Alicia

I whirled around at the sound. Was it Casey coming back? I was suddenly afraid that I would be caught up in some criminal activity. What if they saw me as a threat to getting them captured?

When Colin's face appeared as the doors opened, I felt instant relief. But he wasn't alone. Behind him followed a stern gentleman with a military-like posture. And with him was Casey and a young man. I cheered inwardly that Colin was able to catch Casey before she got away with whatever she stole from the office.

Colin spotted me and faltered a step but he kept walking. I rushed toward him, happy that he was all right. "Colin, I'm so glad to see you. When I saw your office I thought the worst."

Colin's jaw worked back and forth. He gave a curt flick of his head. "In my office."

I was thrown by his reception of me. Why was he acting this way? I wanted to ask what the problem was when he had obviously caught the thief. His expression however, made me hold my tongue.

I followed him into the office and watched as he assessed the damage. "Colin, what's wrong? You caught Casey before she could get away."

Casey shot me a dark glare. I responded with one of our own.

"Casey isn't our thief," Colin said.

"What?" I blurt out. "But I followed her when she left. She never came down. The security guard said she's been leaving late with some guy." I jerk my thumb over to the man with Casey.

Casey's upper lip curled in disgust. "Maybe you should get your facts straight before throwing out accusations."

"Enough!" Colin's glare is enough to stop us from speaking further. "Casey, you and your boyfriend can go. But if I ever see you having a late night rendezvous here again, you're gone."

Casey spun on her heel, grabbed her boyfriend by the hand and left.

Now I was really confused. "You're just going to let her go? What if she knows something?"

Colin finally looked at me but his eyes were cold and hard. "Casey was meeting her boyfriend up on the roof. That's where we found them."

It was like a lightbulb had turned on in my head. "That's why she never came down the stairs. She was going up them." How could I have been so stupid? "But if Casey didn't do this, then who?" Maybe that's why Colin looked so angry. The thief had gotten away.

"Only one suspect remains."

My brow furrowed. "But there isn't another susp-" The word died on my lips. He wouldn't. "You think I did this?"

Colin ran his hand through his hair, taking a haggard breath. "I talked to Lincoln Faust today."

What did he have to do with this? "So? What about him?"

"He said your lunch meeting was on Tuesday. Not Monday."

My face paled. "He's wrong Colin. You know he is. You saw me on Tuesday."

"I saw you Tuesday morning. It made perfect sense why you would stay home. You stuck around to pull the fire alarm on Monday so you could go to your meeting with Faust the next day."

The tears began to spill down my cheeks. I thought he knew me, trusted me. "Colin," I whispered, "I said I would never betray you. That hasn't changed."

Colin motioned to the stoic man still standing in the room. "Can you give us a moment Rowan?"

Rowan nodded and left.

Colin paced back and forth over the paper littered carpet. "You could never pass up an opportunity could you Alicia? Did someone approach you? Offer you a large sum of money to steal company secrets?"

"You know I would never-"

"But I don't really know you Alicia," Colin said, his voice getting louder. "It's high school all over again."

It was getting old being constantly compared to the person I was. "You need to stop comparing me to that Alicia. She doesn't exist anymore."

Colin barked out a laugh. "You expect me to believe your pathetic story about becoming a Christian?"

I curled my fists at my side. I had a very strong urge to walk over and slap that sneer off his face. "You can mock me Colin but my God will not be mocked."

"I'm done with your lies, you can pack up your things and leave."

It was my turn to laugh. "What? That's it? Not going to have your henchman out there arrest me?"

Something flickered across Colin's eyes. And for a moment it looked like remorse. "No, unfortunately I don't have enough evidence to charge you with theft. The bank calling on your loan should be punishment enough."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What happened to the Colin who laughed with me over the Keurig machine? Or who had held me so tenderly as we danced? I swiped at the tears with the back of my hand, angry at myself for appearing so weak. There was nothing I could do to change Colin's mind, he had made it very clear on where we stood.

I backed away, wanting to get as far away as I could from that room, from him. But I knew there was one last thing I needed to say. "Until you can learn to forgive Colin, you will always be a prisoner in a cell of your own making."

On shaky legs, I left the room, not waiting to hear a response.

+++

Colin

What had I done? The urge to call out, to bring Alicia back was lodged in my throat. But I knew I had to stay my course. I had gone too far to turn back now.

Rowan came back in after Alicia was gone. He simply raised an eyebrow in question.

"Let's go," I said, "There's nothing left to do here."

We walked together to Rowan's awaiting car outside. Once we're in, Rowan spoke for the first time. "That was quite the show you put on there."

I gritted my teeth. "You know it was necessary."

"I'm sorry about your office. If we hadn't been after Casey, it could've been prevented."

"I thought it was Casey too," I admitted. "Nothing we can do about it now."

Rowan peeked at me from the corner of his eye. "Did you see that the fake security key was gone?"

I nodded. "Yes, but now we know it wasn't the intended target." It was hard concentrating on the problem at hand when all I could think about was Alicia's tear stained face. "What's our next step?" I needed to push forward. I'd worry about Alicia later.

"For once we have the upper hand," Rowan said. "It's obvious there's something bigger going on here. We need to catch the real mastermind behind it all."

It didn't lessen the guilt that was weighing down on me like a ton of bricks. "You're sure my office was bugged?"

"Positive."

I crossed my arms, feeling a sudden chill race down my body.

"You did what you had to do sir," Rowan murmured.

Did I? Because right now I wasn't so sure. "Let's just hope it wasn't done in vain. Having Alicia take the fall wasn't part of the plan."

"But now the real insider at CyberSecure will think we're off their track. They'll get cocky and slip up."

Rowan was right of course. It was a brilliant plan. Then why did I feel as if I just betrayed Alicia in the worst possible way? Maybe because I had.