A Secretary For Mr CEO

The Backdoor

Emma’sPOV

The scent of garlic bread and grilled meat wafted through the air as I followed Sasha down a quiet street, just around the corner from the company’s building.

It was a welcome change from the suffocating tension back at the office. She had insisted we grab lunch together, saying I looked like I needed a break before I combusted.

She wasn’t wrong.

The place was small, tucked between two faded buildings with vines crawling up the sides. The painted sign read "Benny's Eatery," but Sasha said everyone called it Mini Paradise.

Inside was even cozier than I imagined, no corporate gloss, just warm lights, soft jazz, and the hum of people chatting. The smell alone felt like a hug.

“I come here when I need to breathe,” Sasha said as we sat in a booth by the window. “Or when I’m plotting someone’s downfall.”

I laughed, genuinely this time. “That sounds oddly comforting.”

She grinned, waving a waitress over. “Two lemon chicken wraps with the spicy aioli and a bottle of sparkling water, please.”

I leaned back in the booth, letting my shoulders drop. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“Sure I did,” she said, fixing her eyes on me. “You looked like you were either going to cry, scream, or murder someone this morning. Possibly all three.”

I gave her a side glance, lips twitching. “You forgot 'quit my job dramatically.' That was on the list too.”

“Emma…” Sasha leaned forward, elbows on the table. “I don’t know what’s going on between you and Mr Steele, honestly. I don’t need to know. But I’ve seen enough to know you’re not some wide-eyed intern trying to sleep her way up.”

My face tensed slightly. I hated that I had to be in this position at all. That I had to endure stares, whispers, and the constant mental tug-of-war between my mission and my emotions.

I said nothing for a few seconds. Then, “What if I told you I'm not even interested in him in the slightest way. Like I almost hate him?”

Almost hate him? No, I only said that to wave any suspicion from Sasha. She didn’t seem like she would thwart my plans if I opened up to her but I had the habit of studying people well before disclosing anything I had in mind. Not when it's something my whole life depends on. Call it trust issues.

Sasha blinked. “Then I’d say… You hide it extremely well. But I’d also ask: what did he do?”

I sighed and looked away, my eyes landing on a couple sharing fries a few tables away. “It’s a long story, one I’m not ready to tell yet.”

“I get it,” she said softly. “We all have stories. Mine’s got betrayal, bankruptcy, and a fiancé who ran off with my mother’s best friend. You’d think I made it up if I told you.”

That made me raise a brow. “Now I want to hear your story.”

She shrugged. “One day, maybe when we’ve had more than two lunch dates.”

Our food arrived, and the conversation shifted to light banter... movies, office politics, ridiculous client emails. She was easy to talk to. And for the first time in a while, I didn’t feel like I was drowning.

I didn't feel alone; it was like Sasha was the friend I'd wished to have since high school. Not the ones that made fun of me and did a whole lot of horrible things to me back then.

But in my mind, I knew I wasn't here to make friends. I had to deal with more important matters.

And deeper still… the reason I was here in the first place.

Later That Night – Emma’s Room

The reports from the software division lay sprawled across my bed like puzzle pieces that didn’t quite fit, each stamped with the Steele Corporation logo and marked “Confidential.”

I had been at it for hours, eyes dry, head pounding, but I couldn’t stop.

That was the thing. Whoever orchestrated this had done so with meticulous care. Shell companies. Off-the-record deals. Anonymous board votes. Strategic media leaks. Every document Dominic gave me was clean. On paper, there was nothing criminal, unethical, or even suspicious.

There were overlaps but it all lead to a dead end.

I pressed my fingers to my temple. “Damn it…”

One document caught my attention.

Meridian Logistics.

The acquisition summary dates back five years.

Meridian had been one of my dad’s major suppliers until they suddenly broke the contract and sued him for breach. The acquisition date on this document was just two weeks after that lawsuit.

And Steele Corp had bought them?

My hands trembled slightly as I stared at the signature at the bottom. But the authorising officer was unlisted, and there was no name either.

“Of course you’re smart enough to cover your tracks…” I whispered.

I closed the file, but not before taking pictures with my phone, just in case.

One thing was becoming clear: this person is closer than I thought.

And Steele Enterprises might not be his only target.

Something told me I wasn't safe.

But I was already inside the lion’s den.

Right where I needed to be.

I checked the main reports from the software division again.

Then I saw it...

The filenames were vague, innocent even, but the code told a different story.

Three modules, written months apart by three different developers, referenced a function that wasn’t in any official documentation.

And it did one thing:

Open a silent, untraceable access port into every system that ran it.

A backdoor.

Someone had deliberately written a code that allowed remote access, bypassing passwords, firewalls, and user permissions, without ever appearing in the system logs.

It was elegant, subtle, nearly invisible. If I hadn’t compared the debug logs to the actual release build, I wouldn’t have seen it either.

Gotcha!

I sat back, pulse racing.

This wasn’t just sloppy coding. This was corporate-level espionage or worse. Whoever wrote this backdoor knew exactly what they were doing. And they didn’t want anyone to find it.

Yet it was in every product update we’d shipped in the last four months.

Every single client was now a sitting duck. And Steele Enterprises was either criminally negligent... or complicit.

Someone was erasing their footprints as they walked.