The waiting room outside Julius’s main office was completely full by nine in the morning. Young men and women sat side by side on the long chairs, holding their folders and papers tightly.

The air in the room felt tight with stress. Every time the inner door opened, everyone looked up with anxious eyes.

The hiring standards for Julius’s company were famous for being very difficult, and the pressure was already breaking people down. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

A young girl walked out of the inner office, wiping her face with a tissue and sobbing softly as she hurried past the front desk. Another applicant near the entrance looked down, crying quietly into her hands. They had no idea the intense environment was completely intentional.

​Inside the office, Julius sat calmly in the large chair behind his wide desk. He looked perfectly relaxed, dressed in a plain dark suit.

He had a stack of papers spread out in front of him to keep up appearances, but his mind was not on hiring a real assistant. He was playing his part smoothly, waiting to catch the person who thought they could slip into his company.

​Marcus sat right next to him at the corner of the desk. Harrison had lent his assistant to Julius for the morning to handle the tech side of the operation.

Marcus’s laptop was open, and his fingers moved across the keys softly, making barely any sound. He was running live background checks on every single person who stepped through the door, scanning their history in real time.

​Behind the dark glass window of the attached security room, Harrison stood out of sight. He remained completely quiet, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the space through the live video feed.

He did not like letting Julius sit out there as the main target, but he knew Julius needed to run his own office interviews to make the bait believable.

Outside the main entrance of the suite, Daniel stood with his back against the wall, his eyes fixed on the hallway while his guards waited for a single word to move.

​"The next one is the one we are waiting for, Julius," Marcus whispered, clicking a button on his mouse. "This is applicant number fourteen. The name on the paper is check as Edward Clay."

​"Let him in," Julius said, his voice low and steady.

​The door opened, and a young man walked in. He looked very confident, wearing a neat navy suit and carrying a folder under his arm.

He walked over to the desk with a bright, easy smile, looking like a man who believed he had everything under control. "Good morning. My name is Edward Clay. It is a true honor to meet you, Mr. Julius."

​"Good morning, Edward," Julius said, showing a polite, welcoming smile. He pointed to the empty chair across from him. "Please, take a seat."

​Edward sat down, crossing his legs comfortably. He handed his resume across the clean desk. "Thank you. I have been looking forward to this interview for a long time. I know your company only takes the absolute best, and I believe my skills match your high standards perfectly."

​Julius took the paper, looking down at the text.

He already knew every lie written on it, but he played along smoothly. "Your history looks very impressive, Edward. It says here you managed the main office at a logistics firm on the south side for three years."

​"Yes, that is correct," Edward said, nodding quickly with total confidence.

"I handled all the scheduling, the private messages, and the internal files for the senior partners. It was a lot of work, but I enjoy staying busy and keeping things organized."

​Marcus kept his head down, his fingers tapping gently on his keyboard. On his screen, a red warning light suddenly flashed.

He was pulling up the geographical data for the residential address Edward had listed on his contact form.

​Julius noticed the small red light reflecting on Marcus’s glasses out of the corner of his eye.

He did not look over, keeping his eyes locked on Edward, his mind working sharply. "Managing files for senior partners requires a lot of trust. Tell me, Edward, how do you handle a situation where an outside source tries to get private information from you?"

​Edward laughed softly, looking completely relaxed in his seat. "Well, that is easy. Loyalty is everything to me. I have never shared a single piece of company data in my entire life. My past employers will tell you that I am completely reliable."

​"That sounds wonderful," Julius said, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands together on top of the desk.

His tone remained gentle, but his eyes grew a bit colder. "But I am curious about your living situation. You listed an apartment building on Tenth Street as your current home."

​"Oh, yes," Edward said smoothly, not showing a single hint of fear. "I have lived there for about two years now. It is a very quiet neighborhood, close to the transit lines. It makes the morning travel very easy."

​Julius let out a soft, low sound that was almost a laugh. "That is very interesting, Edward. Because my security team checked that exact address this morning. That apartment building was completely torn down five years ago. A massive shopping center stands there now. Tell me, how do you live in a place that does not exist?"

​Edward’s smile went away for a tiny second before he caught himself, his knuckles turning slightly white against his folder. "Ah, there must be a typo on the paper. I must have entered my old childhood address by mistake when I was filling out the online form."

​Marcus suddenly turned his laptop screen just enough for Julius to see it. A real-time face scan had just finished processing.

The system matched Edward’s face to a private bank account that received a large cash deposit just two days ago.

The electronic signature on the money transfer belonged to an encrypted account that Marcus knew very well. It was the exact same account Sarah used before she disappeared.

​"There is no mistake, Edward," Marcus spoke up, his voice cold as he looked up from his screen. "The other jobs you listed do not exist either. And your real name is not Edward Clay. It is Timothy Cole."

​The young man’s face went completely pale, all the color draining from his skin in an instant. The confidence vanished from his eyes, and his body went stiff in the chair.

He looked at Marcus, then at Julius, his hands shaking as he gripped the edges of his folder. "I... I do not know what you are talking about. This is a standard job interview. If you do not want to hire me, I will just leave."

​"The interview is over, Timothy," Julius said softly, his voice dropping into a dark, dominant tone.

He looked directly into the man’s panicked eyes, walking him straight into the end of the trap. "You did not apply for this job because you wanted a career here in my company. Sarah sent you to spy on me, didn’t she?"

​Timothy gasped, his chest rising and falling quickly as he realized his cover was completely destroyed.

He stood up fast, knocking his chair backward against the floor. He turned around quickly, wanting to run for the exit.

​But before he could take a single step toward the door, the electronic lock clicked loudly.

Daniel pushed the door open from the outside, stepping into the room with two large guards right behind him. Daniel’s big frame completely blocked the doorway, his face hard and unyielding.

​"Going somewhere, Timothy?" Daniel asked, his voice low.

​The two guards moved forward smoothly, grabbing Timothy by his arms before he could even think about struggling.

They pushed him back down into the chair, holding him firmly by his shoulders so he could not move.

Timothy looked up at Julius, his eyes wide with fear, his breath coming in short, rough gasps. He finally realized he was not nearly as wise as he thought.