“Can you trace the IP address of the lock command?” Andrew asked, leaning over my chair.

His cologne, a mix of cedar and sandalwood, drifted over me.

“Yes,” Koko said, clicking her mouse. “It came from an IP assigned to the executive suite.”

“Specifically, Julian’s personal laptop,” Andrew murmured.

“And look at this,” I said, opening a folder labeled *Project Ceres*.

Project Ceres was the code name for my food preservation formula.

Inside the folder were draft contracts addressed to a foreign conglomerate named Vesta Foods.

The purchase price for the stolen data was sixty million dollars.

The contract was signed with digital signatures belonging to both Julian Leprince and Victoria Sterling.

“They were going to sell it and let the lab fire cover the missing data,” Andrew said.

His jaw tightened, a muscle jumping in his cheek.

“They wanted to make it look like an industrial accident caused by my negligence,” I said.

“They underestimated you,” Andrew said, looking at me with a quiet pride.

“We have everything we need,” Koko said, saving the files to three separate encrypted flash drives.