Chapter 2: Corporate Espionage

The silence in the boardroom was heavy enough to crush a man’s lungs.

Victoria Sterling stared at Lucas with dark eyes that held the sharp intensity of a bird of prey spotting a rat in an open field. The gold pen in her hand rested motionless against the polished mahogany table.

She did not raise her voice or show any outward signs of shock but the sudden shift in her posture commanded the attention of everyone in the room.

"What did you just say?" Victoria asked.

Richard broke from his frozen state and let out a nervous laugh that sounded like a dying engine.

"Aunt Victoria, please do not listen to this moron. He is just a disgruntled junior assistant trying to save his miserable job because he spilled coffee on my silk tie."

Lucas ignored his manager and kept his eyes focused on the glowing blue screens hovering right in front of his face.

Rows of financial evidence.

He took a slow breath to steady his racing heart.

"Last Tuesday," Lucas said while reading directly from the glowing blue text. "You expensed dinners at L’Aura for a client who has not been in the country for six months. You invoiced the company for ten thousand dollars and paid it to a shell company named Silverline Consulting."

Richard lost all the color in his face. His mouth opened and closed like a stranded fish.

"There was also the corporate retreat in Aspen," Lucas continued as he scrolled down the floating holographic window with his eyes. "You claimed you were scouting venues but the receipts show a four-day stay at a private ski resort with two women who do not work for Vertex Management. The total came out to fourteen thousand dollars."

"Shut up!" Richard screamed while lunging forward. "You are lying! You are a lying piece of trash and I will have you thrown in jail for defamation!"

"Sit down."

Victoria spoke those two words with the casual volume of someone asking for the time.

Richard froze halfway across the room. He slowly turned his head to look at his aunt. The sheer terror in his eyes told Lucas everything he needed to know about how Victoria handled family matters during business hours.

Victoria picked up her tablet from the table. Her manicured fingers tapped across the sleek glass screen a few times before she lifted her gaze back to Richard.

"Silverline Consulting," Victoria said. Her voice was devoid of any familial warmth. "My accounting team flagged a discrepancy with that vendor two weeks ago but the file was buried under secondary approvals. Your approvals."

"Aunt Victoria, I can explain," Richard stammered while taking a clumsy step backward. "It is a misunderstanding regarding tax write-offs for external contractors."

"You are suspended while this is being investigated," Victoria said.

"You cannot do this to me," Richard pleaded as his voice cracked in panic. "I am family! You need me to handle the junior staff!"

"Security will escort you to your desk," Victoria said while turning her attention back to her tablet. "You have five minutes to gather your personal belongings. My legal team will contact you this afternoon to discuss the restitution of my company’s stolen assets. If you try to contact me before then I will ensure you spend the next decade in federal prison."

Two burly security guards in dark suits stepped into the boardroom as if they had been waiting out in the hall for a situation exactly like this. They grabbed Richard by his arms and dragged the weeping manager out the glass doors.

The heavy door swung shut and sealed the boardroom in total silence once again.

Lucas let out a breath he had been holding for the last three minutes. His hands were sweaty and his cheap dress shirt clung uncomfortably to his back. He had actually survived. He had insulted his boss and somehow managed to keep his job.

A pleasant chime echoed in his head.

[Emergency Quest Completed!]

[Target perception successfully altered.]

[Reward: 100 Acquisition Points (AP) awarded.]

[Skill Shop Unlocked.]

Lucas felt a wave of relief wash over him as the blue text vanished into thin air.

The strange interface had saved his life and his bank account. He just needed to finish delivering the rest of the coffees and get back to his tiny desk before anyone else decided to yell at him.

"The rest of you are dismissed," Victoria announced to the remaining executives at the table. "We will resume this quarterly projection tomorrow morning. Clear the room."

The executives scrambled to pack their briefcases and tablets. Nobody wanted to linger in the presence of a CEO who had just ruthlessly discarded her own flesh and blood. Within thirty seconds the sprawling boardroom was entirely empty except for Victoria and Lucas.

Lucas grabbed his plastic tray. "I will just get out of your way, Ms. Sterling."

"Stay right there," Victoria commanded.

Lucas stopped in his tracks.

Victoria slowly stood up from her leather chair.

She was tall and wore high heels that clicked rhythmically against the hardwood floor as she walked around the long mahogany table. She stopped a few feet away from Lucas and crossed her arms over her chest. The subtle scent of expensive jasmine perfume hit his senses.

She studied him.

Her dark eyes swept over his cheap suit, his scuffed shoes, and the nervous tension tight in his shoulders. She was not looking at him with gratitude.

"You are Lucas Vintage," Victoria said. It was not a question.

"Yes, ma’am," Lucas replied. He forced himself to maintain eye contact even though his survival instincts were screaming at him to look at the floor.

"You make sixteen dollars an hour," Victoria continued while taking another slow step closer. "You drop off my dry cleaning. You fetch coffee. You organize the supply closet. You do not have security clearance to access the executive financial servers."

Lucas swallowed hard. The realization hit him like a freight train.

Victoria Sterling did not care that he had saved her company a few thousand dollars.

She was a woman who managed a massive luxury empire and dealt with ruthless billionaires on a daily basis. She only cared about how a bottom-tier assistant knew highly classified corporate secrets.

"I just noticed some strange paperwork left on the printer," Lucas lied.

It was a terrible excuse but he could not exactly tell her a magical floating screen gave him the answers.

Victoria smiled. It was a cold and terrifying expression that did not reach her eyes.

"Do not insult my intelligence," Victoria said softly. "My internal auditors missed that shell company for three months. You expect me to believe you unraveled a corporate embezzlement scheme while brewing oat milk macchiatos?"

Lucas felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple. He was trapped in a room with a woman who could casually ruin his life with a single phone call.

[Warning: Target suspicion is rising.]

[The target believes you are a corporate spy working for a rival agency.]

[Failure to neutralize this threat will result in immediate termination and legal prosecution.]

Lucas panicked. He needed a way out of this and he needed it now. He mentally commanded the System to open the newly unlocked Skill Shop.

A semi-transparent blue grid populated his vision. It displayed dozens of bizarre abilities with varying price tags. He ignored things like Master-Level Culinary Arts and Subconscious Pheromone Regulation. He needed something to help him survive a hostile interrogation.

His eyes landed on a specific skill near the top of the list.

[Advanced Body Language Reading (Level 1) - Cost: 50 AP]

Description: Allows the Host to analyze micro-expressions, posture, and muscle tension to accurately predict a target’s emotional state and physical vulnerabilities.

Lucas bought it instantly.

A warm sensation washed over his eyes and his brain immediately processed a massive influx of new visual data.

He looked back at Victoria. The intimidating aura she projected suddenly fractured into readable pieces. He noticed the slight grimace she made when she turned her neck. He saw the tight, unnatural stiffness in her shoulders. He registered the faint, dark circles hidden beneath her expensive makeup that indicated severe sleep deprivation.

The System had mentioned her hidden vulnerability earlier. She was suffering from severe cervical tension and chronic insomnia.

"You are going to tell me exactly who you work for," Victoria said as she stepped even closer. She was close enough that Lucas could see the faint gold flecks in her dark eyes. "If you confess right now I might let you walk out of this building without calling the police."

Lucas realized arguing with her would be useless. She was too arrogant and too paranoid to believe him. He needed to throw her completely off balance. He needed to use her physical vulnerability against her.

[New Acquisition Quest Generated!]

Objective: Disrupt the target’s interrogation and establish physical contact.

Task: Relieve the target’s severe cervical tension using physical manipulation.

Reward: 200 AP and slight increase in target dependency.

Failure Penalty: Arrest for corporate espionage.

Lucas stared at the prompt. The System wanted him to touch a ruthless CEO who was currently threatening to throw him in prison. It was a suicidal move.

"I do not work for anyone," Lucas said quietly. He took a bold step forward and closed the remaining distance between them.

Victoria stiffened in surprise. Men did not step toward her. Men backed away.

"And frankly," Lucas continued while raising his hand, "I think you are just stressed out."

Before Victoria could call for security, Lucas reached out and firmly placed his fingers against the tight, knotted muscles at the base of her neck.