Lines We Shouldn't Cross
1180 Words
---
Episode 7: Lines We Shouldn’t Cross
Word Count:
Aurora stood outside Damian Wolfe’s office, her fingers curled around the edge of her desk. The weight of his words echoed in her chest:
> “You’re in this now. Whether you want to be or not.”
She was no longer just an assistant. She was a target. And someone in this building wanted her gone.
She glanced once more at the vase of white tulips. Pure. Beautiful. Poisonous, maybe.
“Okay,” she muttered under her breath. “No fear.”
---
11:13 a.m. – Emergency Meeting
The boardroom was heavy with tension. Aurora stood behind Damian’s chair, tablet in hand, while the executives around the table whispered accusations like weapons. At the head of the table sat Mr. Malcolm Gray, head of Global Compliance, his thick glasses gleaming under the lights.
“We’ve identified a breach,” Malcolm said. “A draft proposal from our London expansion project was sent to a business journalist last night. The journalist is one of Clara Monroe’s old contacts.”
Damian’s jaw clenched. “So it’s Clara.”
“Not so fast,” said Malcolm. “The document came from a terminal on this floor. Logged in under Aurora Bennett’s ID.”
The air shifted instantly.
Aurora’s blood froze.
Damian stood slowly. “She didn’t do it.”
“Mr. Wolfe, with all due respect—”
“I said,” Damian repeated, voice calm and dangerous, “she didn’t do it. If anyone here is going to accuse my assistant of betrayal, they’d better bring something better than a username.”
Aurora’s heart thudded in her chest.
The board fell silent.
Finally, Malcolm sighed. “We’ll continue investigating. But we recommend suspension of her access until—”
“No.”
“Damian—”
“I said no,” he snapped. “You want to punish someone? Start with the person who stands to benefit. And that’s not her.”
---
2:15 p.m. – Stairwell
Aurora leaned against the cold wall of the stairwell, breath shaking. She hated crying. Especially at work. But her hands trembled with a mix of fear, humiliation, and something deeper.
She was so close to losing everything.
The door creaked.
She wiped her face quickly.
Damian walked in, quietly shutting the door behind him.
“They’re watching the elevator,” he said. “I figured you’d come here.”
Aurora didn’t look at him. “You should have let them suspend me. I’m not worth the risk.”
He walked over, leaned on the railing beside her.
“You were willing to risk everything for me yesterday,” he said. “Now it’s my turn.”
Aurora looked at him then, eyes red. “Why?”
“Because I’ve known betrayal,” he said. “And I’ve known loyalty. You don’t wear guilt well, Aurora. You wear defiance. That tells me enough.”
She smiled faintly. “You read people like stock trends.”
“People are stock trends. Predictable patterns, sudden crashes.”
She nudged him. “Is that your idea of comfort?”
He looked at her, a half-smile curving one corner of his lips. “It’s my idea of honesty.”
They stood in silence for a moment.
Then he said something that stopped her heart.
“I think I’m glad it was you who spilled coffee on me that day.”
She laughed through the lump in her throat. “Seriously?”
“If it had been anyone else,” he said, “I might’ve fired them.”
He stepped closer, and the stairwell seemed to shrink.
She could smell his cologne—clean, sharp, grounding.
And then, so softly it barely reached her ears, he added, “But you… you remind me I still feel.”
Aurora’s breath caught.
Their eyes met.
The moment stretched.
And then…
The door burst open.
Clarissa’s head poked through. “Oh wow. Should I come back later?”
Aurora jumped. Damian straightened, his mask snapping back into place.
Clarissa held up a folder. “Security finished the trace.”
---
3:00 p.m. – CEO Office
The three of them stood around Damian’s desk. Clarissa laid out the file and flipped it open.
“It wasn’t Aurora,” she said. “It was someone who logged into her profile using a cloned access card.”
Aurora frowned. “How is that possible?”
“Someone duplicated your ID badge signal. Likely with a skimmer. They planted it on your desk last week. I checked the logs.”
Clarissa slid over a still frame from the security footage. A person in a black hoodie, head down, planting something under Aurora’s desk.
Damian leaned forward. “Who is it?”
Clarissa pulled out another photo. “We ran facial recognition on the moment the hoodie slipped. It’s…”
She slid the print toward them.
Aurora gasped.
It was Chelsea. Her old friend from the HR department.
The girl who’d helped her with her ID badge. The one who knew her schedule.
“She—she helped me get settled,” Aurora whispered.
Damian’s face was stone. “Not anymore.”
---
5:45 p.m. – Parking Garage
Aurora walked toward her car, mind spinning. Chelsea. Of all people. She hadn’t seen her in days. Was she working with Clara?
Her phone buzzed.
> Blocked Number “You think you’re safe now, little assistant? You haven’t even seen what Clara’s capable of.”
Her grip tightened.
She was done being a pawn.
---
6:20 p.m. – Tasha’s Apartment
That night, Aurora sat with Tasha again, her fingers wrapped around a steaming mug of tea.
“She cloned your ID?” Tasha whispered. “I mean, that’s some spy-movie level evil.”
“I don’t get it. Chelsea wasn’t rich. She wasn’t even close to Clara.”
“Maybe not directly,” Tasha said. “But maybe Clara paid her. Bought her loyalty.”
Aurora bit her lip. “It’s not just work anymore. I’m getting dragged into his world. And it’s scary.”
Tasha leaned forward. “Let me ask you something. If you had the chance to walk away tomorrow—no threats, no job, no Wolfe—would you take it?”
Aurora paused.
Her silence was the answer.
Tasha sighed. “You’re falling, girl.”
Aurora whispered, “I already fell.”
---
Final Scene – Damian’s Apartment
Elsewhere in the city, Damian stood in front of his balcony window, staring out over the glowing skyline. A glass of whiskey in hand. His shirt half unbuttoned. His expression dark.
Behind him, his phone lit up.
A photo of Aurora, from the stairwell, filled the screen.
A message from Clara followed:
> “She’s not as innocent as you think.
Meet me. Tonight. No more secrets.”
Damian stared at the screen.
Then he set the glass down.
And walked into the storm.
---
To Be Continued...
📌 In Episode 8: Damian confronts Clara. Aurora gets caught in a media trap. And a stolen kiss changes everything.
- Writer
