Chapter seven
589 Words
The rain had eased by dawn, leaving the city washed and silver. Aria hadn’t slept.
The tablet still glowed on her coffee table, lines of code flickering like static. Ethan’s name was there again — time-stamped, verified, undeniable.
She rubbed her temple and whispered under her breath, “Why, Ethan?”
Her doorbell rang.
Once.
Sharp.
Aria rose, every instinct alert. She checked the monitor — Liam.
When she opened the door, he stepped inside before she could speak, shutting it quietly behind him.
“You didn’t answer my calls,” he said.
“I was busy,” she replied, gesturing to the screen. “And I found something.”
His eyes followed the data. The moment he saw Ethan’s name, his expression changed.
“Ethan Voss? He was in the system?”
“Exactly thirty minutes before the footage was erased,” she said. “Either he’s being framed, or he’s not who I thought he was.”
Liam’s jaw tightened. “You said he was just a warning. You gave him that envelope.”
“And he might’ve used it to start something bigger,” she muttered. “I trusted him to react — not disappear into Chen’s servers.”
She clicked the next file. A frame appeared — partial video, corrupted but recoverable.
A hallway, dimly lit. A man in a gray coat. The timestamp matched the missing window.
The face wasn’t clear, but the posture, the way he turned his wrist — familiar.
Liam leaned closer. “That’s Ethan.”
Aria exhaled, her pulse steady but cold. “Then he’s not just asking questions. He’s taking risks I didn’t plan for.”
Liam looked at her. “You think he’s working against us?”
She met his gaze. “I think someone’s using him. And if we don’t find who, we’ll be next.”
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Later that morning, they were back inside Chen Group — this time in the sublevel archive room, surrounded by humming servers and pale blue light.
“System access is restricted here,” Liam said, scanning his badge. “Only six people have clearance.”
“Then one of the six erased the footage,” Aria said. “Give me the list.”
He hesitated. “Aria—”
“Now.”
He handed her the tablet. Six names appeared. One of them made her stop breathing.
Ethan Voss — Temporary Access Granted by Liam Chen.
Her head snapped toward him. “You gave him access?”
“I had to,” Liam said, his voice low. “He came to me two weeks ago, said he was investigating the Lin accounts. He said you told him to dig deeper.”
“I never said that,” she whispered.
Liam’s face darkened. “Then he’s playing both sides.”
Before Aria could respond, the room lights flickered. A sharp beep echoed from the server.
Then, across the screen — one line of red text:
System breach detected. External override in progress.
“Someone’s in the network,” Liam said, already moving toward the console.
Aria grabbed his arm. “Shut it down.”
“I can’t — they’ve overridden my credentials.”
The screen shifted again — this time to a single video feed. A live camera.
It showed the Chen Group lobby.
Ethan was there.
Standing in the rain-soaked entrance, hood drawn, holding something small and metallic in his hand — a drive.
Aria’s stomach dropped. “He’s not running,” she said slowly. “He’s coming to us.”
- Writer
