For a few moments after receiving Justin’s summons, Samiah had considered giving it all up. Just pack up her office and quit. Thanks to life lessons courtesy of her dear father, she had enough money in the bank to cover a year’s worth of mortgage payments and living expenses. She could walk away from this job and not worry about addressing these questions for which she had no answer.

She thought about all the work she could get done on her app if she didn’t have to spend the majority of her waking hours here at Trendsetters, and had to stop herself from grabbing a cardboard box from the storeroom and dumping everything from her desk drawers in it.

But what if potential investors caught wind of what happened today?

Cold dread rushed through her veins. It felt as if she was going to lose the few bites of the granola bar she’d had for lunch.

She was often amazed by just how small this vast tech world could seem at times. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility to think that investors could discover her part in the breach and question her ability to keep customer information secure.

God, the repercussions of Daniel’s betrayal reached so much further than she first imagined. The fallout from this could very well sink her dream.

A message popped onto her screen. It was from Justin.

Can you please come to Barrington’s office?

The knot that had been slowly tightening in her stomach over the past few hours pulled taut. She could practically feel the deluge of adrenaline flooding her bloodstream, sense it in the uptick of her pulse beat, the sweat that instantly pebbled her hairline, the restive twitch in her muscles.

Samiah flattened her palms on her desk, sucked in a deep breath, and slowly blew it out, reminding herself that no matter what happened in these next few minutes, she still controlled her own destiny. She’d put herself in a position to survive whatever came her way. That realization smothered her apprehension, replacing it with a calmness she wouldn’t have thought possible just five minutes ago.

“You’re going to be fine,” she whispered. Straightening her shoulders, she pushed her chair back, stood, and confidently strolled out of her office.

She could feel the eyes of her coworkers on her as she passed their cubicles, their stares reminiscent of her experience a couple of months ago, after that video with Craig went viral. She’d made it through that episode with barely a scratch. Why should this be any different?

Samiah pressed the touchpad just to the right of Barrington’s office door. Once receiving permission through the speaker, she entered the office and took the seat opposite Justin Vail’s before it was even offered. If she was to be fired today, she would damn well be comfortable while it happened.