CHAPTER 7: HAUNTING A GHOST
980 Words
Ethan had never lost control before.
This was different.
The whole office was dead quiet, except for his fingers drumming on the glass desk. They kept a steady rhythm impatient, almost controlled, if you didn’t look too close.
But underneath all that?
Rage.
Colder than ice.
“Nothing?” He spoke without lifting his eyes.
The man across from him shifted, nervous. “No confirmed sightings. No transactions in her name. No phone activity.”
Ethan’s jaw clenched.
“That’s impossible.”
“She disappeared,” the man went on, picking his words carefully. “No sign, no slip-ups. Not digital, not physical. Like she just vanished.”
Ethan let out a tight breath. Leaned back, slow and measured.
No.
Not vanished.
Removed.
Cleanly.
Deliberately.
Like someone who knew the game inside and out.
His stare got darker.
“Ava doesn’t operate that way,” he said.
The man hesitated.
“Maybe she does.”
Ethan’s gaze snapped up, cold and sharp.
“Or maybe,” the guy hurried, “someone helped her.”
Silence.
That made more sense. Suddenly, Ethan’s fingers went completely still.
“Yes.” His voice dropped. “She didn’t pull this off alone.”
Because the Ava he remembered the woman who trusted him, who signed whatever he gave her she couldn’t pull off something this perfect. No way.
So what did that mean?
Someone taught her.
Or, worse...
Someone was waiting.
“Find out who,” Ethan said, flat and cold.
“We’re trying, but…”
“No,” Ethan cut him off, his voice dropping lower. “You’re not trying hard enough.”
The tension in the room got heavy. Real heavy.
“I want names. Contacts. Anyone she talked to in the last month. All her movements, habits every detail.”
The man nodded, quick and obedient. “Understood.”
“And the accounts?” Ethan pressed.
Another pause.
That was enough of an answer.
Ethan’s expression darkened further.
“She locked us out,” the man admitted. “Every access point closed or rerouted. Whoever did it, knew exactly where to hit.”
Ethan’s fist slowly curled, knuckles whitening.
“She moved quicker than we expected.”
Quicker.
Sharper.
Colder.
He almost smiled, but it was humorless.
“Interesting.”
Because this? This wasn’t the woman he thought he could simply erase.
This was someone else.
Across the room, Lila was frozen in place. She didn’t say much just held herself, arms wrapped tight, as if something inside was already shattering.
“She’s not supposed to do this,” she whispered.
Ethan kept his eyes away.
“She wasn’t supposed to find out.”
Still nothing from him.
“Ethan,” Lila’s voice trembled now, “this isn’t how it was supposed to go.”
That made him turn. Slow and deliberate.
“What did you think would happen?” His tone was ice.
Lila flinched. “I thought…” She stopped. Whatever thought she had sounded ridiculous now.
“I thought she would accept it.”
Ethan stared, then he laughed. A low, cold sound pure disbelief.
“Accept it?” he echoed. “Accept being erased?”
Panic flared in Lila’s eyes. “You said she wouldn’t be a problem!”
“And she wouldn’t have been,” he snapped. His voice cut sharper than before. “If she hadn’t known.”
The silence was suffocating.
Lila swallowed, hard. “So how did she find out?”
The question just sat there.
Ethan replayed everything from last night. Every detail. Every look, every smile. The way she watched him at the altar so calm. No confusion, no hurt. Just certainty.
She knew.
His face shifted, just a bit.
“She heard us.”
Lila’s breath caught. “No”
“She was too calm,” Ethan muttered, almost talking to himself now. “She knew.”
A chill went through Lila.
“If she heard us…” she whispered, “then she knows everything.”
Ethan’s gaze turned to steel.
“Yes.”
That changed it all.
This wasn’t about control anymore.
Or strategy.
Or timing.
This was war.
Miles away, in a secure, quiet room, Aria Vale sat at ease, one leg over the other, eyes focused on her screen.
Cameras.
Data streams.
Live updates.
Every move Ethan made she saw it.
“They’re digging deeper,” Daniel said, standing behind her.
Aria didn’t blink.
“I expected it.”
“He’s scrambling.”
Her mouth barely quirked into a smile.
“So am I.”
Daniel watched her. “You aren’t scared he’ll find you?”
Aria leaned back, still locked on the screen. Ethan’s grainy face flickered across distant, unmistakable.
Something flickered in her eyes.
Not love.
Not pain.
Something colder.
Recognition.
“He’s not looking for me,” she said quietly.
Daniel frowned. “What do you mean?”
Aria’s smile sharpened. Dangerous.
“He’s searching for Ava Collins.” She tapped the screen.
“But she’s gone.”
Daniel stayed quiet.
You couldn’t argue with the certainty in her voice. You just felt it. Or feared it.
Back in the office, Ethan moved suddenly stood up, quick and decisive.
“I’m leaving.”
Lila blinked. “Where?”
Ethan threw on his coat, no hesitation.
“If she heard us, she’ll move.”
And when she does.
His eyes went almost black.
“I’ll be ready.”
Aria’s phone buzzed softly. Another alert. She glanced at it and smiled.
“He’s moving,” she murmured.
Daniel stepped closer. “Where?”
Aria stood, calm as ever.
“Doesn’t matter.”
She grabbed her coat.
For every play Ethan made.
She’d already made three.
“Let him chase,” she said quietly, eyes shining with hard confidence.
“He’s not the hunter here.”
A pause.
Then
“I’m leading him.”
- Writer
