What did they want from her?
Dorian stood silently beside the desk, his gaze fixed on the phone as though the answer might somehow appear if he stared at the screen long enough.
The investigation had started with suspicious payments and altered supplier details, then grown into something far more complicated than either of them had anticipated.
People were being watched, records were disappearing, and someone seemed to know their movements almost as soon as they made them.
Yet Brielle couldn’t shake the feeling that the attention directed towards her was different.
They had threatened the company, interfered with its finances and attempted to erase evidence, but the messages had begun mentioning her specifically.
“You think they’re interested in you because of the investigation?” Dorian finally asked.
Brielle shook her head slowly.
“I don’t know.” She moved towards the desk and began gathering the documents again, her thoughts still circling the same question.
“But if they were only worried about what we might discover, they wouldn’t need to know where I would be or who I was talking to.
They wouldn’t need to ask about me specifically.” Dorian’s expression tightened at the reminder of what the procurement officer had told them.
Someone had wanted to know where Brielle would be that night.
Someone had been paying attention to her movements before they had even realized she was being watched.
“Then we need to find out what they know about you,” Dorian said.
Brielle looked at him.
“There’s not much to know.” Dorian’s eyes remained on her for a moment.
“You’d be surprised.” She frowned slightly, but before she could respond, he reached for the folder containing the records they had collected.
“You said earlier that someone may have been studying how we react.
If that’s true, then we need to give them something they can’t predict.” He turned towards the desk and began sorting through the documents again.
“We know they’re monitoring the investigation.
We know they have access to information inside the company.
We also know they react whenever we get close to something.” Brielle understood immediately.
“So we give them something to react to.” “Exactly.” They spent the next hour constructing a false trail, but this time they were more careful.
They didn’t create a fake transaction or invent another account.
Instead, Brielle selected a genuine set of old procurement records that had already been reviewed and were no longer relevant to their immediate investigation.
Dorian arranged for the records to appear as though they had suddenly become important, making sure the information could be noticed without being directly handed to anyone.
If someone was watching them, that person would have every reason to believe they had discovered a new connection.
Brielle leaned back slightly after they finished.
“Now we wait.” Dorian looked at her.
“You don’t like waiting.” “I hate waiting.” A faint smile almost touched his face, but it disappeared before she could notice.
“At least we agree on something.” Brielle gave him a brief look before turning back towards the documents.
She didn’t notice the way Dorian’s attention lingered on her for a second longer than necessary.
Over the past few days, he had begun noticing things about her that he had no reason to notice.
The way she became completely absorbed when solving a problem.
The way she rarely complained even when exhausted.
The way she could sit in silence for several minutes and somehow make it clear that her mind was working through a dozen possibilities at once.
He couldn’t explain why those things had begun standing out to him, and he certainly didn’t intend to question them now.
There were too many more important things demanding his attention.
The following morning, the first sign came sooner than either of them expected.
Dorian was reviewing the company’s overnight activity when Brielle walked into the study.
She had barely reached the desk when he turned the monitor towards her.
“Someone accessed the records.” Brielle’s eyes immediately narrowed.
“The ones we planted?” Dorian nodded.
“Twenty-three minutes ago.” “From where?” “That’s the interesting part.” He brought up the access information.
“The request came through Administration, but the terminal used wasn’t assigned to anyone in Administration.” Brielle studied the screen.
“Then someone borrowed a terminal.” “Or they used someone else’s credentials.” She thought for a moment.
“Can you trace the credentials?” “I already did.” Dorian clicked on another screen, and Brielle’s expression changed when she saw the name.
Mr.
Hale.
Neither of them spoke.
Brielle stared at the name, remembering the frightened look on Hale’s face and the way his voice had trembled when he told them that he hadn’t started any of this.
She remembered his warning that they would come after him and the way he had looked around the room as though he expected someone to appear at any moment.
“He accessed them?” she asked.
“His credentials were used.” “That isn’t the same thing.” Dorian nodded.
“I know.” Brielle looked at the screen again.
“Then someone wants us to think it was him.” The realization immediately changed the atmosphere in the room.
If Hale had genuinely accessed the records, they needed to know why.
But if someone had used his credentials deliberately, then they were being led towards him again.
Either possibility meant the same thing: someone was still controlling the trail.
“We need to find him,” Dorian said.
Brielle nodded, but something in her expression remained uncertain.
“Not yet.” Dorian looked at her.
“Why?” “Because if someone used Hale’s credentials to access those records, they want us to notice.” She pointed towards the screen.
“They know we’re looking for connections.
They know Hale is already part of our investigation.
Giving us his credentials is almost too easy.” Dorian studied the information again.
She was right.
It was too obvious.
Whoever had done this had either made a careless mistake or deliberately placed Hale back in their path.
“Then what do you suggest?” he asked.
Brielle’s gaze remained on the screen.
“We let them think it worked.” Dorian understood immediately.
They would not confront Hale.
They would not announce that they had discovered the access.
They would allow whoever was watching to believe they had accepted the trail exactly as it had been presented to them.
But before they could put the plan into motion, Dorian’s phone rang.
He answered without taking his eyes from Brielle.
“Hello?” The voice on the other end was low and hurried.
Dorian’s expression changed.
Brielle immediately noticed.
“What happened?” Dorian listened for several seconds before his face became completely unreadable.
“Where?” He grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair.
“Dorian?” He ended the call and looked at her.
“The records we thought were deleted yesterday weren’t deleted.” Brielle’s brow furrowed.
“Then where are they?” Dorian’s eyes met hers.
“Someone moved them.” The room went still.
Brielle slowly straightened.
“Where?” Dorian picked up the folder.
“Somewhere inside Wolfe Enterprises.” And suddenly, the trail they had been chasing was no longer disappearing.
It was moving.