Chapter 17

Elara completely froze.

For the first time since I’d known her, all that smug arrogance was entirely gone. She just looked terrified.

“I didn’t do it,” she whispered.

Nobody answered her.

Luca stepped away from his desk, his face totally unreadable. “Take us to the storage room,” he told the assistant.

The assistant nodded nervously and led the way, with the rest of us following right behind. The hallway felt endless, and the silence between us was heavy. A few employees stopped and stared as we walked past, clearly picking up on the tense vibe.

When we got to the storage room, the door was cracked open. The lock had been completely forced.

Luca crouched down, running his fingers over the bent metal. “This wasn't an accident,” he said quietly. “Someone knew exactly what they were looking for.”

My stomach twisted into a knot.

Inside, the room was a total disaster. Papers were scattered all over the place, cabinets were wide open, and design boards were tossed on the floor. It looked like a tornado had hit it.

Juliet gasped. “They tore the whole place apart...”

I rushed over to the cabinet where we kept the confidential collections. It was completely bare. Every single folder was gone.

“No...” I whispered, staring at the empty shelf. “My designs...”

Luca walked over and picked up a torn folder from the floor, his eyes narrowing. “They didn’t take everything.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He held up the folder. “They left the older collections alone. They only took the stuff for the upcoming launch.”

Juliet crossed her arms. “Which means they knew exactly which files mattered.”

Luca nodded. “An outsider wouldn’t know that.”

The words hung in the air like a dark cloud. Whoever did this was someone close to us.

Suddenly, one of the security guards hurried into the room. “Sir!”

Luca turned around fast. “What is it?”

“We checked the cameras.”

My heart leaped. “And? Did you see them?”

The guard hesitated, looking uncomfortable. “The cameras right outside the storage room went offline.”

“What?”

“They stopped recording for exactly twelve minutes, sir.”

Luca’s jaw tightened. “They didn't just fail on their own.”

“No, sir. The wires were deliberately cut.”

A chill ran right through me. Whoever planned this knew the camera blind spots, they knew exactly how much time they needed, and they knew the building inside out. This wasn't just a quick theft. It was sabotage.

Just then, another guard walked in holding something inside a clear plastic bag. “We found this dropped behind one of the shelves.”

Everyone crowded around to look. Inside the bag was a simple silver bracelet.

My breath caught in my throat. I recognized it instantly. Elara wore that bracelet almost every single day.

The room went dead silent.

Juliet slowly turned her head to look at Elara. “So...” she said softly. “How do you explain that?”

Elara’s eyes went wide as she stared at the bag. She automatically looked down at her own wrist. It was bare.

“I... I don’t know,” she stammered, her voice shaking.

Luca didn’t say a word. He just watched her, his eyes cold.

“I lost it yesterday!” Elara said, her voice rising in panic. “I thought I left it at home, I swear!”

Nobody looked like they believed her. Tears started welling up in her eyes. “You have to believe me.”

Before anyone could say anything else, another voice called out from the doorway.

“Mr. Luca!”

A young guy from the tech team was standing there, holding a laptop. “We managed to piece together some of the deleted camera footage.”

A flicker of hope hit me. “Can you see who it is?” I asked.

The technician swallowed hard. “Not perfectly.”

He turned the screen around so we could see. The footage was super blurry, showing a figure in a dark hoodie slipping into the storage room. A second later, another person appeared on screen, their face hidden under a baseball cap.

But right before the video cut to static, the second person reached out to grab the doorframe.

It only lasted for a split second. We couldn't see their face or their clothes.

But I saw their hand. And right on their finger was an unmistakable gold signet ring.

My blood ran cold.

I had seen that exact ring before. Very recently.

And it didn’t belong to Elara.

I stared at the screen, my mind racing as I tried to process what I was looking at.

The gold signet ring had a distinct, heavy crest engraved on it. It wasn’t a cheap fashion accessory, and it certainly wasn't something you'd find in Elara’s jewelry box. It belonged to someone with money, power, and a very specific taste.

It belonged to Julian, our chief financial officer.

He had been in the office just yesterday, leaning over my desk while looking at the budget reports. I remembered the heavy catch of that exact ring hitting the wood when he tapped his fingers impatiently.

“Can you zoom in on that?” Luca asked, his voice cutting through my panic.

The technician tapped a few keys, but the image just became a pixelated mess. “That’s as sharp as it gets, sir. The file was badly corrupted when they cut the feed.”

Luca didn’t look away from the screen. His eyes were fixed on the blurry shape of the hand. I glanced over at him, wondering if he recognized it too. Julian was Luca’s closest ally in the company the man who handled all the secret investments. If Julian was involved, this went way deeper than a stolen design collection. This was a corporate coup.

“Well?” Juliet asked, shifting her weight. “It doesn’t show a face. But Elara, you’re still the only one whose personal belongings were found at the scene.”

Elara looked like she was about to faint. “I told you, I lost it! Someone must have picked it up and dropped it there to frame me!”

For the first time, I actually believed her. The bracelet was too obvious. Whoever planned this was smart enough to cut camera wires and erase digital footprints; they wouldn’t accidentally drop a signature piece of jewelry right behind the shelves. It was a setup.

“Where is Julian right now?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

Everyone turned to look at me.

“Why do you care where the CFO is?” Juliet asked, her brow furrowing.

“I just noticed he wasn't in the hallway during the lockdown,” I lied quickly, not wanting to reveal what I knew until I was sure who I could trust. “Shouldn't all executives be accounted for?”

Luca slowly turned his head to look at me, his dark eyes narrowing. He didn’t say anything to me, but he turned back to the security guard.

“Find Julian,” Luca ordered. “Tell him I need him in my office immediately.”

The guard nodded and hurried out.

“The rest of you, back to the main office,” Luca said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “Nobody leaves the floor. Nobody talks to the press. If a single word of this leaks before we find the original files, consider yourselves fired.”

As we walked back down the long hallway, Elara kept her distance, crying silently while Juliet watched her like a hawk. I lagged behind, my heart still hammering against my ribs.

I needed to see Julian’s hands myself. I needed to see if he was still wearing that ring, or if he’d been smart enough to take it off.

But as we reached the executive suite, the security guard rushed back toward us, out of breath and pale.

“Mr. Luca,” the guard panted. “Julian isn't in his office.”

Luca stopped in his tracks. “Did you check the lounge?”

“Sir, his assistant says he left the building about twenty minutes ago,” the guard said, looking terrified to deliver the news. Right before we called the lockdown. He said he had an urgent off-site meeting with our main competitor.