HIS COSTLY MISTAKE

Chapter two

The silence that followed was heavy. Neither of them was willing to back down. Izzy kept her eyes on his, her hand tightening around her briefcase. She had made her point. She had stood her ground against one of the most feared CEOs in Manhattan’s tech industry.

She turned and headed for the door, her green blazer swaying as she left him alone with his pride until tomorrow morning

But before her hand could turn the handle, the heavy doors flew open with a loud bang.

Marcus, RavenTech’s chief legal counsel, rushed into the room. The calm, confident lawyer Izzy had seen in news reports was gone. His tie was loose, his face was pale, and sweat ran down the side of his face. He clutched a glowing tablet to his chest like a shield and didn’t even look at Izzy.

“Alexander, we have a major problem,” Marcus said, struggling to keep his voice steady. “The user data leak from forty-eight hours ago wasn’t the real attack. It was a distraction.”

Alexander didn’t yell. Instead, he went completely still, which was far more frightening. He stepped away from his desk, his shoes thudding against the floor

“Speak clearly, Marcus,” Alexander said, his voice cold and sharp. “What did they do?”

Marcus swallowed hard and glanced nervously at Izzy before looking back at his boss. He hesitated, gripping his tablet so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

“They just got past our second firewall. Ten minutes ago, they uploaded a large encrypted file to a public server. It contains a countdown timer, Alexander. In twelve hours, the file will unlock and release the private data from the executive board’s servers.”

Izzy stopped by the door, her breath catching. Years of working in corporate crises put her on alert immediately. If the executives’ private servers were exposed, RavenTech could be ruined.

Alexander’s face stayed calm, but his shoulders tightened. “Those servers only contain business data and encrypted code. Let them leak it. Our legal team will handle it before the media can make a story out of it.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Marcus said quietly, panic clear in his voice. “They didn’t target the company servers. They targeted your private off-network drive. The secure vault from five years ago. Alexander… they have all the files about what happened with your ex-fiancée. The financial records. The hidden files. The real reason the merger collapsed.”

Marcus stopped, unable to even force the rest of the sentence out of his throat.

The silence that followed was overwhelming. Izzy watched the last bit of color leave Alexander’s face. His grey eyes widened with a brief flash of vulnerability, revealing an old wound, before it disappeared behind pure anger. For the first time, he looked like a man on the edge of losing control.

Slowly, Alexander turned his head. His cold grey eyes didn’t look at his shaking lawyer. Instead, they locked onto Izzy, who was still standing frozen by the door.

As a PR strategist, Izzy no longer saw this as just a corporate crisis. She had just stumbled onto Alexander Ravenwood’s biggest secret. She knew about his ex-fiancée from old gossip stories, but no one knew the full truth. Now, simply by being in the room, she knew information that could destroy everything he had built. If she walked out and shared it, his empire could fall.

“Lock the doors, Marcus,” Alexander said quietly. The calmness in his voice sent a shiver down Izzy’s spine.

“What?” Marcus asked, surprised.

“I said, lock the doors,” Alexander said in a low voice, never taking his eyes off Izzy as he walked toward her. “Lock down the entire executive floor. Shut off the elevators. No one leaves this building tonight. Especially not her.”

Marcus quickly entered a command on his tablet. A heavy electronic click echoed through the room. The boardroom was now locked.

Izzy felt a rush of adrenaline, her heart pounding, but she refused to show any fear. She tightened her grip on her briefcase and stood her ground as Alexander stopped just inches away, his tall frame blocking the exit. The scent of his cedarwood cologne filled the air.

“What do you think you’re doing, Mr. Ravenwood?” Izzy asked, her voice sharp and defiant. “Holding me here won’t fix the issue, and it definitely won’t stop that countdown.”

“You wanted a challenge, Ms. Mendoza,” Alexander said softly, meeting her eyes. “You said tomorrow we’d do things your way. Tomorrow is twelve hours away. Your contract has already begun, and your job is to make sure my company is still standing when that timer reaches zero.”

Izzy raised her chin and held his gaze. “Keeping me here won’t solve anything. If I’m going to help save your company tonight, I need the whole truth. I want every file, every record, and every detail about what your ex-fiancée did. No lies. No secrets.”

Alexander went still, his expression turning cold. They stood so close that the air between them felt tense. He raised one hand and placed it against the glass wall beside her head, trapping her between his body and the wall.

He leaned in slightly, his eyes briefly dropping to her lips before meeting her gaze again.

“You want the truth, Izzy?” Alexander whispered, his low voice sending a shiver through her. “Be careful what you ask for. You might not like what you find.”

Before Izzy could respond, the lights flickered violently and suddenly went out, leaving the entire 36th floor in complete darkness.

The only light in the room was the blue glow from the large digital screen on the wall.

“What happened?” Izzy asked, reaching out in the darkness. Her fingers accidentally brushed against Alexander’s suit. He didn’t pull away. Instead, he caught her wrist with a firm but gentle grip and pulled her a little closer in the darkness.

“Marcus!” Alexander yelled. His voice cut through the darkness. “Why did the main power go out?”

Marcus didn’t reply. He stared at his tablet, his face lit by a frightening red glow.

“Alexander…” he whispered, his voice full of horror. “Look at the main monitor. They’re not waiting twelve hours.”

Izzy spun around, her heart racing as she looked at the glass wall.

Izzy realized what had happened. The hackers had set up a dead man’s switch—a backup system that would automatically release the stolen files if anyone tried to interfere with their plan.

00:00:10

00:00:09

“They’re releasing the files now!” Marcus shouted, tapping frantically on his tablet. “The encryption is failing! Everything will be online in five seconds!”

“Shut it down!” Alexander shouted, tightening his grip on Izzy’s wrist as he moved toward the desk. “Disconnect the main cables!”

“I can’t! We’re locked out!”

00:00:03

00:00:02

00:00:01

The timer reached zero, and a loud electronic chime echoed through the room. A moment later, a large text file appeared on the blue screen, completely unedited.

Izzy’s eyes moved across the first lines of the leaked files. She expected bank records or old emails. Instead, what she saw stole the air from her lungs. She froze in shock.

At the top of Alexander’s private drive was a folder. It wasn’t labeled with a business name or his ex-fiancée’s initials.

Across the top of the billionaire’s secret files, one name stood out in bold letters:

MATEO MENDOZA.

Izzy stood frozen. A cold feeling spread through her chest. This wasn’t a coincidence. Alexander had been keeping tabs on her family. He had a hidden file on her younger brother.

Izzy slowly pulled her hand from Alexander’s grip and took a step back, unable to take her eyes off him.

The blue glow from the screen lit Alexander’s face as he stared at her in horror.

“Alexander,” Izzy whispered, her voice shaking with fear and betrayal. “What did you do to my brother?”