DESIRE

The Setup

Chapter 3: The setup

They met again, this time intentionally, at a quiet lounge far from the office. Austin laid out his thoughts with calculated calm. If George and Katherine fall apart, he said, their collaboration fails. The project suffers. The blame won't touch us.

Celine hesitated. "I don't want the project to fail."

Austin smirked slightly. "It won't. Just them. A scandal, a misunderstanding, a breach of trust—something that forces management to separate them."

Celine's fingers tightened around her glass. "What are you suggesting?"

"A small manipulation in the procurement documents. Something that looks like Favoritism or a leak. Enough to make it seem like Katherine compromised the bid."

Celine's eyes widened. "That could ruin her career." Austin leaned closer. "Or you can watch George choose her completely." The silence stretched. Jealousy and heartbreak can be dangerous partners. And in that moment, Celine's pain outweighed her caution.

"…What do you need me to do?" she asked quietly. Austin's smile was slow and cold.

Meanwhile…

Unaware of the storm forming, George and Katherine were closer than ever—working seamlessly, finishing each other's thoughts in meetings, building something both professional and personal.

But trust, once tested, can either forge steel or shatter glass. And someone was already reaching for the hammer.

The sabotage began quietly—so quietly that it slipped beneath the hum of printers and spreadsheets.

Austin moved first. As executive supervisor, he had limited but strategic access to vendor communications. One late evening, under the guise of "verifying supplier compliance," he forwarded a confidential pricing file to a private email—then altered a few figures in the system. Subtle changes just enough to suggest that Katherine had approved a vendor with inflated costs. Nothing dramatic. Nothing obvious.

Meanwhile, Celine's role was more delicate. She worked closely with documentation and scheduling, which enabled her to influence the paper trail. At first, her conscience fought her. She told herself she was only creating doubt, not destruction.

But jealousy is persuasive.

She "misfiled" a key approval email and replaced it with an older draft that showed Katherine recommending a different supplier—one rumoured to be tied to corruption scandals. Then she anonymously tipped the compliance officer to review recent procurement decisions. The trap was set.

Two days later, the general manager called an urgent meeting.

George and Katherine walked inside side by side, unaware. The atmosphere was stiff. Compliance officers sat at the table. Printed documents lay spread out like evidence in a courtroom. The general manager's voice was stern.

"Can someone explain why procurement approvals show conflicting vendor endorsements and abnormal price variations?" Katherine frowned, instantly confused. "That's not possible. I verified those numbers myself."

A compliance officer slid a document forward. "These were submitted under your credentials."

Her face paled as she scanned the page. "This isn't my final file." George leaned in, reviewing quickly. His brows knit together. "This version is outdated. We replaced this supplier last week." But doubt had already entered the room. And doubt spreads fast. Whispers in the Office. By afternoon, murmurs floated across departments: Was Katherine playing favourites? Did George overlook it because of their closeness? Was their relationship affecting judgment?

Katherine felt the shift immediately. Polite smiles turned formal. Conversations stopped when she approached. The isolation stung. George, however, felt something else—anger. Not at her, at the situation.

"This doesn't add up," he told her quietly in the records room. "You're too meticulous for mistakes like this."

Katherine's voice trembled despite her effort to stay composed. "Someone is setting me up."

Their eyes met, and in that moment, their bond solidified. This wasn't just about romance now—it was about trust being tested. "I'm not letting you take this fall," George said. Pressure Builds, Compliance announced a deeper audit. If misconduct was proven, Katherine could be removed from the project—or worse.

That night, Katherine stayed late, rechecking logs, timestamps, and approvals. George refused to leave her alone. They worked side by side, tracing digital footprints. George noticed something...….

A timestamp that didn't align. A login was recorded under Katherine's credentials while she had been in a meeting with him and three others. His eyes sharpened. "You couldn't have made this change."

Katherine looked up slowly. "Which means someone else did." For the first time, fear mixed with determination, because sabotage meant intent. And intent meant someone close.

Across the Hall, Celine couldn't sleep. Every notification made her heart race. She hadn't expected the investigation to escalate so quickly. Austin, on the other hand, remained calm. Too calm. "They'll suspect her before they suspect manipulations," he reassured. "Just stay normal." But cracks were forming, guilt is louder in silence than in noise.

A Dangerous Clue

Near midnight, George accessed the system audit trails—something he rarely did himself.

One login location pinged from a workstation on a floor Katherine never used. A workstation assigned to? He froze. Not yet certain. Not yet ready to accuse. But the circle of suspects had just grown smaller. The sabotage was no longer hidden. It was alive, moving and dangerous. And the closer George got to the truth, the more desperate the saboteurs would become.

Morning arrived heavy with tension. Katherine barely slept. George looked the same—tired but focused. He had spent half the night tracing system logs, cross-checking access points, and quietly requesting security badge records from IT under the pretence of "workflow verification."

By 9:00 a.m., he had enough to stop guessing. But not enough to accuse. "Give me until noon," he told Katherine softly. "If someone did this, they made a mistake somewhere. They always do." She looked at his face. "And if we find out who?" George's jaw tightened. "Then we end it."

Instead of raising alarms, George did something unexpected. He called for a small internal review meeting, requesting the presence of the general manager, Compliance, Katherine, Celine, and Austin.

His excuse? "Clarifying procurement workflow gaps." Austin agreed easily. Too easily. Celine forced a smile when she heard, but her stomach twisted. The meeting room felt colder than usual. The blinds were half-closed, slicing the light into sharp lines across the table. George connected his laptop to the screen. Calm. Professional. Controlled.

"Before compliance proceeds further," he began, "I wanted to present a clearer timeline." The general manager nodded. "Go ahead." A login history appeared on the screen.

"Here are the times changes were made under Katherine's credentials," George said. "Now here's the security badge log for building movement." He clicked.

Two timelines appeared side by side. Murmurs filled the room. "At the time of these edits," George continued evenly, "Katherine was in a budget meeting with me and three department heads. That's documented." Compliance leaned forward. "So whoever accessed the system," George added, "used her credentials from a different terminal."…..Silence allover. Then he dropped the next file. "Terminal location records." A highlighted workstation ID blinked on screen.

Assigned Desk: Celine Harper. Celine's breath hitched. "That—that doesn't mean I did it. Anyone could use my desk."

George nodded calmly. "True. "Then he clicked again. Camera stills appeared—timestamped.

One showed Celine at her workstation during the login. Another showed Austin standing beside her. {Tensions rose….}

Austin straightened. "This is circumstantial." George met his eyes. "Then let's remove the circumstantial." {Final click….}

An email trace. A forwarded vendor pricing sheet sent from Austin's company account to a private address—before the numbers were altered in the system. Compliance's tone sharpened. Mr. Austin, why was confidential pricing forwarded externally? Austin opened his mouth, closed it. Celine looked at him—panic rising. This wasn't how he said it would go.

George spoke quietly now, but each word landed hard. You didn't just try to separate us. You risked a multimillion-dollar government bid and the company's credibility?

The Breaking Point

Celine cracked first. Tears welled. Her voice shook. "I didn't think it would go this far. I just—" She looked at George. "I just wanted you to see her differently." The confession hung in the air. Austin turned sharply. "Celine, stop talking."

But it was too late. "He said you'd only doubt Katherine," Celine continued, guilt spilling out. "You said no one would investigate deeply…" The general manager stood, face stone-cold. "That's enough." Security was called. Austin's composure finally slipped. "This is blown out of proportion—" "Tampering with procurement on a government bid is not out of proportion," compliance cut in. "It's grounds for termination and legal review."

By afternoon, Austin was escorted out pending investigation. Celine was suspended and had her access to project documents revoked. Compliance cleared Katherine of wrongdoing, but victory didn't feel triumphant. It felt sobering.

Later, on the rooftop terrace, Katherine stood looking over the city, admiring the new impressive structures, and then George joined her. "You trusted me when it mattered," she said softly when he held her from behind and wrapped his hands around her. "I trusted the woman I know," he replied. "Not the story someone tried to write about her."

She turned to him, eyes shining—not with light, but something deeper with relief, gratitude and love.

"This could've ruined everything," she whispered. George stepped closer. "Or it could show us who's really standing beside us." For the first time since the chaos began, peace settled between them. But storms leave marks.

And sometimes, they also clear the sky for something stronger.