“You know,” Aria murmured as she watched the sun rise over the bay, “this enemy doesn’t want money. They want meaning. To unmake everything I rebuilt.”
Jerry leaned against the doorframe, sipping his coffee. “Which means it’s personal. Not business.”
“Someone who knows me intimately. Someone who studied my patterns. My fear isn’t that they’re watching... it’s that I might already know them.”
He walked over, brushing a loose strand of hair from her cheek. “Then it’s time we smoke them out.”
~~*~~
In the tech lab, Philip outlined the next phase of their counterattack.
“The bait worked, but they didn’t flinch. Whoever X is, they’re not just clever, they’re confident. So, we change the narrative.”
Aria folded her arms. “How?”
“We leak a fake vulnerability report. Make it seem like ther
