Dominic
1597 Words
Dominic Kane did not believe in coincidences.
Which was why the woman on the phone outside his office interested him.
He stood in the quiet glass corridor, listening without appearing to listen.
“…I’ve been here two hours,” Isabella Cole said into her phone.
Her voice carried clearly.
Dominic leaned one shoulder against the wall.
“…two hours is plenty of time for you to anger a billionaire,” a male voice replied through the speaker.
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
Isabella sighed.
“For your information, the billionaire stopped a cyberattack personally.”
A pause followed.
“…wait, Dominic Kane personally?”
“Yes.”
Dominic allowed the faintest smile.
Then the voice continued.
“You’re currently standing next to a man suspected of running three criminal syndicates.”
Dominic almost laughed.
Isabella lowered her voice.
“I’m aware.”
“Which means statistically speaking,” the man added, “your life expectancy may have dropped slightly.”
Dominic stepped forward.
Her shoulders stiffened instantly.
She turned.
Their eyes met.
“…he’s observant,” she finished quietly into the phone.
Dominic stopped a few feet away.
Watching.
The voice asked, “Define observant.”
Isabella held Dominic’s gaze.
“Like the kind of person who might be able to hear this conversation.”
Silence.
“…oh.”
Dominic tilted his head slightly.
She ended the call.
For a moment neither of them spoke.
Then Dominic said calmly,
“Interesting conversation.”
“My friend worries too much.”
“That depends,” Dominic replied. “Does he worry about things that are true?”
She smiled faintly.
“You’d have to ask him.”
Dominic studied her.
Up close this time.
Most people reacted to him with visible nerves.
She did not.
“Follow me,” he said.
She hesitated.
“Why?”
Dominic opened the door to his office.
“If someone in my company believes I run criminal organizations,” he said calmly, “I feel obligated to understand why.”
She walked in.
Dominic closed the door behind them.
“Why were you watching my cybersecurity team?” he asked.
“Chaos reveals things.”
“And what did you learn?”
“That you don’t panic.”
“Correct.”
“You take control.”
“Also correct.”
She paused.
“And you enjoy it.”
Dominic chuckled.
Before he could respond, his assistant entered.
“Sir, the executive team is waiting for the emergency meeting.”
Right.
The cyberattack.
Dominic stood.
“Good.”
He glanced at Isabella.
“You’re coming.”
She blinked.
“Why?”
“You’re legal counsel,” Dominic said calmly. “And this morning someone tried to rob my company.”
He opened the door.
“Let’s see who looks nervous.”
The executive conference room fell silent the moment Dominic entered.
It always did.
The room held ten people.
Executives.
Department heads.
Men and women who ran billion-dollar divisions.
Yet every single one of them straightened like students when Dominic Kane walked in.
He took his seat at the head of the table.
Isabella sat near the end.
Dominic noticed it immediately.
She did not try to sit close to power.
Interesting.
The Chief Technology Officer cleared his throat.
“Sir, we’ve analyzed the breach—”
“Good,” Dominic said.
“Explain how someone nearly stole millions from my network.”
The CTO swallowed.
“We believe it was an external attack—”
Dominic slid a tablet across the table.
The screen displayed the breach logs.
The man stopped talking.
“External?” Dominic asked quietly.
The room grew tense.
“No… sir.”
“Correct.”
Dominic’s voice remained calm.
“Because the attack originated from inside KaneTech.”
The table erupted.
“That’s impossible—”
“Our systems are secure—”
“No employee would risk—”
Dominic raised one hand.
Silence.
The CFO wiped sweat from his forehead.
“Sir… if this came from inside the company, we will find the responsible party.”
“Yes,” Dominic said calmly.
“You will.”
He leaned back.
“Because if you don’t…”
His eyes swept across the room.
“…I will.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Isabella watched quietly.
Dominic noticed.
Everyone else looked terrified.
She looked… thoughtful.
The Head of Security spoke nervously.
“We’ve begun reviewing employee access logs.”
“Good.”
“However, sir,” the man added carefully, “the breach used a server bridge installed during last month’s expansion.”
Dominic frowned slightly.
“Who authorized that bridge?”
No one answered.
He glanced around the table.
Then Isabella spoke.
“It was approved by operations.”
Ten heads turned.
Dominic’s gaze shifted to her.
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
She leaned forward slightly.
“Because I reviewed the expansion documents before joining the company.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
“You reviewed internal infrastructure approvals before your first day?”
“I like to understand my employer.”
A faint ripple of discomfort spread across the room.
Dominic studied her.
Then he looked toward the operations director.
A man named Richard Hale.
“Is that correct?”
Richard shifted in his chair.
“Yes… sir. The bridge was necessary for efficiency.”
Isabella tilted her head.
“Efficiency usually doesn’t bypass two layers of encryption.”
Richard frowned.
“That’s not what happened.”
“Actually,” Isabella said calmly, “that’s exactly what happened.”
The room went quiet.
Dominic watched her carefully.
Most employees avoided contradicting executives.
She had just challenged one openly.
Richard laughed nervously.
“With respect, Ms. Cole, you’re new here.”
“Yes.”
“So perhaps you misunderstood the documentation.”
Isabella smiled politely.
“Perhaps.”
She reached forward and turned Dominic’s tablet slightly.
A highlighted line of code appeared.
“Or perhaps the authorization key was altered.”
Richard’s smile vanished.
Dominic leaned forward slowly.
“Explain.”
Isabella pointed at the screen.
“This access bridge required two signatures.”
“Yes,” Richard said quickly.
“And one of them was modified.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Modified how?”
“Someone changed the security key three days ago.”
Silence filled the room.
Dominic looked around the table.
The executives stared at the screen.
Then at each other.
Finally his gaze returned to Isabella.
“How did you notice that?”
She shrugged slightly.
“You mentioned coincidences earlier.”
Dominic remembered.
“I don’t believe in them.”
“Neither do I.”
He studied the screen again.
She was right.
The authorization timestamp had been altered.
Subtle.
Almost invisible.
Even his security team had missed it.
Dominic slowly looked toward Richard.
The operations director had gone pale.
Richard cleared his throat.
“That… could be a system error.”
Dominic stood.
No one else moved.
He walked slowly around the table.
Stopped behind Richard’s chair.
Placed one hand on the backrest.
“System errors don’t rewrite authorization keys.”
Richard’s voice shook.
“Sir, I assure you—”
Dominic leaned slightly closer.
“Did you authorize that change?”
“No.”
Dominic turned toward the Head of Security.
“Check the access logs.”
The man typed quickly.
Seconds passed.
Then his eyes widened.
“Sir…”
“Yes?”
“The key change came from Richard’s workstation.”
The room exploded with whispers.
Richard jumped to his feet.
“That’s impossible!”
Dominic’s expression remained calm.
“Sit down.”
Richard froze.
Then slowly sat.
Dominic returned to the head of the table.
His gaze shifted to Isabella.
“You noticed something my entire security team missed.”
She shrugged again.
“Fresh eyes.”
Dominic leaned back.
Studying her.
Then he said quietly,
“Everyone fears making mistakes around me.”
The room went silent again.
Dominic’s eyes remained on Isabella.
“But you didn’t hesitate.”
She met his gaze.
“You prefer honesty to comfort.”
A faint smile touched Dominic’s mouth.
“That’s correct.”
He turned toward security.
“Escort Mr. Hale to a holding office.”
Richard stood abruptly.
“You can’t seriously believe—”
Dominic didn’t raise his voice.
But the room went still.
“Remove him.”
Security guards entered.
Richard was escorted out.
The door closed.
Silence lingered.
Dominic tapped the table once.
“Meeting adjourned.”
Executives left quickly.
Within seconds the room was nearly empty.
Only Dominic and Isabella remained.
Dominic stood slowly.
“You challenged one of my executives on your first day.”
“Yes.”
“You exposed a potential traitor.”
“Yes.”
He walked toward her.
Most people stepped back when he approached.
She didn’t.
“You’re either extremely brave,” Dominic said quietly.
“Or extremely reckless.”
She held his gaze.
“Curious.”
Dominic studied her for a long moment.
Then his phone buzzed.
He glanced at the screen.
A message from Ethan.
Background check started.
Dominic slipped the phone away.
His eyes returned to Isabella.
“You see patterns quickly.”
“I notice details.”
Dominic nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“You do.”
But inside his mind a different thought formed.
If she noticed details that easily…
What else might she discover?
Or worse
What had she already discovered?
Dominic watched her leave the room.
And for the first time that day…
Dominic Kane realized something unsettling.
Isabella Cole might not be the only one investigating.
- Writer
