Kenita thought he was going to be caught.
Her body remained hidden behind the pillar as her eyes followed Kamara's feet, which stalked toward David. His gaze was sharp and unforgiving, stabbing into David's every move.
David's fingers tapped restlessly on his thighs, a futile attempt to steady himself as the tremors threatened to betray him. His chest felt compressed, his breaths shallow and weak. A flash of heat lashed through his body, wrapping him in a discomforting wave of warmth. His hands grew slick with sweat, and his mind juggled thoughts at a dangerous pace. But he dared not let it show.
"Your identification, please." Kamara's husky voice cut through the tension, cold and demanding.
A second of silence.
David hesitated, his throat tightening as he slowly moved his hands to his pockets. Kamara's eyes narrowed at the delay. A small, sharp gesture had the guards stationed at the end of the lobby marching toward them, their hands instinctively resting on their holsters. The air grew heavier, suffocating David in its weight. Just as the moment reached its breaking point, a voice cut in, rescuing him.
"Hey! I see you've met the new employee," Kelvin's voice rang out.
"New employee?" Kamara's head snapped toward Kelvin, his suspicion still present. Kelvin stood in tailored chino trousers and a crisp white cotton shirt, the top two buttons undone as if he needed air. He had aimed for a balance between sophisticated and effortless, and judging by the murmurs of admiration from nearby female employees, his plan was working.
Kamara, however, was not impressed.
"Since when did we have a new employee?" His voice hardened, his displeasure clear. His gaze swung back to David, assessing him with renewed scrutiny. How was it that an employee had been recruited without his knowledge? He was their boss, for god's sake! What the hell was going on behind his back?
"The last engineer resigned. We had to find a replacement," Kelvin explained. "David was referred, and his credentials checked out."
"Then why doesn't he have an employee ID?" Kamara shot back.
Kelvin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Well, genius, maybe because he was just hired, and management hadn't issued one yet? He bit back the words, knowing full well the kind of man Kamara was—an insufferable, overbearing pain in the ass. And yet, somehow, Kelvin still liked him.
"Anyway," he continued, "David, meet Mr. Kamara, the owner of S.T. Company. Kamara, meet David, our new cybersecurity engineer."
Kelvin attempted to lighten the mood with a joke, but it fell flat. Neither man reacted. He huffed in annoyance, his lips twisting as he glanced toward the elevator's control panel.
"So, David," he tried again, "how're you finding the work environment?"
David barely spared him a glance. "I don't know. I just got here."
Right. What was he expecting him to say? It was his first day. And, if David were to be completely honest, his only reason for taking this job had nothing to do with work. He was here for Kenita—to help her investigate her sister's death. This job was nothing more than a means to an end, a convenient excuse to gain access to resources.
"No biggie," Kelvin said with a wink. "Give yourself a day, and you'll feel at home."
The elevator dinged.
The doors slid open, and David wasted no time stepping out, eager to escape the suffocating tension.
"Thank goodness," a familiar voice murmured.
David flinched at the unexpected presence. His gaze snapped toward Kenita, who stood with her arms crossed, waiting.
"How did you…?" His words scrambled. He had seen her downstairs. How was she already on the third floor?
"I took the stairs," she said simply.
Of course, she had.
They wasted no time making their way to the security room, thanks to Alima's clever distraction. Using her wit, she had tricked the head guard—an older man—into stepping away while she engaged another guard in idle conversation.
Once inside, David got to work, sifting through the security footage. But what he found sent a sting of frustration through him. The footage from the day in question was missing. Every other clip was intact, including those from months prior, but the one they needed was gone. Deleted.
Someone had covered their tracks.
He searched the backup drive.
Nothing.
That confirmed it—this was no accident. Someone had deliberately erased all records of that day.
But they had underestimated him.
David smirked. A minor inconvenience at best. Hacking into the third-party system was child's play for him. Within minutes, he had bypassed their firewalls, slipping past digital defenses with ease.
"Got it," he murmured, exhaling in relief as the retrieved footage loaded onto his drive.
They wasted no time exiting the security room, heading straight for Kenita's office.
David plugged in the drive, and the screen flickered to life.
The footage played.
A figure emerged in the underground parking garage.
A chubby man, his face partially obscured by a gray cap, moved with purpose. He approached the victim's car, pulling out a thin rod and sliding it into the door lock. With a few twists, the door clicked open. He slipped inside. A minute later, he emerged. Then, crouching, he crawled underneath the car for a few seconds before slipping away into the shadows.
Kenita's fingers curled into fists.
"Her car was tampered with," David stated.
Kenita's breath grew heavy, her fingers pressing repeatedly against her forehead as her feet paced back and forth. The evidence was right in front of her. The truth, undeniable.
"I can't wait any longer," she muttered, her voice trembling with restrained fury. "I'm done hiding."
David tensed. "Kenita, calm down. This video isn't enough to prove your suspicion. It won't hold in court."
"Oh, it proves plenty," she shot back. "Maybe not enough to convict him, but enough to implicate him."
That was her plan.
The second the media got their hands on this footage, the case would be reopened. The public would demand answers. She would create chaos—enough to drag him down.
David studied her for a long moment.
"And what exactly do you plan to do?"
Kenita's lips pressed into a firm line.
"Expose him."