THE BILLIONAIRE'S UNEXPECTED BRIDE

CHAPTER 6- THE BETRAYAL

Adrian was woken up suddenly in the morning by three sharp raps on his door. When he opened the door, his friend Marcus stood before him. The man looked tense.

“There has been a leak,” said Marcus,

Adrian sat up.

“What kind of leak?”

“I think it is best that you see this for yourself.”

Marcus entered the room holding a manila folder. “Last night, one of our main competitors received a confidential acquisition proposal from us.”

“Who are we leaking the information to?” asked Adrian, getting out of bed

“That is what we are trying to find out. Our security team suspects that someone here in the building is responsible.”

Adrian couldn’t wait any longer. This feeling in his gut told him something wasn’t right, and he was determined to find what it was.

Adrian hurried into the office twenty minutes later. Within the hour, the betrayal had grown to new levels. A security breach had allowed a number of highly confidential files and folders to be downloaded from their private database onto an external hard drive. Marcus dropped a file on his desk and leaned against the corner of the desk. “This will explain everything.”

Adrian stared at the document. What he read made his blood run cold,

“This is Amelia’s security card. It means she hacked into our database last night.”

“No! That’s not possible.”

The two men stood in stunned silence.

“It is true. She used her security card to get into the restricted sector.”

The words hit Adrian like a ton of bricks. He knew that Amelia wouldn’t do something like this, but if it wasn’t her, then that meant someone had access to her security card. That would imply that someone in his company was stealing company files and selling them to his competitors.

Amelia came in shortly after noon. Dressed in a long dark blue coat, she barely had time to remove the garment before Adrian rounded on her. “You accessed our database last night.”

“What?” she said, stunned

“You used your security card to get into the restricted sector.”

“I wasn’t even here last night.”

“Prove it.”

“What are you accusing me of?”

“That you are a traitor to this company,”

“I am no traitor,”

“Then stop acting like one,”

“Maybe if you gave me the slightest bit of credit, I wouldn’t have to act like one of the mob you’re so used to dealing with,”

“I want the truth, Amelia.”

She turned and stalked out of the room, leaving Adrian all alone with a heavy heart.

After she was gone, Marcus wandered into the room. “You really hurt her,” said the young man,

Adrian turned his gaze to the door that Amelia had just exited through.

“I know.”

“You don’t believe she stole the files.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Good.”

“Why is that?” asked Adrian

“I don’t believe it because you need to stop looking at the evidence and start finding the evidence.”

Hours later, Marcus came back into the room, a file tucked under his arm. “We found him.”

“Who is responsible for leaking our company files to our competitors?” asked Adrian

Marcus dropped the file on the desk. The name on the folder made Adrian’s stomach lurch.

“Thomas Grant,”

Thomas Grant was his CFO, one of his oldest friends in the business and one of the men that Adrian had placed the most trust in since he’d left college. He paled. “Summon him at once.”

That night Adrian spotted Amelia walking around the garden. He approached her carefully.

“I am sorry about this afternoon.”

“She doesn’t trust you.”

“I do trust her.”

“You didn’t sound like it this afternoon.”

“I was protecting the company,”

“And who protects me?”

For once in his life, Adrian had no answer to that question.

After a long pause, he replied in a near whisper,

“I will protect you.”

The words sent a shiver running down her spine, and neither of them noticed the figure who was watching them through the bay window of the mansion.

Victoria drew the curtain back, and a triumphant smile formed on her lips.

“Poor Thomas, she was supposed to betray you tonight, but now I will have to do it myself.”

Hidden behind the mansion, Victoria smiled as she pocketed the second security card with Amelia’s name on it.