Chapter 4

The Trap Hidden in the Numbers

Ashley changed her attitude on Monday morning.

Thea noticed it almost immediately.

For the past several days, Ashley had barely spoken to her unless it was to assign another piece of work or make some thinly veiled remark about how difficult it must be to survive in a company like Carter Group without knowing anyone important. She had avoided Thea whenever possible after the coffee incident, but that morning she appeared at Thea's desk with a folder in her hands and an expression that was almost pleasant.

Almost.

“Thea,” she said. “I need you to handle this.”

Thea looked up from her computer.

Ashley placed the folder on her desk.

“It's the final version of the North American client report. I need it submitted to the regional team before four.”

Thea glanced at the folder, then back at Ashley.

“You want me to submit it?”

“Yes.”

Ashley smiled.

It was probably meant to look friendly, but there was something about it that made Thea more cautious rather than less.

She opened the folder and began checking the document.

The report was unusually clean.

The handover records were complete, the revisions had been properly logged, and every section appeared to have been reviewed before it reached her.

Thea frowned slightly.

“Who prepared the restricted-data section?”

Ashley shrugged.

“The senior team. You don't need to worry about that. Everything you need is already in there.”

Thea looked at the document again.

She knew interns were not authorized to access some of the source datasets used by the regional team. She had never been given the clearance, which meant she could not independently verify certain figures in the report.

That bothered her.

“Shouldn't someone with clearance review this before I submit it?”

Ashley gave a small laugh.

“It's already been reviewed. You're just submitting the final version. Don't overcomplicate it.”

Thea wasn't convinced, but she had no reason to accuse Ashley of anything.

She made another copy, checked the sections she was authorized to access, and prepared the submission.

At 3:47 p.m., she sent the report.

She saved the confirmation email, checked that the attachment had gone through correctly, and finally leaned back in her chair.

For once, she thought, everything had gone smoothly.

Twenty-six minutes later, the Sales Department doors opened so hard that several employees looked up from their desks.

A senior supervisor strode into the room holding a printed copy of the report.

“Who submitted this?”

Thea's stomach tightened.

She stood.

“I did.”

The supervisor walked directly toward her.

“Where did you get this version?”

“Ashley gave it to me this morning.” She replied.

“What exactly did she give you?”

“The final North American client report.” it was the most obvious answer. What else would Ashley give her.

He suddenly slapped the printed pages onto her desk.

“Then explain why this contains obsolete restricted-model data.”

Thea stared at the document. She turned the pages quickly, scanning the highlighted sections.

The figures were wrong. Not obviously wrong, but wrong enough that the difference could affect the client's projected pricing structure.

“I didn't change these.”

The supervisor's expression hardened. “You submitted the document.”

“Yes, but I didn't alter the data.”

“You were responsible for checking it before submission.”

“I checked everything I had access to, I'm an intern. There are certain things interns are not allowed to do.”

“And this was submitted under your name.”

Ashley suddenly stepped forward. “I gave her the report exactly as I received it. She was the one responsible for the final submission.”

Thea looked at her, shock tainting her features. “You told me it had already been reviewed.”

“It had.” Ashley

“By whom?”

Ashley hesitated for barely a second. “I don't know. I assumed the senior team had handled it.”

Thea's stomach sank as the supervisor looked between them with suspicions.

“This report was supposed to go to a major client. If those figures had been accepted, we could have been dealing with a serious contractual issue.”

“I understand,” Thea said. “But I didn't put those figures there.”

Ashley folded her arms. “No one is saying you deliberately did it.”

Thea looked at her.

“Then what are you saying?”

Ashley gave a helpless shrug.“I'm saying you're the one who submitted the file.”

The implication was clear. She was being blamed for doing a basic task. If she had refused to do it she would be quarelled or worse, fired. But she did her task, and now this?

Antia arrived a few moments later after being called into the department.

“What happened?”

The supervisor handed her the report. “Obsolete restricted data was included in the final submission. The intern submitted it.”

She scanned the highlighted sections.“How did Thea access this dataset?”

The supervisor frowned. “What?”

“This information comes from a restricted source. Interns don't have access to that system.”

Antia looked directly at Thea.“Did you modify this section?”

“No.”

“Did you access the restricted database?”

She shook her head frantically. “No. I don't have clearance.”

Antia turned toward the supervisor.“Then we have a problem.”

The supervisor's expression remained stern.

“We have a problem regardless. The client could have received incorrect figures.”

“I agree,” Antia said. “But if Thea couldn't access the source data, she couldn't have made this change herself.”

Ashley spoke quickly. “She could have received the information from someone else.”

Antia's eyes moved toward her.

“Could she?”

Ashley hesitated and looked away. “I don't know.”

“Exactly.” Antia closed the report. “We need to determine where the corrupted version came from before assigning responsibility.”

The supervisor looked dissatisfied. “Management expects an explanation by nine tomorrow morning.”

His eyes settled on Thea. “If you were responsible for the submission, you need to provide evidence that you did not alter the file. Otherwise, HR will handle the matter.”

Thea swallowed. “Understood.”

The supervisor looked at her one more time and walked away with the report.

The moment he disappeared from view, the noise in the department slowly returned, but Thea barely heard any of it.

Her hands were cold. She looked at the folder Ashley had given her that morning.

Something was wrong. She knew it. But she just didn't know how to prove it.

Antia looked at her with a sigh.“Don't panic.”

“I'm not.”

She gave her a look. “You're gripping that folder hard enough to tear it.”

Thea looked down and loosened her fingers. “I didn't do this.” She muttered to herself as Antia walked awaym

She looked at the clock.

4:41 p.m.

She had less than sixteen hours to prove that she had not tampered with the report.

She could already imagine how this would look to management.

A new intern submitted a confidential report containing incorrect data. The document was under her name. She had been warned about the importance of checking her work.

It would be easy to blame her.

Her phone suddenly vibrated. Thea glanced at the screen to see that it was the hospital.

Her heart sank before she even opened the message.

Miss Roth, your sister's outstanding balance requires immediate attention. Please contact the billing department as soon as possible regarding payment.

She closed her eyes.

For several seconds, she sat completely still.

The hospital bill. Her internship. The threat of disciplinary action. Mia.

Everything seemed to be happening at once.

She could feel herself beginning to panic, but she forced the feeling back down.

She had spent too many years learning how to keep moving when life gave her more problems than she could handle.

She picked up the report again and began working.

Across the building, Felix was informed about the incident before five o'clock.

He was sitting in his office reviewing a financial proposal when his assistant entered.

“There's an issue in Sales.”

Felix looked up. “Hmm. What kind?”

“The North American client report. Incorrect restricted data was included in the version submitted this afternoon. The file was submitted by a Thea Roth.”

Felix's expression changed immediately. “Was she responsible for altering it?”

“We don't know.”

He straightened up. “And who says she is?”

“Management is investigating.” The assistant replied.

Felix leaned back into his seat. He already knew something was wrong.

The security audit he had ordered after the earlier incidents had not yet been completed, but the pattern around Thea had become difficult to ignore.

Someone had been interfering with her work. Now a restricted document had somehow ended up in an intern's hands, and she had been left holding responsibility for it.

“Don't interfere with the investigation,” Felix said.

His assistant hesitated, surprised. “Sir?”

“Let her prove her case.”

He knew Thea well enough by now to understand that stepping in immediately would only make things worse.

She would see it as another instance of someone protecting her instead of trusting her ability.

Felix picked up his phone. “Have Security audit the document access history.”

“Do you want the report pulled?”

“No.” He slowly shook his head and looked toward the window.

“Find out who changed it.”

“Yes sir.” The assistant nodded and left.

Felix stared at the closed door for a moment. He wanted to go downstairs and tell Thea that he knew she had not done it.

But that would not help her. If she wanted to clear her own name, he would let her.

Thea stayed at the office long after most of the department had left.

By seven to nine, she had gone through the report three times, she had checked every file she was authorized to access. But at the end of the day she found nothing. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock.

The deadline was tomorrow morning.

She needed something to work with. Anything.

Her phone was still beside her laptop when she suddenly thought of Daniel.

She opened their chat. For several seconds, she stared at the blank message box.

She didn't want to sound desperate.

Thea: disaster

The reply came less than a minute later.

Daniel: That sounds serious.

Thea stared at the screen.

Thea: It is.

She explained what had happened, including the report, the restricted data, and the fact that she had never had access to the database containing those figures.

Daniel read the message.

Felix sat alone in his penthouse office, his phone in his hand. He knew exactly what had happened. He also knew that giving Thea the answer would only expose him.

His fingers moved across the screen.

Daniel: Don't merely prove you're innocent. Prove when the file was corrupted.

Thea frowned. She read the message again.

When? Not who?

When.

Her eyes moved to the report on her desk. She opened the document properties and began searching through the version history.

There were several saved versions. One had been created that morning, another had been created shortly after lunch.

She opened the revision records and compared the timestamps.

Then she stopped. There was a version saved three hours before Ashley had handed the report to her.

Thea stared at the screen. Three hours.

Ashley had given her the supposedly final version at 1:12 p.m.

The corrupted version had been created at 10:07 a.m.

Before Ashley ever gave it to her.

Thea sat back in her chair. Someone had altered the report before it even reached her which meant she didn't do it!

She immediately saved the version history to a separate folder and backed it up.

Her hands were still shaking, but for the first time since the supervisor had confronted her, she could breathe.

She had proof.

At almost the exact same time, Felix's phone rang.

He answered immediately. “Sir, Security has completed the first part of the audit.”

“What did they find?”

“The restricted section was modified at 10:07 this morning.”

Felix's expression hardened. “Account?”

There was a brief silence.

“We traced the change to an employee account with access to the source database.”

Felix looked toward the city beyond the windows. It seemed that everything had happened exactly as he suspected.

Someone had deliberately altered the document, handed it to Thea, and waited for her to submit it.