Melanie Donaldson left the command center without another word to Rhys. His accusation, compromised or negligent, was ringing in her ears, burning away her fatigue. She was fighting for her professional life, but more importantly, for the fragile, new foundation of trust they had built.
Melanie bypassed her entire Risk team, knowing a leak of this magnitude had to involve an internal accomplice. She locked herself in the private bunker, treating the Kratos Swap Ratio as a hostile virus within Kallen Capital's data structure.
She focused not on the legality of the number, but on the metadata and digital routing. The Swap Ratio data had originated from a third-party legal associate of Kratos, but the key was how it was aggregated into the internal Kallen filing packet that landed in her queue.
Hours later, hunched over glowing screens, she found the anomaly: a ghost log. A brief, untraceable access point used by an external, encrypted email address, injecting the low Swap Ratio into a seemingly innocuous 'data verification' summary provided by the Kratos legal team. This verified summary was then incorporated into the final packet that passed her desk. The entire scheme was designed to look like a minor data verification error on the third party's side, which she, Melanie, failed to notice.
The external email address was a dead end, but the internal routing of the manipulated data led her straight back to a minor analyst within Chloe Vance's sales division, a person who had no official business touching the Risk Analyst's legal documents.
Melanie stared at the name. It wasn't Chloe's signature, but the route was undeniable: Chloe had used a pawn to plant the incendiary seed, creating a perfect chain of plausible deniability. Chloe wasn't targeting the company's money; she was targeting Melanie's perceived morality.
Melanie knew she couldn't take this discovery to Rhys immediately. She had the how (the route) and the who (Chloe's pawn), but she lacked the smoking gun proving Chloe's direct orchestration. Presenting a conspiracy theory without absolute proof would only confirm Rhys's initial fear that she was making excuses and deflecting blame. She needed to handle the political risk herself. Rhys, in his current state of doubt, might act rashly, either crushing Chloe immediately and reinforcing her claim that Melanie couldn't handle her own battles, or dismissing Melanie's claim as desperation.
Melanie called Rhys on his private line.
"I need twenty-four more hours, Rhys," she stated, her voice tight, withholding the critical information about Chloe.
"Twenty-four hours to produce an alibi?" Rhys's voice was frigid. "I need you to pull the Kratos deal. We cannot proceed with this taint."
"No," Melanie countered, holding firm. "You will not pull the deal. I have localized the origin point of the data. I know where the mistake was made, but I need to secure the evidence. If you stop the deal now, we lose Kratos, and you prove that my integrity is not worth your ambition."
"You're asking me to proceed with a catastrophic liability based only on your word," Rhys challenged.
"Your word is currently undermined by the numbers."
"Then you will proceed based on the new contract," Melanie demanded, using their commitment as her weapon. "You swore to me we were partners, and that you would trust me. I am telling you, as your Chief Risk Analyst and as your equal, that this data point is a deliberate external insertion. I need time to pull the strings out, but if you intervene, the source will cover its tracks. Trust me to fix the flaw. If I fail, I walk away."
The ultimatum was brutal. Rhys was forced to choose between his instinctual need for control and the fragile commitment he had made to her.
Rhys hung up without replying. The silent acceptance was the only answer Melanie needed. She had bought her time, but she had deepened the rift, forcing Rhys to endure a painful, self-inflicted period of agonizing doubt. Now, she had to hunt Chloe Vance.