The heavy silence in Mel's small office was broken only by the faint whirl of the cooling servers. Rhys Kallen waited, his eyes demanding an answer Mel wasn't ready to fully provide.
"Leila Vaughn," Mel finally said, her voice steady. "I ran into her the first day. She warned me that Hayes's 'audit' was a political maneuver. She told me to look for discrepancies, not just accept the numbers."
It was a perfectly constructed half-truth: it named Leila but presented the connection as a simple, professional warning, not a secret alliance. Mel knew this was a massive risk, but it bought her time and gave Rhys a target that wasn't herself.
Rhys's lips curved into a faint, complex smile. "Leila. Predictable. She always chooses the knife." He stepped back, the dangerous proximity dissolving. "Very well, Mel. Here is my offer. You have stolen the worst secret of this company. I will not fire you, and I will not destroy your scholarship. Instead, you will work directly for me."
Mel blinked, stunned. "Work for you?"
"Hayes is a pawn," Rhys explained, his voice low and intense. "He wanted you to find the weak points so he could use the corruption as leverage against Leila and the board. But you found my problem, Mel. The one person in Kallen who thinks they can run a side operation behind my back. You will act as my analyst. You will tell me exactly how Leila found you, and how she planned to use that data. You'll be playing a double game, but for the most powerful player."
He leaned down one last time. "You want to fix the system? You don't do it from the bottom. You do it from the top. Are you loyal to Kallen, or are you just a revolutionary?"
"I am loyal to the integrity of the project, sir. I accept."
"Good," Rhys said, a flicker of approval in his eyes. "Now go home and sleep. Tomorrow, you report to the 70th floor. And if you ever speak of Project Chimera again, Mel, I will know."
Meanwhile, on the 55th floor, Chloe Vance was basking in a very different kind of success. She had immediately understood the game Hayes was playing. She used the filtered data, followed the rules precisely, and delivered a perfect, sanitized report on the five weak points.
Chloe was in the executive lounge, sipping champagne, enjoying the glow of high-performance validation.
"You really nailed it, Chloe," the team lead, Simon, told her. "Hayes is thrilled. He says you have the exact blend of ruthlessness and discretion Kallen needs."
Chloe smiled, feeling deeply justified. Mel is probably still slogging away in the back offices, chasing ghosts. Kallen doesn't want heroes; it wants soldiers who follow orders. She's too focused on the Why; I focus on the How.
Chloe pulled out her phone and found a new text from Mel:
💬💬 Mel: I survived the audit. It got... intense. I'm off Hayes's team. I got moved to the 70th floor. Directly under Rhys Kallen.
Chloe froze, her glass halfway to her mouth. The 70th floor was the Owner's floor. It was the absolute pinnacle of corporate power, a place reserved for the hyper-elite.
A bitter knot formed in Chloe's stomach, instantly souring the taste of the expensive champagne. Mel didn't fail and get fired; she leapfrogged the entire corporate structure in two days.
Chloe: The 70th floor? That's impossible. What did you do? Did you find something bigger?
Mel: It's complicated. Just know I'm in deeper than I ever imagined. The rules have changed. Stay safe down there, Chloe.
Chloe stared at the message. Mel had stumbled into the center of the storm, while Chloe had just secured a comfortable spot on the sidelines. The realization was stark: Mel's reckless integrity had propelled her to the pinnacle, while Chloe's safe obedience had only secured her a comfortable cage.