The old apartment rattled with the morning thunder of trams, but the sound that filled the bedroom was worse—a heavy, tearing cough. Kateryna Petrivna, pale and shaking, forced herself upright, reaching blindly for her slippers. Sweat beaded her forehead, yet her eyes held that stubborn light of a woman who had never allowed herself to give up. “Grandma, you’re out of your mind!
” Stefania dropped her university notes and rushed to the bed. “Your temperature is nearly forty. You’re not going anywhere. ”
“Stefo, don’t talk nonsense.
” The old woman’s voice trembled, but she gripped the bed frame and pushed herself up. “I can’t let them down. Ostap Tarasovych always treated me decently. And today they have decisive talks—the girls said the company’s future depends on it.
”
“How can cleaning an office affect an IT company that builds drone software? ”
“Cleanliness always matters, dear. ” But then Kateryna Petrivna grabbed her temple and let out a pained groan. “Lie down.
” Stefania eased her back onto the pillows. “Give me your keys and your pass. I’m going in your place. ”
“Stefo, no.
I didn’t raise you to run around with a mop. ”
“Don’t worry. The office won’t be left unclean, and you won’t be left without a paycheck. ”
—
The autumn street hit her cold as she walked to the metro.
She was heading to Podil, to the glass business center where Aerotech rented a floor. Stefania knew her grandmother loved that job—the comfortable schedule, the decent pay, the feeling of belonging to something important. She also knew that without it, they would barely survive. She decided to cut through an old courtyard squeezed between historical buildings.
Near a transformer box, she spotted two men. One wore a perfectly tailored suit; the other had a shapeless jacket with a hood over his eyes. The contrast was absurd in that grimy yard. Stefania took a step back and hid behind the thick trunk of a chestnut tree.
Then she recognized the man in the suit. Dmytro. The deputy director of Aerotech. “The flash drive is with me,” Dmytro said quietly, passing something to the hooded man.
“As soon as Ostap starts the presentation for the British investors, I’ll signal. You activate the virus, it tears down the security system, and you copy the source code. By the time they realize what happened, the code will be with our competitors. The investors will walk, thinking the system is leaky.
”
“And my money? ”
“Once the code is on our secure server. Everything is thought out. ”
Stefania’s heart pounded in her throat.
Source code for military drones. Corporate espionage. A catastrophe. She had to warn Ostap Tarasovych.
But she was a student, coming to replace her grandmother the cleaning lady. Who would believe her? —
At the reception, Olena, the office manager, clicked her tongue with sympathy when she learned about the sick grandmother, then handed Stefania a guest badge and a company polo. “Stefo, save me!
Wipe the dust in the main conference room, please. A Zoom call with British investors starts in fifteen minutes. Ostap Tarasovych is on needles today. ”
Stefania walked into the spacious room with panoramic windows, armed with a microfiber cloth.
A massive table filled with microphones. A huge screen glowing on the wall. Then the doors swung open. Ostap stood at the threshold—the founder of Aerotech, middle-aged, sharp-featured, his face gray with fatigue and chronic sleeplessness.
“Who are you? ” he asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes at the girl with the spray bottle. “Stefania. Kateryna Petrivna’s granddaughter.
She’s sick—I’m covering for her. ”
“Understood. Rule one: don’t touch the wires near the server. And make sure you’re nowhere near here during the call.
Understood? ”
She nodded, the warning rising to her lips. But at that exact moment, Dmytro stepped into the room with the easy confidence of a man who had just sold out his own company. Stefania turned to the window and attacked the glass with her cloth like her life depended on it.
—
The negotiations started. Stefania stayed in the corridor, wiping the leaves of tall ficuses, hovering as close to the glass doors as she dared. The British spoke fast, full of technical terms, and she understood every word—she was a third-year cybernetics student. They were approaching the climax.
In minutes, Ostap would share the screen with the algorithm. Then Olena appeared from nowhere. “Stefo, make coffee for the guys, please. The printer jammed my contracts—I don’t have time!
”
The plan formed in a second. Her hands were shaking as she set two large cups of fresh, scalding americano onto a tray. She entered the conference room exactly as Ostap reached for his mouse. Dmytro’s hand was already under the table, gripping his phone.
Stefania took a step, faked a stumble, and both cups of boiling coffee flew in a straight stream onto Dmytro’s expensive Italian trousers and shirt. The room shattered with his shriek. He jumped up, doubled over, cursing through clenched teeth as his skin cooked. A small black device clattered from his hand onto the thick carpet.
“Sorry—technical pause. Ten minutes. ” Ostap cut the camera and microphone, then turned to Stefania, his eyes blazing. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?
You almost ruined the deal of a decade. You’re fired. You and your grandmother. Get out.
”
“I’m getting napkins,” Dmytro hissed, and bolted for the bathroom, his skin already turning red. They were alone. “You’re still here? ” Ostap barked.
“I’m leaving. ” Stefania lifted her head, her gaze cold and steady. “But first, you will listen. Your deputy was about to signal the hackers.
They wanted to destroy your security system and leak the source code to your competitors during your presentation. I heard him in the courtyard. ”
Ostap froze, staring at her as if he had hit a wall. Then heavy, furious steps echoed from the hallway.
“Disappear,” he said quietly. —
Stefania stripped off the polo, threw it on a chair, and walked out of the glass tower into the cold street. She was trembling. She had just prevented a multimillion-dollar catastrophe—and destroyed her grandmother’s only income.
Hot tears blurred the gray city as she walked blindly along Petrov Sahaidachnoho Street. A hard shove. She slammed her shoulder into something solid. Her canvas bag slipped from her hands, and her handwritten notes scattered across the wet pavement.
“Careful! ” she snapped, then froze with her mouth open. A young man, maybe 25, tall, in a stylish dark trench coat, was already crouching, gathering her papers filled with algorithms and formulas. His smile was apologetic and warm.
“I’m sorry. My fault. You were walking as if the world around you didn’t exist. One more step and you’d be under that scooter.
”
Only then she realized she had been standing at the edge of the bike lane, where a courier had just flown past. “Thank you,” she breathed, taking her notes. “It’s just—it’s the worst day of my life. I got fired.
And so did my sick grandmother. ”
He looked at her without pity, only genuine curiosity. “Sounds like the perfect start to a thriller. ” He smiled.
“You know, scientists say sugar is great for stress. There’s a place around the corner that makes incredible cheesecakes with salted caramel. Let me treat you. I’m Maksym.
”
Stefania hesitated. Her conscience screamed that she should go home to her grandmother. But confessing her disgrace felt worse. “I’m Stefania.
And maybe those cheesecakes really won’t hurt. ”
—
They settled at a tiny table in a cozy café. Maksym turned out to be an easy, warm conversationalist. He didn’t pry into her pain, telling funny stories from his student years instead, passionately describing new tech startups.
She started laughing—truly laughing for the first time in ages. “By the way, I’m here waiting for my father,” he said casually, stirring his cappuccino. “He’s in extremely difficult negotiations right now. Everything is on the line.
He’s probably losing his last nerve cells as we speak. ”
Stefania froze, the cup halfway to her lips. Negotiations. Investors.
No—it was absurd. Kyiv was full of companies doing negotiations every day. His phone buzzed sharply on the wooden table. He glanced at the screen, and his relaxed face turned serious.
“Father. Sorry, I have to run. Something urgent came up. ”
He stood up and dropped a bill on the table.
“Stefo, it was a pleasure. Give me your number, I promise I’ll call. ”
She mumbled the digits automatically. He waved warmly and disappeared through the door.
The fragile illusion of peace dissolved with the scent of freshly ground coffee. —
She opened the door of the old apartment, praying her grandmother was asleep. A hoarse but surprisingly alert voice answered: “Stefo, is that you? Tell me quickly!
How is Ostap Tarasovych? How did the talks go? Did you clean everything properly? ”
Stefania let her coat slip from her shoulders, feeling like she was walking to the scaffold.
“Grandma. ” Her voice cracked into a whisper. “I was fired. And you too.
”
Kateryna Petrivna sat up slowly, gripping the blanket with her worn fingers. Her pale face turned completely white. “What do you mean, fired? For what, Stefo?
Who dared to offend you? ”
Stefania smiled weakly through tears. That was her grandmother—always ready to stand like a mountain between her granddaughter and the world. “I wanted to do good, but it turned into a catastrophe.
”
“Stefo, stop. Sit down and tell me everything from the beginning. ”
So she did. The dirty courtyard, Dmytro and the hacker, the coffee on Italian pants, the cold look on Ostap Tarasovych’s face.
The grandmother listened without interrupting. “Strange,” she said at last. “Ostap Tarasovych always seemed fair to me. Maybe you misunderstood something?
But it happens—good intentions can turn into disaster. We’ll figure something out. Come, let’s have lunch. I feel a little better.
”
On the small kitchen, Stefania set the table mechanically, still lost in her shame. Her grandmother suddenly narrowed her eyes. “Stefo, you didn’t tell me everything, did you? ”
Stefania blushed to the roots of her hair.
“Grandma, I met a very kind young man today. His name is Maksym. He rescued me on Podil. ”
“Oh, you really have grown up,” the old woman said, wiping the corner of her eye.
Sharp, insistent knocking broke through the soft moment. The two women exchanged glances. No one was expected. Stefania unlocked the door.
Her hand on the handle trembled. The air in the narrow hallway turned thick as lead. Ostap Tarasovych, the unapproachable director of Aerotech, stood on their humble doorstep holding a luxurious cake from the best pastry shop in Kyiv. And behind him stood Maksym.
The same young man who had bought her cheesecakes an hour ago. “May we come in? ” Ostap asked quietly. “I understand this is an unexpected visit, but I had no right to wait until tomorrow.
”
“Yes, of course. ” Stefania stepped aside. Kateryna Petrivna came out of the bedroom, and at the sight of the director nearly fainted. She quickly straightened her old housecoat, looking between Ostap and the stranger.
“Ostap Tarasovych! What’s happening? Forgive the mess, we weren’t expecting guests. Stefo, why are you standing like a statue—bring the cups!
”
—
Ten minutes later, the four of them sat around the tiny kitchen table. The heavy tension dissolved slowly, warmed by the scent of herbal tea and vanilla cake. “I came here,” Ostap said, “to apologize personally, looking into your eyes, for my impulsive behavior. ” His voice was heavy with shame.
“Stefo, you acted bravely. You saved the work of my whole life and the reputation of this company. ”
Then he told them the rest. Her words had been too confident, too honest—she had no reason to lie.
So he checked. When Dmytro returned from the bathroom, Ostap pressed the panic button under his desk. Security found the tiny transmitter in the carpet, the same one that had fallen from Dmytro’s hand. “Had it not been for the coffee—had it not been for that scene—he would have sent the signal.
The malicious code was already on a flash drive inside one of our servers. Dmytro just had to activate it. The British would have seen our security system collapse, and competitors would have quietly downloaded all the source code of our reconnaissance algorithms. ” His jaw tightened.
“This wasn’t just about money. It was a direct threat to the defense capability of the whole country. ”
Stefania barely breathed. Now she truly understood what she had prevented.
“We handed Dmytro to the authorities,” Maksym added softly. He had been watching her the whole time. “Father called me the moment security arrested him. That’s why I had to leave the café in such a hurry—I had to help our IT team isolate the virus.
By the way. ” He tilted his head. “You said you were fired. Why didn’t you tell me you work for my father’s company?
”
“Because I don’t. ” Stefania met his gaze. “I was covering for my grandmother. I’m a third-year cybernetics student.
”
Ostap leaned forward, his exhaustion suddenly replaced by a spark of interest. “Cybernetics, you say? ” He tapped his fingers on the table. “I did fire the cleaning lady this morning.
But right now I am desperately short of sharp, fearless, and honest junior specialists for my security testing team. I’m offering you a paid internship with a flexible schedule. ”
“And me? ” Kateryna Petrivna asked, her eyes filling with tears.
“And you, Kateryna Petrivna, will never touch a mop again. ” Ostap’s voice was firm. “You have been with us since the first day. You are the kind soul of our office.
I am transferring you to the position of administrator of the housekeeping department. Your only task will be to supervise the cleaning contractors. No physical work. And we will significantly raise your salary.
”
The old woman broke down and wept. Stefania rushed to embrace her, and her own tears came freely—tears of relief, of deliverance from the constant, grinding fear of tomorrow that had followed them for years. Maksym rose, walked to Stefania, and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. “And you tried to convince me this was the worst day of your life.
” He smiled. “By the way, I never finished my salted caramel cheesecake. And now that you’re my future colleague in cybersecurity, you owe me your story about how you caught a corporate spy. How about a proper date on Friday?
I promise—no unexpected calls from my father, and no reckless scooters. ”
Stefania looked up at him through her tears, incredibly happy, and nodded with a small, unsteady smile. Outside the window, the deep autumn night had already settled over Kyiv, lighting the city with thousands of warm windows.
For the first time in years, neither of them feared what the next morning would bring.
