Chapter 5: The First Crack
1119 Words
Mendoza Tower felt different that morning.
Not because anything had changed physically.
But because something inside it had shifted.
Adrian Mendoza stood by the glass wall of his office, staring at the city below. But for once, the view didn’t fully hold his attention.
His mind kept returning to a name.
Olivia Hart.
And something worse than curiosity was beginning to form.
Awareness.
Sophie stood behind him quietly, tablet in hand, waiting for instructions she already knew would not be simple today.
“Everything from that year?” she asked carefully.
“Yes,” Adrian replied.
A pause.
“Start with financial movement records. Then personnel transfers. Then board approvals.”
Sophie nodded.
“I’ve already pulled preliminary data.”
“Speak.”
She hesitated slightly.
“There are inconsistencies in the welfare allocation timeline. Several approvals were signed and then reversed within days. That level of reversal is unusual.”
Adrian didn’t turn.
“Unusual how.”
“It suggests internal conflict at board level.”
A silence followed.
Then Adrian said quietly:
“Or concealment.”
Sophie didn’t respond immediately.
Because she knew he was right.
Across the city, Olivia Hart was already on her way.
But unlike yesterday, she did not feel calm.
The message from Mendoza Technologies had not left her mind.
This is not optional.
Those words replayed again and again.
Not because she was afraid.
But because she didn’t like control that didn’t offer explanation.
David walked beside her toward the bus stop.
“You’re going again,” he said.
“It’s a follow-up meeting,” Olivia replied.
“It sounds more like a command.”
She looked at him.
“It’s still just a meeting.”
David stopped walking.
Olivia noticed.
“What?”
He hesitated.
Then said quietly:
“I don’t like how they’re pulling you back there.”
“I’m not being pulled,” she replied. “I’m going because I need answers.”
“And what if they don’t give you answers?”
“Then I’ll keep asking.”
David studied her face for a moment.
Then he said, lower:
“Olivia… just be careful.”
She smiled faintly.
“You always say that.”
“Because you don’t listen.”
That lingered between them.
Then she left.
Inside Mendoza Tower, Sophie spoke again.
“Sir… I found something else.”
Adrian turned slightly.
“Speak.”
Her voice dropped.
“The audit records weren’t just sealed.”
A pause.
“They were reactivated.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Explain.”
Sophie checked the screen again.
“Someone accessed the sealed welfare archive from twelve years ago.”
Silence.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Who.”
Sophie hesitated.
“…Unknown user.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It gets worse,” she said carefully.
“The access signature matches old internal credentials.”
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“Whose.”
Sophie looked up.
“…Daniel Hart.”
The air in the room changed instantly.
Olivia Hart’s father.
Adrian didn’t move.
But something in his expression sharpened.
“Run it again.”
“I already did. It’s confirmed.”
A pause.
Then Sophie added softly:
“There’s something else.”
Adrian’s gaze stayed fixed.
“Speak.”
“The system didn’t just get accessed.”
A breath.
“It started rewriting files.”
Silence.
Olivia arrived at Mendoza Tower again.
This time, she didn’t hesitate at the entrance.
She didn’t look around.
She didn’t listen to whispers.
She just moved.
Straight to the seventy-third floor.
The elevator doors opened.
Same corridor.
Same silence.
But this time—
something felt wrong.
Not dangerous.
Not loud.
Just… active.
Like the building was awake.
The glass doors opened before she touched them.
Adrian was already standing.
Not behind his desk.
In front of it.
Waiting.
Olivia stopped.
Their eyes met.
And for the first time, neither of them spoke immediately.
Something between them had changed.
Not romance.
Not trust.
Something sharper.
Recognition without explanation.
Finally, Olivia spoke.
“You called me back again.”
“Yes.”
“I already gave my statement.”
“This is not about your statement.”
“Then what is it about?”
Adrian studied her for a moment.
Then said:
“Your father.”
Olivia went still.
“…What about him?”
Adrian stepped slightly closer.
“You didn’t come here just because of a complaint.”
Olivia frowned.
“That is exactly why I came.”
“No,” he said quietly. “That’s what you believe.”
Silence stretched.
Olivia felt it again.
That strange pressure.
Like something under the surface was trying to rise.
“What are you saying?” she asked.
Adrian didn’t answer immediately.
Then:
“Have you ever felt like you’ve met someone before… even when you haven’t?”
Olivia froze slightly.
That question hit somewhere she didn’t expect.
“…No,” she said.
But it wasn’t fully certain.
Adrian noticed.
Then quietly:
“That’s what I thought.”
Silence again.
Something shifted in the air.
Olivia felt it too.
But she didn’t understand it.
Before she could speak again—
Sophie’s voice came urgently through the intercom.
“Sir.”
Adrian didn’t turn.
“What is it.”
“The archive system has been accessed again.”
A pause.
“And it is not you.”
Silence dropped instantly.
Olivia frowned.
“What is going on?”
But Adrian wasn’t looking at the system anymore.
He was looking at her.
Then softly:
“Stay here.”
Olivia stiffened.
“I don’t take orders.”
“Olivia.”
The way he said her name—
was different.
Lower.
Heavier.
Controlled.
Then—
The lights flickered.
Once.
Then again.
The emergency system activated.
A deep automated voice filled the floor:
“SECURITY BREACH DETECTED.”
Olivia turned sharply.
“What is happening?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
Because his screen had already changed.
ARCHIVE ACCESS GRANTED — UNKNOWN USER
Sophie’s voice came again, shaking now:
“Sir… the system isn’t just being accessed.”
A pause.
“It’s being rewritten.”
Silence.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Olivia stepped closer without realizing it.
“What is being rewritten?” she asked.
Adrian finally looked at her fully.
And for the first time—
his voice dropped lower.
“Your past.”
The entire floor locked down instantly.
Metal doors sealed.
Alarms silent but present in the air.
Then Sophie’s final words came:
“…Sir.”
“The system just identified the active user.”
A pause.
A breath.
“…It matches Daniel Hart.”
Olivia’s breath stopped.
“That’s impossible,” she whispered.
Adrian didn’t respond.
Because on his screen—
a new file had just opened.
And it carried a title that made everything colder.
- Writer
