"It's not the same," Elena insisted.
"Isn't it?" Her father studied her for a long moment. "Elena, you're twenty-nine years old. You've accomplished extraordinary things. But this fixation on Victoria will destroy everything you've built if you let it continue."
Elena remained silent, unwilling to concede but unable to refute his words.
"I'm giving you a choice," Guillermo said after a moment. "Either refocus on Meridian's actual business priorities, or step aside from operational leadership until you can separate your personal grudges from your professional responsibilities."
Elena felt as if the floor had dropped away beneath her. "You can't be serious."
"I've never been more serious," her father replied. "I built this company from nothing. I won't watch it be undermined by misplaced vendettas."
The video call ended abruptly, leaving Elena alone in the conference room. She stood motionless, her father's ultimatum echoing in her mind. Step aside from operational leadership? The very idea was unthinkable.
When she finally returned to her office, Clara was waiting with another message from Parker: Contract between Sharp Innovations and Hauser NOT related to Meridian services. Focused on new product line in different vertical.
Relief washed over Elena, quickly followed by embarrassment. She had allowed her paranoia to create a threat where none existed. Victoria wasn't poaching her client—she was exploring an entirely different business opportunity with a company that happened to be in Elena's client portfolio.
"Ms. Vasquez?" Clara's voice broke through her thoughts. "Katherine Days is on line one. She said it's important."
Elena took a deep breath and picked up the phone. "Katherine, thank you for calling back."
"Elena," Katherine's voice was cool but professional. "I understand you wanted to speak with me urgently."
"Yes. I wanted to discuss our contract renewal. I'm eager to ensure we're meeting all your needs as we move forward."
"I appreciate your diligence," Katherine replied, her tone clipped, "but I need to be clear about something. I don't appreciate attempts to interrupt scheduled meetings with other clients or vendors. My assistant tells me you were quite insistent this morning."
Elena tensed. "I apologize if there was any misunderstanding. I simply—"
"Let me finish," Katherine interrupted. "Our contract renewal will proceed as planned—assuming Meridian delivers on its technical promises. But in the future, please respect my calendar and the protocols my office has established. I run a tight schedule for a reason."
"Of course," Elena said, swallowing her pride. "It won't happen again."
"Good. Then we have nothing to worry about." Katherine's tone softened slightly. "I understand the pressures of your position, Elena, but overreacting to every perceived competitive threat isn't sustainable. Focus on your deliverables, not on who I might be meeting with on any given day."
The call ended, leaving Elena staring at the phone in her hand. Katherine Days had just delivered a professional rebuke that felt uncomfortably like the same message her father had given her earlier. Both seeing through her careful plans to the personal motivation beneath.
The realization was unsettling. Had everyone seen what she had tried so hard to conceal? Was her obsession with Victoria Sharp common knowledge in business circles? The thought made her stomach twist with anxiety.
Elena moved to the window, watching afternoon shadows lengthen across the city. For the first time in weeks, she forced herself to examine her actions with clinical detachment. The tabloid leak, the client poaching attempts, the accelerated technology development—all reactive moves driven by emotion rather than strategy.
Her father was right. She had lost focus.
And worse, Elena was positive Victoria seemed to know it too. Why else would she go crazy at the mere mention of Victoria meeting Katherine Days? It wasn't merely professional—it was a power move. Victoria was showing that she could afford to be magnanimous because she didn't view Elena as a real threat.
The thought burned like acid.
Elena returned to her desk and opened her laptop, pulling up the Next technology assessment her team had prepared. If she couldn't compete with Victoria on the public relations front, she would double down on technology. Innovation was where the real battle would be won.
As she studied the technical specifications, Elena's phone chimed with an incoming email. The sender was unfamiliar, but the subject line made her freeze: "Regarding our time in Business School, six years ago."
With a sense of foreboding, Elena opened the message. It contained only a single line: "I know what really happened, Elena. And soon, Victoria will too."
Elena stared at the words, her heart pounding in her chest. This was impossible. No one knew what had really happened six years ago—no one except Elena herself and her father.
Unless...
Elena's mind raced through possibilities. The anonymous sender could be bluffing, fishing for information. Or perhaps her father had confided in someone. Or—most disturbing of all—perhaps Victoria had been investigating their shared past, uncovering secrets Elena had believed safely buried.
She tried to trace the email, but it had been sent through multiple anonymous proxies. She considered calling Parker, having him investigate, but that would mean bringing someone else into a situation that required absolute discretion.
Elena closed the email without responding, but she couldn't dismiss it so easily from her thoughts. If someone really did know what had happened six years ago—if Victoria were to discover the truth—everything would change. The narrative Elena had constructed, the justification for her vendetta, would collapse.
The possibility sent a tremor of genuine fear through her. Elena didn't fear professional failure or even her father's disappointment. But the prospect of Victoria Sharp learning the truth about their university days—that was something else entirely.
Clara appeared in the doorway. "Ms. Vasquez? The research team is ready for your call about accelerating the Next countermeasures."
Elena nodded mechanically. "I'll be there in a moment."
Left alone, she stared at her computer screen, the mysterious email still open. The words seemed to pulse with malevolent intent: "I know what really happened, Elena. And soon, Victoria will too."
For the first time in her carefully orchestrated career, Elena Vasquez felt truly vulnerable. The enemy she had been fighting wasn't across the battlefield in Victoria Sharp's offices—it was within herself, in the secrets she kept and the emotions she couldn't control.
Elena closed the email and stood, smoothing her impeccable suit. She would join the research call. She would refocus on Meridian's technology strategy. She would prove to her father that she could separate personal feelings from professional judgment.
But as she walked toward the conference room, Elena couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere, Victoria Sharp was moving pieces on a board Elena couldn't fully see—and that the next move might expose truths Elena had spent six years concealing.
The thought made her hands tremble slightly as she pushed open the conference room door, stepping into a meeting where everyone would expect her to have all the answers when, for the first time in her career, Elena Vasquez wasn't certain she understood the game she was playing anymore.