“The digital trail we secured this morning proves he initiated the request from his laptop.”

“He used his home IP address before he left for the office.”

“He’s desperate, Elena.”

“He knows his leverage is evaporating.”

I looked back at my laptop screen.

Isabel had logged out of the shared drive.

A new document had been uploaded to the directory by Julian’s user profile.

It was an updated draft of the NDA, with the severance amount changed to one hundred thousand dollars.

He was trying to buy her silence before the board meeting started.

“He offered her more money,” I told Lydia.

“She won’t take it,” Lydia said.

“Isabel is young, but she isn’t stupid.”

“She knows that signing an NDA under threat of prosecution is a trap.”

“If she signs, she admits she had access to those files.”

“I’m finalizing our response now,” Lydia added.

“We aren’t going to wait for the board meeting.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I’m sending a formal settlement proposal to Martin Bell,” she said.

“Martin is Julian’s personal attorney.”

“He’s a realist.”