I looked at the desk, searching for anything I could use.

My eyes fell on my mother’s old brass paperweight, a heavy sphere shaped like an anchor.

I reached for it, but Sloane noticed.

She stood up quickly, putting the heavy desk between us.

“Don’t do something stupid,” Sloane said.

“The security guards are on their way up.”

“I called them the moment you bypassed the loading dock door.”

“You’re trespassing on private property, Evelyn.”

“The board stripped your executive power at four o’clock today.”

I stared at her, my hands trembling with rage.

“Who gave you the admin codes, Sloane?” I asked.

“Carter didn’t have them.”

“Only my mother and I knew the master override.”

Sloane’s smile didn’t fade.

“Your mother was careless,” she said.

“And so were you.”

The monitor beeped once.

A dialogue box appeared on the screen: *Format Complete. 1,402 Files Deleted.*

My chest felt hollow, as if the air had been sucked out of the room.

Ten years of my life, my mother’s sketches, our proprietary fabric weaves, gone.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.