The Missing Employee

Sophia Bennett did not sleep well that night.

Not because she was afraid.

At least, that’s what she told herself.

It was because she hated unfinished problems.

And Nathaniel Cross was an unfinished problem.

By eight the next morning, she was already at her desk.

She opened the confidential report.

Nathaniel’s name was still there.

She checked the employee number.

Still there.

She checked the official database.

Nothing.

Sophia leaned back.

“How does someone disappear from a company’s records?”

“Usually with permission.”

Sophia nearly dropped her coffee.

She turned.

Adrian stood behind her.

He looked tired.

Not exhausted.

Just distracted.

His eyes moved to her screen.

Sophia immediately minimized the document.

Adrian noticed.

“What were you looking at?”

“Nothing.”

His eyebrow lifted.

Sophia sighed.

“Okay. Not nothing.”

“Show me.”

She hesitated.

Then opened the document.

Adrian read it.

His expression changed when he saw the name.

“Nathaniel Cross.”

“You know him.”

It wasn’t a question.

Adrian didn’t answer immediately.

Sophia watched him carefully.

“Mr. Vale?”

“I know the name.”

“From where?”

Adrian pulled out a chair.

“Tell me everything.”

Sophia explained what she’d found.

The confidential report.

The missing employee records.

The restricted access.

The anonymous messages.

And the photograph she’d found in his office.

She didn’t mention that she’d copied the name onto her personal notes.

Adrian listened without interrupting.

When she finished, he held out his hand.

“The photograph.”

Sophia hesitated.

“I put it back.”

“Why?”

“Because it was in your office.”

Adrian looked at her.

“Good.”

Sophia frowned.

“That’s all?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not going to ask what I saw?”

“I already know what you saw.”

That answer made her uncomfortable.

“You knew about Nathaniel.”

“I knew someone had removed his records.”

Sophia stared at him.

“Why?”

Adrian leaned back.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

Sophia studied him.

“Is this connected to Elena?”

The room became silent.

Adrian’s expression changed.

“Why would you ask that?”

“The date.”

She pointed toward the document.

“September 14.”

Then toward the photograph.

“Same date.”

Adrian said nothing.

Sophia continued.

“Whoever sent me the file wanted me to notice that.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

“Who sent it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You didn’t report it to security?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I wasn’t sure whether I could trust security.”

Adrian studied her for several seconds.

Then he nodded.

“Good.”

Sophia blinked.

“Again?”

“Again.”

She folded her arms.

“Do you have any other vocabulary?”

For the first time that morning, Adrian almost smiled.

Almost.

Then his expression became serious again.

“From now on, you tell me if you receive anything unusual.”

“Even if it’s unrelated to work?”

“Especially if you think it’s unrelated.”

Sophia nodded.

“Okay.”

She began closing the document.

Then Adrian said,

“Wait.”

He looked at Nathaniel’s name.

“Did you find out when he disappeared?”

Sophia checked her notes.

“Officially, he resigned.”

“When?”

“September 16.”

Adrian’s eyes hardened.

“Two days after September 14.”

Sophia nodded.

“And his resignation letter?”

“Doesn’t exist.”

Adrian looked at her.

“Exactly.”

Sophia frowned.

“Then how do they know he resigned?”

“They don’t.”

He stood.

“Someone wanted it to look like he did.”

Sophia felt a chill.

“Why?”

Adrian walked toward the window.

“I don’t know.”

He looked across the city.

“But I’m going to find out.”

Sophia gathered her papers.

As she reached the door, Adrian spoke again.

“Sophia.”

She turned.

“Yes?”

“Don’t investigate Nathaniel alone.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“That sounds like an order.”

“It is.”

“Because it’s dangerous?”

“Because whoever erased him doesn’t want him found.”

Sophia nodded slowly.

Then she left.

Adrian waited until the door closed.

His phone vibrated.

Unknown number.

You finally found Cross.

Adrian stared at the message.

He typed:

Who are you?

The response came quickly.

Someone who knows what happened on September 14.

Adrian’s expression hardened.

Tell me.

Three dots appeared.

Then disappeared.

A minute passed.

Nothing.

Adrian typed again.

What happened?

This time, the response arrived.

Elena met Nathaniel.

Adrian stopped breathing for a moment.

Another message followed.

But she wasn’t there because of Marcus.

Adrian’s fingers tightened around the phone.

He typed:

Why was she there?

The answer came.

Ask her what she took from him.

Adrian stared at the screen.

What did Elena take?

A document?

Money?

Information?

Something else?

He opened the photograph from the restaurant.

Elena stood beside an unidentified man.

Then he opened the photograph of Nathaniel’s employee record.

Two separate mysteries.

Two names.

One date.

September 14.

Adrian’s phone vibrated again.

And don’t ask Elena yet.

His eyes narrowed.

Why?

The response appeared.

Because she’ll know you’re close.

Adrian locked the phone.

He hated that message.

Not because it warned him.

Because it was right.

Elena would know.

She always knew when someone was getting too close to her secrets.

And Adrian knew her well enough to understand exactly what she would do when cornered.

She wouldn’t confess.

She wouldn’t apologize.

She wouldn’t explain.

She would protect herself.

Just as she always had.

⸻

Across the building, Sophia sat at her desk.

She tried to return to her original assignment.

Turnover.

Employee retention.

European operations.

Normal things.

Things that belonged in spreadsheets.

But her mind kept returning to Nathaniel Cross.

She opened a blank document.

At the top, she typed:

NATHANIEL CROSS — PRIVATE NOTES

Then she stopped.

A notification appeared.

An email.

No sender.

No subject.

Sophia stared at it.

She almost deleted it.

Instead, she opened it.

There was only one attachment.

A photograph.

Sophia downloaded it.

Her eyes widened.

It showed Nathaniel Cross entering Vale Corporation six months earlier.

She zoomed in.

He wasn’t alone.

A woman was walking beside him.

Sophia didn’t recognize her at first.

Then she did.

Elena Laurent Vale.

Sophia stared at the photograph.

The date in the corner was clear.

September 14.

Her stomach tightened.

But there was something else.

Nathaniel was carrying a folder.

Elena wasn’t.

Sophia zoomed in again.

On the folder was the Vale Corporation logo.

And underneath it, handwritten in black ink, were four words.

PROJECT LAURENT — CONFIDENTIAL

Sophia stared at the screen.

Then another email appeared.

This one had a sender.

Adrian Vale.

The message contained only one sentence:

Come to my office. Now.

Sophia looked toward Adrian’s office.

The blinds were closed.

She stood.

For the first time since she had started working at Vale Corporation, she had the uncomfortable feeling that Adrian wasn’t simply investigating a mystery.

He was already standing in the middle of it.

And somehow, she had just been pulled closer.