Chapter 62

• Adrian Smith, Deputy Director of Global Strategy, leaned forward in his seat, his voice tight with urgency. “Mr. Sterling, if we deploy reinforcements to the Southern expansion zone now, it might already be too late. We had zero intel on this. Every channel we had in Sandoria and Westhaven must’ve been compromised.”
• Logan Sterling, CEO of Sterling Ventures and the most powerful man in the room, tightened his jaw, the weight of the failure settling heavily on his shoulders. Ten days ago, Cassandra had walked into his office with what she knew was a forged letter. She told him it was from Kyle, one of their deep-cover analysts. She warned him they were about to be blindsided. He didn’t listen.
• Instead, he accused her of insubordination, told her she was letting personal drama cloud her judgment, and sidelined her. She’d been put on mandatory leave, quietly pushed out of any meaningful decisions.