It Can't Be Her

Carter frowned and walked over to the door. Peeking outside, he saw his subordinates all at their desks with their heads in their work. He narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything.

…

As Roland's hands flew over the keys at lightning speed, an ominous foreboding gnawed at his heart. The further his counter hack progressed, the more ominous this feeling became. It was like a hidden sixth sense was warning him from uncovering the answer he was looking for; it wasn't something he should know.

Roland's current thought process was simple: follow the transmission of the footage back to Nightingale. Simple.

Of course, it wasn't really simple. Roland had no clue if Nightingale was monitoring their system, so he could only move cautiously. However, to follow the data, he had to move quickly.

Moving quickly but cautiously, it wasn't something just anyone could achieve.

After quite some time, he reached the end of the trail.

'Damn, I can't bear to look.'

As soon as he reached what he was looking for, he'd clamped his eyes shut. It was tempting to move his fingers apart slightly to peek at the result, but at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to.

'I trust her—I swear I do—but there are just too many coincidences for me not to have some doubts.

'When this reveals who the real perpetrator is, I'll make sure to apologize properly to Roni.'

The frown on his face seemed to be carved of stone; his features didn't move in the slightest as Roland lowered his hand to see the results.

As he did so, it felt like time slowed down.

He remembered their time together, their relationship.

The childhood they'd shared and the care she'd shown.

The business he'd built with her support.

The past weeks of love and intimacy.

There was no way it could be her. She couldn't have been lying to him all that time, could she?

He was adamant; Veronica couldn't be Nightingale.

So, what was the worry filling him up, roiling inside his chest, shortening his breath?

His hand left his face; the results were in.

A smile broke out on Roland's face. 'I knew it.'

The address was not one he recognized. For Nightingale to have been monitoring the activities of his company thoroughly, the data would have been sent to their home. Roland knew where Veronica lived, and it was not there.

However, looking at the screen, a nagging feeling arose at the back of his mind.

'This might not be Veronica's address, but I feel like I've seen it before.'

He let out a "hmm."

'Yes, I'm sure I've seen it.'

It took him a minute to get into action again; the sudden relief of seeing it wasn't Veronica's address had been immense.

Roland leaned in to his computer to cross reference addresses related to the company with the one he'd found.

A minute later, a notification rang out from his computer. The result made him frown.

"Damn, that can't be right…"