Episode 6: The Architect of Revenge
With Ayan gone on mandatory leave, the office felt like a kingdom without a king. The silence in his glass-walled office was a haunting reminder of the sacrifice he'd made. But for Meera, it was an opportunity.
As the Senior VP's chair sat empty, Meera moved in like a predator. By 9:00 AM on Monday, she had already convinced the Board to appoint her as the "Interim Project Coordinator" for the Dubai Hotel account.
"Soniya, dear," Meera said, leaning over Soniya's cubicle with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Since Ayan isn't here to... supervise you, I'll be taking over all communications with the Dubai clients. You will hand over your master design files to me by noon."
Soniya felt a chill. The master files contained the unique structural calculations—the "softness and balance" Ayan had admired. "Those files are encrypted, Meera. Ayan and I are the only ones with the keys."
Meera's smile sharpened. "Then I suggest you find a way to decrypt them. Otherwise, I'll have to report to the Board that you're obstructing the company's most important project out of spite. That would look very bad for your 'innocent' reputation, wouldn't it?"
The Sabotage
Soniya spent the next four hours in a state of high-alert. She knew Meera didn't want the files to finish the project; she wanted them so she could "find" an error, blame Soniya, and have her fired before Ayan could return.
Soniya opened the letter Ayan had left on the flash drive. "Work so hard they can't fire you."
She realized she had to play a double game. She spent the afternoon creating a "decoy" file—a version of the design that looked perfect but lacked the crucial light-reflection formulas she had calculated in the rain with Ayan. She handed the drive to Meera at 11:59 AM.
"Here are the files," Soniya said calmly.
Meera snatched them. "Good girl. Now, go fetch some coffee for the Marketing team. We have a long night ahead."
Soniya didn't flinch. She went to the breakroom, but instead of making coffee, she pulled out her personal phone. She had a message from an unknown number.
"Check the internal server logs for 2:00 AM last night. — A."
The Midnight Ghost
Ayan might have been barred from the building, but he was a master of the system he helped build. He had found a back-door entry into the server.
Soniya waited until the office was nearly empty. She bypassed the security firewalls using the instructions Ayan had sent. Her eyes widened as she looked at the logs.
Someone had been accessing the "Employee Confidential" folders at 2:00 AM from a terminal inside the building. The terminal belonged to Meera. But she wasn't looking at Soniya's files—she was looking at the Board of Directors' private financial records.
Meera wasn't just trying to get rid of Soniya; she was planning a coup. She was gathering dirt on the shareholders to force them to appoint her as the permanent VP.
Suddenly, the lights in the server room flickered. Soniya froze. A shadow appeared at the glass door.
"Looking for something, Soniya?"
It was Meera. She wasn't wearing her professional smile anymore. She looked frantic, her eyes darting to Soniya's screen.
"I know what you're doing, Meera," Soniya said, her voice echoing in the cold, humming room. "You're not just sabotaging me. You're blackmailing the company."
Meera laughed, a harsh, jagged sound. "And who will believe you? The girl who was caught in a car with her boss? I have the photos. I have the HR report. You're a nobody. I'm a shareholder's daughter."
Meera stepped closer, her voice dropping to a hiss. "If you breathe a word of this, I won't just fire you. I'll make sure Ayan Malhotra never works in this industry again. I'll tell the Board he was the one who gave me the access codes. One word from me, and his career is ashes."
The Weight of the Secret
Soniya backed away, her heart hammering against her ribs. She had the evidence of Meera's corruption, but Meera had the power to destroy Ayan.
That night, Soniya sat in her dark apartment, the blue light of her laptop illuminating her tired face. She wanted to call Ayan. She wanted to hear his voice, to tell him she was scared. But she remembered his warning: "Don't look for me."
He was protecting her from the outside. She had to protect him from the inside.
She looked at the "decoy" files she had given Meera. She realized that if Meera presented those to the Dubai clients the next day, they would realize the math was off. The project would fail, and Meera would blame Soniya.
But Soniya had a different plan. She began to type, her fingers flying across the keys. She wasn't just designing a building anymore; she was designing a trap.
The Morning of the Presentation
The Dubai clients arrived the next morning, looking stern in their tailored suits. The Board of Directors sat in the front row. Meera stood at the podium, glowing with unearned confidence.
"And here," Meera announced, "is the final structural layout, perfected by my team after... correcting several errors in the previous drafts."
She clicked the remote. The screen filled with Soniya's decoy design.
Soniya sat in the back, her hands folded. She watched as the Lead Client, a sharp-eyed man named Mr. Al-Fayed, leaned forward. He looked at the screen, then looked at the math. His brow furrowed.
"This isn't the work we saw last week," Mr. Al-Fayed said, his voice cold. "The light reflection variables are missing. This building will be a furnace in the Dubai sun. Who is responsible for this?"
Meera didn't hesitate. She pointed a finger at Soniya. "I'm afraid Soniya, our junior designer, insisted on these changes. I tried to correct her, but—"
"Actually," a deep, familiar voice boomed from the back of the room.
The double doors swung open. Ayan Malhotra walked in. He wasn't in a suit; he was in a simple black sweater, looking rugged and dangerous. He held a tablet in his hand.
"Soniya didn't make those changes," Ayan said, walking down the aisle. "Because the real files never left my private server. What you're looking at, Mr. Al-Fayed, is a test of loyalty. And it seems the 'Interim Coordinator' has failed."
Meera turned pale. "Ayan? You're on leave! You can't be here!"
"I'm not here as an employee," Ayan said, standing next to Soniya. He reached down and gripped her hand tightly under the table. "I'm here as a consultant for Mr. Al-Fayed. And we have some very interesting server logs to show the Board."
The battle was joined. But as Ayan looked at Soniya, he whispered, "I told you to wait for the deadline."