Dressed for Battle

The storm didn’t wait.

By the time Elena arrived at Drake Global the following morning, the sky outside mirrored the tension inside gray, cold, threatening. The headlines had exploded overnight. “Corporate King Under Fire.” “Whistleblower or Saboteur?” “Drake Empire Leaked.”

Elena had barely slept. Her dreams were twisted with red dresses, champagne threats, and Adrian’s cutting stare as he said, “Now’s when I need someone I can’t buy.”

She tightened the belt on her trench coat and stepped into the lobby.

The buzz inside was different today. Less polished. More frantic. Phones rang off the hook. Assistants whispered over coffee. Executives walked briskly, eyes glued to phones. Someone had turned up the heat, and now everyone was sweating metaphorically and literally.

Claudia was waiting for her by the elevators.

“You’re late,” she said flatly.

“It’s 7:50.”

“And we’re already behind.” Claudia handed her a tablet and a sealed file folder. “You’re with Mr. Drake all day. He’s going to war.”

Elena followed her through the executive floor. “Is this about last night?”

“It’s about everything,” Claudia said. “Last night was just the shot fired.”

Elena opened the folder. It was filled with printouts leaked documents with red underlines, anonymous tips, media summaries, and internal access logs. One name kept popping up under suspicious file activities: Zane Holloway. Head of Marketing. Charismatic. Opportunistic. Cassandra’s ex-business partner.

“Mr. Drake wants him interrogated before noon,” Claudia said as they reached his office door. “Make sure he doesn’t spin it.”

“Wait, I’m interrogating?”

“Assisting,” Claudia corrected. “But if you’re smart, you’ll take the lead.”

Elena blinked. “Why me?”

“Because he wants to see how you handle pressure. And because Zane doesn’t take women seriously. Use that.”

The office door swung open. Adrian stood behind his desk, sleeves rolled up, tie gone. He looked less like a billionaire and more like a commander preparing for battle.

“Rivera. Sit,” he said without looking up.

She sat.

“I assume Claudia briefed you.”

“She did.”

He passed her another folder. “Everything you need to confront Holloway is in here. He's in conference room C. You have thirty minutes to get the truth.”

Elena stared. “You’re sending me in alone?”

Adrian’s eyes finally met hers. “That’s what battle is, Ms. Rivera. You fight. Or you don’t belong here.”

Conference Room C was cold. Intentionally so, Elena suspected. Zane Holloway was already seated at the glass table, flipping a silver pen between his fingers. He smiled as she entered.

“Rivera, right? You’re Drake’s new puppy?”

Elena sat across from him, opened her folder, and slid over a document. “You accessed these files at 2:14 a.m., three nights ago. Two days before they were leaked.”

Zane raised an eyebrow. “You keeping tabs on everyone’s bedtime now?”

“No. Just the ones whose fingerprints are all over classified data.”

He leaned back, chuckling. “I see what this is. Adrian sends his intern to rattle me. Cute.”

“I’m not here to rattle you. I’m here to give you a chance to explain before this goes higher.”

“Explain what?” he asked, eyes narrowing. “That I work late? That I have admin clearance? That I’ve been at this company five years longer than you’ve had a LinkedIn account?”

“You also had business ties with Cassandra Legrand,” Elena said. “That wasn’t in your file.”

Zane’s smirk faltered.

“I dug,” Elena continued. “Cassandra launched a failed brand with your funding six years ago. She lost millions. You vanished from the company spotlight for a year after.”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“It’s motive.”

Zane stood abruptly. “You think I’d risk everything for some old grudge?”

“You’ve risked more for less,” Elena said calmly. “There’s a security sweep happening right now. You have ten minutes to come clean or be escorted out in cuffs.”

Zane slammed his hands on the table. “You don’t scare me.”

“No,” Adrian’s voice cut in from the door. “But I do.”

Zane spun around.

Adrian entered the room like a loaded weapon, cold fury radiating off him.

“Elena, out,” he said.

Elena gathered her things and stepped into the hall. Through the glass walls, she could see Adrian and Zane shouting. Zane pointed. Adrian didn’t flinch. Then security arrived. Minutes later, Zane was gone.

Elena exhaled. Her hands were shaking.

Claudia appeared beside her. “Good work.”

“He didn’t confess.”

“He didn’t need to. His rage gave us all we needed.”

That afternoon, Adrian summoned Elena to his office.

“You didn’t crack under pressure,” he said, pouring two glasses of scotch. “Most wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes with Zane Holloway.”

Elena didn’t take the drink. “I’m not sure I did well.”

“You did what I asked. That’s what matters.”

“Is it always like this?” she asked. “So... cutthroat?”

Adrian sipped his scotch. “Every day. In this world, trust is rarer than gold.”

“Do you trust anyone?”

His expression didn’t change, but the room grew colder.

“No,” he said.

Not even a beat of hesitation.

“And yet you said last night you need someone you can’t buy,” she pressed. “If you don’t trust anyone”.

“I said I needed you. I never said I trusted you.”

Her breath caught.

“You’re new. You’re unpredictable. That’s valuable until it’s not.”

He walked to the window, gazing at the skyline again. “I built this empire by seeing through people. They lie, they flatter, they betray. But I always see the play.”

“And me?” Elena asked quietly.

“You,” he said, “are still an unopened book. And I intend to read every page.”

The silence that followed was heavy with something unsaid.

Then his phone buzzed. A message flashed on the screen. His jaw tightened.

“Elena. Change of plans.”

She stood. “What’s wrong?”

“We were wrong about Zane being the leak.”

Her stomach dropped. “But the access logs”.

“Faked. He was framed.”

“By who?”

Adrian looked at her, eyes suddenly stormy. “We’re about to find out.”

That night, Adrian took her to a private server room three floors underground.

Only three people had access.

Adrian. Claudia.

And Elena.

Adrian typed into a terminal. “These access logs weren’t altered from outside. They were changed internally. Which means”.

“Elena,” Claudia’s voice came from behind them.

They turned. She held a gun.

Not a metaphor.

A literal gun.

“Back away from the terminal,” Claudia said.

Adrian didn’t move. “You?”

Claudia’s hands were steady. “You always said loyalty was everything. But you were never loyal to anyone but yourself.”

“You leaked the files,” Adrian said slowly. “To what? Sink me? Why?”

Claudia’s face was pale, but her voice steady. “Because you used me. For ten years, I ran your world. Cleaned your mess. Covered for your sins. And when it was my turn to be promoted, you hired a fresh grad who spilled coffee on your shoes.”

Elena’s chest tightened.

“It wasn’t personal,” Adrian said, his tone dangerously calm. “It was business.”

“To you, maybe. But to me it was betrayal.”

Claudia flicked a switch on a small device in her hand. A timer lit up: 03:00.

Adrian swore. “Is that”

“Yes,” Claudia said. “And unless I walk out of here with a clean slate, this whole floor gets wiped. Including everything on that server.”

“You don’t want to do this,” Elena said.

“You don’t know what I want!” Claudia snapped. “For once, I want to be in control.”

The timer ticked down.

Adrian stepped forward. “You were right. I should’ve promoted you. But this isn’t the way.”

Claudia’s hand trembled now.

Elena saw it the fracture.

She moved fast, slamming Claudia’s arm up as the gun fired into the ceiling. Adrian lunged, grabbing the detonator, slamming it to the ground.

Silence.

Then—security rushed in.

Claudia was arrested.

The story hit the news within hours.

“Top Executive Behind Data Leak at Drake Global.”

Elena sat in Adrian’s office that night, staring at the skyline.

“You trusted her,” she said.

“I did.”

“And she betrayed you.”

“She did.”

He sat beside her.

“I still don’t know if I trust you,” he said.

Elena looked at him. “Good. I don’t know if I trust you either.”

He smiled, bitter but real.

“But we make a hell of a team,” she added.

Adrian clinked his glass against hers.

“To war,” he said.

“To battle,” she replied.