Forever Was A Lie

Chapter 3: The Descent

Aria's POV:

I swallowed, all nervous. “Who’s ‘they’?”

Quite, I have never known, he utters, “said Cassian Wolfe.

My heart dropped. "Why didn’t you put it out there for all to see?

"He finally looked at me, in that which I had ever seen of his empty nothingness. “Because he had told the few that mattered.

Two days. That’s all it took....

He was gone just like that.

The report said his death was due to heart failure. Yeah, right.

I didn’t buy it.

My dad’s not dead from heart issues. Not at all.

He was killed by an assassin.

I got into some really out-there tangents after that. I had to find it. I went through everything.

Dad’s collection of broken electronics, thumb drives, which really should be in a museum, and boxes of pay-as-you-go phones. Folders are locked up in multiple layers of password protection. For the most part, it was erased. That which did remain was very well done. I must give them that. But not completely, not to the degree I am.

That’s what I found, a report in a place no one would think to look at, archived on some dusty server backup. Poorly encrypted. He did, didn’t he?

I did it. No sleep, but I got through it.

It went beyond a simple breach. There was no breach. It was a setup. Planting of evidence.

All of a sudden, the question turned around. What happened was not the issue but who did it and why.

Staring at that, I could almost hear the click. Langford was done in, his reputation ruined, which in turn paved the way for Wolfe.

I dove into the conspiracies. I printed out documents, put a highlighter to internet rumors and news clippings, and put it all together. I did this day in and day out. My hands are sore from the constant typing.

Justice? Grief? Far behind us. This was a full-out grudge match now.

***

I brought forward the evidence that I had put together. I was of the thought that maybe, just maybe, it would help.

They put on a show of care. Smiled and nodded. I gave them my stack of evidence, which they put into the bureaucratic black hole.

Upon my return home, I found out that my place had that odd sense of something out of place. I had been through by a stranger on my TV. All that they took was my backup drive.

This was bigger than I thought.

Wolfe? He was beyond the law.

The law was working for him.

Months passed. Out of my grief came this bitter determination, something toxic but also sharp. My phone fell silent. Friends grew distant. I had bad luck at gatherings, the daughter of a traitor. People would whisper and rush away as if I were contagious.

At the same time, Cassian was untouchable. In everything he did, he pushed forward his new surveillance project, which he named Helios. That in and of itself is telling. His ego is the size of a solar flare.

He performed his snake charmer routine. No effect. He was a robot delivering precise threats.

Sometimes he brought a daughter with them, which really was more of a ghost. No one gave her a name. She didn’t grace the press with her presence. Just stood by, a background figure in that fancy dress, watching and taking it all in.

At just the time when I thought I had hit all the dead ends, I was blindsided.

My dad’s storage unit." I had been avoiding it for months, but Elise finally got me the key. My hands were shaking“. He said to come for this.

Chaos. Old papers, containers, cups, and photos. My whole life I’ve stored away and filled shelves.

In the back row, this:.

A cheque.

One million dollars. Out in the dust.

Signed by: Cassius Wolfe.

Memo line: Consulting Project Omen.

My blood ran cold.

I looked at the date, which was three months out from the “breach."

He bought my dad off. Got him to play along, or did I?

And my father never cashed it.

I had the check out of my hand like it was toxic.

If anyone saw this…

I overcame the panic and put it in a fireproof envelope.

It wasn’t just about sabotage anymore.

It went in as he was very, very good at.

I did not have money. No power. Nor status.

I had rage. Also, this time a greater danger.

***

I began my journey to a new identity by removing my name from search results, putting out false info for references, getting into childcare certification, and studying hours of Cassian’s staff interviews. I felt a change.

Not fear.

Not guilty.

Purpose. Sure, please provide the text that you would like me to paraphrase.

It became a ritual.

Morning: Train. Afternoon: research. Night: Go over what is left of Wolfe’s empire.

He’d made a mistake once.

He let my father get close.

Now he’d let me in, too.

A miracle in a soft voice, anonymous.

A set of burned-out CDs at my doorstep, which did not have a return address.

What could this be?