.”

Selene Arden knew exactly where to hit, she had cut into the structure underneath Laurent Group instead of attacking publicly where damage could be controlled. That was deliberate and calculated.

“She planned this long before entering the city,” Damien muttered from across the table.

I glanced toward him briefly. “Obviously.”

Damien leaned back in his chair, rolling a pen between his fingers lazily. “You think she’s targeting us personally?”

“She’s targeting our weaknesses.” I answered flatly.

Even though I found it hard to take the truth, Riverton exposed an ugly one about us. Laurent Group looked powerful publicly, but underneath that image, we were more vulnerable than investors realized and Selene Arden had figured it out within days.

My assistant stepped toward me carefully. “Sir, the European partners moved today’s call forward.”

“Why?”

“They want direct confirmation Laurent Group remains stable.”

A cynical laugh almost escaped me. I stood from my chair and buttoned my suit jacket slowly. “Reschedule every nonessential meeting after four.”

“What about the press conference?”

“Cancel it.” I said flatly

A few surprised looks lifted around the table.

“Sir, canceling now may create worse speculation,” one executive warned.

“Then let them speculate.”

The meeting ended few minutes later, everyone filed out of the room while Damien stayed behind

“You look irritated,” he said casually.

I grabbed the tablet from the table and skimmed through another financial projection. “If Riverton fully integrates with Arden Corporation, our international costs will increase by almost thirty percent before the quarter ends.”

Damien whistled softly. “She really came for blood.”

I ignored the comment and kept reading. There was another issue buried beneath the financial reports.

Three internal strategy documents had somehow leaked to competing investors overnight.

Somebody inside Laurent Group was feeding information out quietly.

“Security traced the leak yet?” I asked.

“Still investigating.”

I tossed the tablet onto the table. “That answer is starting to annoy me.”

Damien gave a small shrug. “You think somebody inside the company is helping her?”

My phone buzzed against the table before I could reply him. I checked the caller and it was Celeste, I know she calls only when it’s important.

I answered immediately. “Yes?”

“The Whitmore board wants reassurance,” she said without greeting. “My father’s getting pressure from investors already.”

I reached out for a document across the table, “It’s temporary.”

“You don’t know that,” she replied.

“She acquired one shipping structure, not the entire market.” I argued.

“She acquired the exact structure your expansion project depended on.”

I kept quiet because I knew Celeste was right.

Celeste lowered her voice a bit. “Adrian, if the international deal collapses, both companies take a hit. And people are noticing how aggressively Arden Corporation is targeting Laurent Group specifically.”

I rubbed my forehead briefly, “I’m handling it.”

“You better,” she replied bluntly. “Because if investors start believing Laurent Group is vulnerable, they won’t stop at Riverton.”

She ended the call before I could respond again, I knew she wasn’t wrong though. Markets behaved like predators, the moment weakness appeared, everybody moved at once.

And somehow Selene Arden understood exactly where to press.

A knock interrupted my thoughts.

My assistant stepped back inside. “Sir, there’s something else.”

“What now?”

She placed a folder gently on the desk.

“Another acquisition?” I asked as I opened the file. My expression changed immediately, it was a list of canceled meetings. Not ours but Arden Corporation’s private investor dinners, three events had been postponed within the last hour.

“That’s strange,” Damien said, reading over my shoulder.

I flipped through the remaining pages slowly, one line near the bottom suddenly caught my attention.

UNAUTHORIZED SECURITY BREACH REPORTED — ARDEN TOWER EXECUTIVE FLOOR.

My eyes shifted to my assistant still standing beside me. “What breach?”

“We don’t know yet,” my assistant replied. “The information came through a private corporate source.”

Damien leaned against the table. “You think someone’s trying to get into Arden files?”

“Or someone already did.” I grabbed my car keys from the desk.

Damien frowned. “Where are you going?”

“To fix a problem before it becomes mine.”

Damien dashed behind me. “I’m coming with you.”

Twenty-five minutes later, my car pulled into the underground entrance of Laurent Group’s private archives division.

Very few people inside the company even knew the place existed. The most sensitive company information passed through here before reaching executive floors.

Damien followed beside me as we walked through the secured hallway.

“You still think the leak came from inside?”

“It had to, nobody breaks into billion-dollar structures physically anymore, they use access.” I replied as I walked down the hallway.

The head of internal security met us near the restricted archive room. “You asked for the overnight access logs, sir.”

“Show me everything.” I said.

He handed over a tablet immediately, employee access records filled the screen. Names, departments, entry times.

Nothing unusual at first glance, then Damien suddenly pointed at one line. “Wait.”

I looked closer, executive authorization override.

Time logged: 1:14 a.m.

Access route: Chairman-level clearance.

My expression stiffened. Only three people inside Laurent Group carried that level of access. Me, Damien, and Celeste after the merger contracts three years ago.

“Who used this?” I asked sharply.

The security director swallowed hard. “That’s the issue, sir.”

“What’s the issue?” I looked at him sharply.

“The system shows your credentials.”

I was stunned. “That’s impossible.”

“You were logged entering the archive division at 1:14 this morning.”

“I wasn’t even in the building.”

Damien stepped closer immediately. “Can the system be manipulated?”

“Not easily, unless with an inside help.” I replied back.

I grabbed the tablet from the director’s hand and kept reading. My stomach lurched as I read further, because whoever used my credentials didn’t target financial records, investor files or expansion contracts.

I stared at the screen for a long second, then I read another line appeared beneath it.

FILE ACCESSED AT 1:16 A.M.

FILE REMOVED AT 1:17 A.M.

Damien looked up sharply. “Somebody stole the file?”

The security director nodded. “Yes, sir.”

I looked up from the tablet. “Show me the camera footage.”

The director hurried toward the monitor station nearby and pulled up the overnight footage.

Static flickered briefly across the screen before the underground hallway appeared. It was empty, then at exactly 1:13 a.m, a masked person stepped into frame wearing a dark coat and black gloves.

The figure stopped briefly near the security scanner, the doors unlocked instantly using my credentials.

Then the masked person turned slightly toward the camera. My entire body stiffened, because hanging loosely around the stranger’s wrist…

was a thin silver bracelet with a small moon charm attached to it.