Chapter 7
If there was one item Ralph always had with him, it was his laptop. I’d only ever seen him part with it when Tina called for an emergency.
I was overestimating myself when I thought I could just plug in my micro copier and extract the data
with ease.
Now, it had been hours since Ralph had been charming me with a romantic candlelit dinner in the backyard of our house. He even hired my favorite indie band, Indigo Wolf, to play some smooth jazz in the background.
I had to admit, the night was lovely.
Under normal circumstances, I would‘ ve savored the food and the ambiance without a second thought.
I took a sip of my orange juice, trying hard not to glance too obviously at his laptop. After draining the glass, I placed it back on the table. To my surprise, Ralph immediately grabbed it.
“Let me get you a refill,” he said with a smile.
“Uh… okay?” I responded, trying not to sound too eager.
He flashed an even wider grin before heading inside the house. The smile was unsettling, but this was my chance. I quickly plugged in my Copier Drive.
I was thankful Ralph had dismissed most of the guards and staff, except for Indigo Wolf, who were playing out of sight, partly obscured by the shrubs. I felt a little sorry for them, being tucked away like
that.
The moment I connected the device, a loading screen popped up: [29 seconds remaining]. Shit! I hadn’t expected it to take that long.
I glanced nervously toward the house, hoping Ralph was taking his time with that orange juice. What happened in those 20 seconds felt like an eternity. My heart raced as I saw Ralph s silhouette appear through the sliding glass door. I stole one last glance at the laptop: [9 seconds left].
Panic set in as I scrambled for an excuse–anything to distract him from noticing I was copying his
data.
“Ah!” I blurted out. Ralph paused at the sudden outburst, giving me the opening I needed.
I rushed over and grabbed the drink from him. “Ralph, it’s getting late. Don’t you think it’d be nice to have some peace and quiet? Could you ask the band to wrap up for the night?” I cooed, doing my best to sound sweet.
“Of course, whatever you wish, my flower,” he replied in a sugary tone that made me cringe inside. I forced a smile as he walked toward the band. Step by step, I held my breath, praying he wouldn’t notice the device plugged into his laptop.
Once his back was turned, I hurried to check the screen.
[All files have been copied. Remove the drive.]
swiftly unplugged the copier, tucked it into the small pouch I’d been carrying, and composed myself just in time for Ralph’s return. I casually sipped my orange juice, pretending nothing had happened. “Thank you for letting the band go,” I said, masking my relief with a grateful smile.
“Ralph, I really enjoyed dinner tonight, but I need to rest. I have to get back to the office early tomorrow. I missed work today, and I feel responsible for my team.”
His face fell in disappointment, though I could tell it wasn‘ t genuine. Thankfully, he didn’t push and allowed me to retire for the night.
From the beginning, I’d insisted we sleep in separate rooms, so I made my way to the guest room while he headed for the master bedroom.”
I kept up the act until I was sure he wouldn’t pop into my room again for the night.
To say I was drained was an understatement.
I couldn’t fathom how Tina and Ralph managed to keep up their charade for so long, always playing their roles so convincingly around me.
“They re a different breed,” I muttered to myself, collapsing onto the edge of the bed.
After changing from my dinner dress into comfortable pajamas, I scanned the room carefully for any hidden cameras or recorders. It took checking three times before I was confident I had some privacy. Only then did I take out my own laptop from my work bag, powering it on as I prepared to plug in the drive.
“Let’s see what he’s been hiding,” I whispered, connecting the drive with a special cord as the computer screen flickered to life.
Time for the next phase!
Or so I thought.
I came here expecting to find evidence of Delta Construction Point’s negligence in the Central Plaza Project–safety violations, corner–cutting, the usual. But what I uncovered was far more sinister. Not only did I find proof of safety failures, but there were fraudulent deals, environmental violations, and a tangled web of corruption tied to nearly every project Ralph was involved in. Each new document felt like opening a trap door into something darker.
But one thing kept showing up in the reports: “Fox.” The name appeared repeatedly, though it wasn’t clear what–or who–it referred to.
A codename? An organization?
Who–or what–was Fox,‘ and how deep did this go?
The weight of the discovery hit me all at once. This wasn‘ t just a story about a shady construction company. This was a conspiracy woven into the very fabric of Wolfheim’s power structure. If I went public with this, I’d be taking on the highest ranks of the city’s elite.
This was my leverage, my ace in the hole to finally bring Ralph down. But the question gnawed at me–could I really handle what came next?
A creeping sense of dread washed over me. The kind of people involved in these kinds of schemes weren t the type you could simply expose without consequence. I was about to mess with forces far more dangerous than I ever imagined.
I needed to be smart–no, meticulous–about how and when to release this. One wrong move, and I wouldn’t just be risking my story or my career, but my life too could be on the line.
Chapter 8
