Forever Was A Lie

Chapter 2: My Findings

Aria's POV:

Later that night,

I was supposed to just go home, but instead I went and met someone I shouldn’t have.

It is not as you think, really. This was not a “sin of the body” thing, just risky. Very risky.

Her name is Nina Griggs. A legend in her disappointment, she was a part of Wolfe’s circus as a nanny, stage mother, and sometimes human shield, and today is just another sharp-tongued regular at the shabbiest bar in town.

I found her when people just can’t keep it online. On Reddit of all places. Behind fake usernames they may hide, but the angry ones come out in the end.

We went to this hole in the wall at 12th and Main. Imagine sticky seats, a broken jukebox playing out of sync, and restrooms with that unique don’t ask what we use for perfume.

She sized me up right away. “Are you Wolf’s daughter or his little toy? She waved her whiskey around like it was a badge. “You don’t look a day over 25."

I said, “Not at all. I just want to see how the sausage factory works and what he really likes.

She gave me that, which put me in parts of the picture and also at the fool’s end.

Sure thing, my love, you don’t want to meet the guy. The name is true.

I just shrugged; I wanted to see him fall.

That did it. Slowly, she smiled, a big smile that showed off her teeth. “That’s more like it.

And then we did. Forever, it seemed.

Quiet, reserved. Off the scale, odd, in a haunted way. Hard to see outside.

And the staff went through it constantly. In and out of the picture they appear. The place was as silent as a tomb, charged with tension that at any time would explode into a panic attack whenever he walked by.

She even rattled off his schedule: he runs perfectly at the same time each day, doesn’t miss his morning run, coffee is of the cinnamon variety, so punctual you could set a watch on it.

He is a robot. No puns, no feelings; it doesn’t really pass for humans. She had her second drink. But even robots break. There is a break in everything.

I leaned in. “Yeah? What’s his?”

Nina stared at me intensely.

She said finally, “That was the one he looked at, his daughter. If you’re out for revenge, that is your target.

That left me breathless. Very heavy.

Go for what he values most.

But in the wake of it, all he took from me. Morality was something I had given up.

What if I just took up the role of her nanny? I said mostly in jest, mostly not. It didn’t quite sit right with me.

Nina for a moment. silent. Then she went through her worn-out purse and came up with this folded-up letter.

Never put it in, she mumbled. They were looking for a new one. I didn’t think I could handle that for a second time. I left it to someone else to get that far out.

In my hand is a referral form from Nina. Full name included.

“You’re actually serious,” I blurted.

She smiled, which was as sharp as broken glass. You are. Also like me.

After I returned to my home, the storm broke loose. The wind was as if it were trying to get in.

In the bathroom, I stood looking at my image. My hair was wet from the rain, my eyes were wild and those words I said were low and mean.

“I’m coming for you.”

Out of the woodwork, I am bringing this to light.

Flashback (A year back....)

Aria's POV:

Things seem strange.

First I had a dropped call, and then my card was rejected for coffee. At that point, I thought, “Okay, this is annoying, but not the end of the world”—but” then in comes my father. He looks like he’s been given the world’s toughest job, which someone had made two times worse by telling him there’s no such thing as overtime.

He had that distant look, the one that is present in people that just saw their world fall apart. Petrified me. I have never come across a more frightening headline.

He was silent. To pizza, I put it forward; to whiskey, I proffered that as well. But he went to the edge of the sofa in his disheveled suit, tie askew, and onto the TV, and he gazed at it. I thought he was seeing a ghost and did recognize it.

In the hall I was a shadow myself, watching his, which had stretched into a strange shape. His shoulders were drawn up as if the weight of the world was upon him, and it was only a matter of time before he broke.

What is the issue, Dad? I said to break the silence.

He broke out with, “Everything. It was as though even the act of speech was painful.

******

Those two weeks were torture.

His company, Langford Security Group, which was once the poster child for “trustworthy new tech,” has now been put in the spotlight.

But here’s what really wrecked him: Literally all left. Partners, “friends,” and investors used to send him Christmas cards. No responses to his calls. No emails. Government contracts? Gone.

From the top to out of the question in a little over a week. Wow.

Langford was in the eye of the storm due to the data breach; the billionaire broke off the partnership in the wake of the scandal. I’ll never forget that headline.

Up until that point, I thought it was a dream. But when his name came up, no way. That’s when I could tell it was planned out. The pieces began to fall into place.

The night before he went (which is still very hard to type), we sat at the kitchen table. We didn’t say much. He looked broken. Red eyes, hollow cheeks, and hands that shook as if he was fighting demons.

Finally, what he says is that he didn’t break any rules. They made me put my signature on something that was against the policy.

I blinked. “A what?”

Right there, upon the napkin, he started sketching boxes, arrows, and security layers. Even at that, teaching mode. "They were not after security; it was about control. Power. So, they wanted to somehow install a secret kill switch.