LEAKED
702 Words
The silence after the message was sent was deafening. Rhea stared at the screen, her fingers still hovering as if they hadn't really done what they just did.
Had she really just leaked that file?
Or had she backed out at the last second?
No one knew. Not yet.
And for the first time in a long time, that uncertainty didn't comfort her.
She stood up from the kitchen stool slowly, like her body had aged five years in five seconds. The soft buzz of the fridge was the only sound filling her apartment. She hadn’t even realized the sun had completely set. Darkness wrapped around her like a quiet accomplice, reminding her that she’d crossed into dangerous territory. There was no going back. Whether or not she leaked it—intention alone was a crack.
She walked to the window and looked out at the city. Lights flickered like tiny, artificial stars. Somewhere down below, people were laughing, drinking, falling in love—living lives untouched by vengeance or trauma.
Her reflection in the glass caught her attention.
Same soft brown eyes. Same face she'd carefully molded into Aurora Morgan. But tonight, something inside her had shifted. The lines between justice and obsession, duty and choice, had started to blur.
She touched her wrist lightly, remembering her mother’s bracelet. She’d taken it off before sending the file. Superstition or guilt—she wasn’t sure which—but she hadn’t wanted her mother to “see.”
Then her phone buzzed.
One new email.
Subject: Urgent Response Needed.
Her heart dropped.
She opened it.
Not Damian. Not yet.
It was from the anonymous inbox she’d used to leak the data—whoever was behind it had read her message.
"Received. This changes everything. Are you ready to go deeper?"
She didn’t know whether to laugh or panic. Her palms felt clammy. She hadn’t even confirmed what she sent. She just... acted. Emotion had hijacked her logic.
The leak. It wasn’t everything. Just enough to stir the water.
The real information, the truly damning evidence, she’d held back.
But now they wanted more.
A deeper involvement.
She turned off the screen and held the phone to her chest, letting out a shaky breath.
Was this what she wanted?
She pictured Damian again—his arrogance, his sharp gaze, the way he made her feel small and invincible in the same breath. The man who destroyed everything she loved, and yet… whose voice somehow still lingered in her thoughts even when she was alone.
How dare he have that power?
No. She had to be smarter. This wasn’t the time to lose focus.
The next day, Cole Enterprises buzzed with tension.
There had been a small stir among the executives. Someone had tampered with the sales projection files—an anomaly Damian was already looking into.
She sat at her desk, composed, her hair pulled back, glasses on. Playing the role.
Damian passed by her floor once. Just once.
Their eyes met. Briefly.
But in that half-second, she knew.
He was suspicious.
She offered a polite, almost indifferent nod, then returned to her screen. Her fingers trembled slightly beneath the desk.
He didn’t speak. Just kept walking. But she could feel it. His pace slower. His presence heavier.
He knew something was off.
At lunch, she skipped the cafeteria and retreated to the rooftop garden instead. The cold air helped clear her head.
She wasn't stupid. Damian didn’t rise to power by missing the signs. And if he even suspected her…
No. She had to be ahead. Be smarter. Be quieter.
Her phone buzzed again.
Another message.
"You’ve already shaken the board. Now checkmate him."
Rhea stared at the words. Cold. Ruthless. Tempting.
And then her mind wandered—to something she hadn’t planned.
His hand brushing hers during a meeting.
The way he paused when she spoke like he was hearing more than her words.
The warmth in his voice when he didn’t mean to show it.
It was getting harder. The line between enemy and… whatever this was.
She pressed her lips together and slipped the phone into her coat pocket.
Not yet.
Not until she was ready.
And she would be.
- Writer
