Chương 3
Not because she was surprised.
Because part of her had been waiting for someone else to say it.
She looked back at the paper.
"Where did you get this?"
"I told you."
"Where?"
His silence answered before he did.
"The archive server."
Mara felt a sharp discomfort in her stomach.
"You didn't find this accidentally."
"No."
"Then why?"
Evan looked away.
For the first time, his confidence disappeared completely.
"Because my name is on one of the review notes."
Mara said nothing.
"What note?"
"The one that says I confirmed the timeline."
"And did you?"
He looked at her.
"No."
The hallway noise seemed to fade for a second.
"What?"
"I was asked to summarize emails. That's all. I never confirmed anything."
"Then why is your name there?"
"Because Daniel told me it was routine."
Mara folded her arms.
"And you believed him."
Evan flinched.
The reaction was small.
But real.
"I was twenty-six."
"That doesn't make you helpless."
"No."
He looked at the floor.
"It just makes me embarrassed."
That answer caught her off guard.
Not because it fixed anything.
It didn't.
He had still stayed silent.
He had still allowed her to take the damage.
"What do you want from me?"
Evan took a breath.
"I want you to understand that if you show that page today, they will know someone gave it to you."
"Someone being you."
"Yes."
"And what happens to you?"
His jaw tightened.
"I lose my job."
Mara waited.
He did not add anything else.
No dramatic statement.
No claim that he was risking everything for justice.
Just a fact.
A job.
A paycheck.
A future he had probably spent years building.
It made his decision more believable.
And somehow more frustrating.
"You waited until the hearing day."
"I was going to come sooner."
"But you didn't."
"No."
"Why?"
Evan looked at the courtroom doors.
"Because yesterday Daniel called me into his office."
Mara watched his face.
"What did he say?"
"He asked if I had spoken to you."
A cold feeling moved through her.
"And?"
"I said no."
"Was that a lie?"
"Yes."
The honesty surprised her.
"What else?"
"He told me that some people confuse loyalty with honesty."
Mara frowned.
"Meaning?"
"Meaning he knew I was scared."
Evan handed her the page.
She did not take it immediately.
"If I bring this in, you lose your job."
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
He looked at her.
"Because I don't know if they already know I copied it."
The paper between them suddenly felt heavier.
Mara looked around the hallway.
The lawyers.
The clerks.
The people waiting for their own problems to be heard.
A place built on evidence and procedure.
A place where one missing detail could change everything.
Her phone vibrated.
She looked down.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
You need to stop asking questions about the archive.
Her fingers went still.
Evan noticed her expression.
"What is it?"
Mara did not answer.
Another message appeared.
This one included an attachment.
A photograph.
She opened it.
The image showed the inside of her apartment.
Her kitchen table.
The same cardboard folder she had left there yesterday.
Except someone had moved it.
The photograph had been taken after she left home.
Mara felt the air leave her lungs.
"Evan."
He stepped closer.
"What?"
She turned the screen toward him.
His face changed.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
"Where did you get that?"
"I didn't."
"No."
His voice dropped.
"Mara, that's not what I mean."
She looked at him.
"You know something."
Evan stared at the picture.
Then at the courtroom doors.
"They weren't trying to scare you into dropping the hearing."
"Then what?"
He looked at the folder in her hands.
"They were checking if you had it."
The courtroom door opened behind them.
A clerk called Mara's name.
She did not move.
Because suddenly the hearing was no longer about proving whether she had done something wrong.
Someone had been searching her home.
Someone knew about the folder.
And someone believed there was something inside it worth finding.
Evan stepped back.
"Mara."
She looked at him.
"Don't bring that folder in there yet."
The request should have sounded like fear.
Instead, it sounded like a warning.
And before she could decide whether to trust him, the courtroom clerk called her name again, louder this time.
Mara stepped toward the courtroom door because standing still had started to feel like a decision someone else was making for her.
The clerk holding the door looked impatient.
"Ms. Voss, we need you inside."
She nodded once.
"I know."
Evan caught her arm before she reached the doorway.
Not hard.
Not enough to stop her.
Just enough to make her turn.
"Whatever happens in there," he said quietly, "do not let them separate you from that folder."
Mara looked at his hand on her sleeve.
He noticed and let go immediately.
A small apology crossed his face before he spoke again.
"I mean it."
She lowered her voice.
"Why would they try?"
Evan looked uncomfortable.
"Because if they know what's inside, they already know more than they should."
"That is still not an answer."
"No."
He glanced at the courtroom.
"I don't have one."
For once, Mara believed him.
That did not make her trust him.
It only meant she believed he was afraid for a reason.
She walked into the courtroom with the folder pressed against her side.
The room was smaller than she expected.
There were no dramatic rows of people waiting to judge her.
Just wooden benches, a long table, a few attorneys arranging papers, and a judge reviewing documents with the detached patience of someone who had seen thousands of people walk in carrying their worst days.
Mara sat beside her attorney, Rachel Kim.
Rachel was already reading through notes.
She did not look up immediately.
"You look like you saw a ghost."
"I saw something worse."
Rachel finally looked at her.
"That usually means paperwork."
May you like
Mara placed the folder on the table.
"Someone entered my apartment."
