Chapter 6: The Girl He Didn’t Expect
1118 Words
50%.
The loading bar glowed like a ticking bomb in Amara’s hands.
“Run,” Ethan said again.
But this time—
She didn’t.
Instead, Amara did something he did not expect.
She turned off her phone.
Completely.
Not just the screen.
She forced a hard shutdown.
The screen went black.
Silence.
Ethan stared at her.
“…What did you just do?”
Her heart was hammering but her voice was steady.
“You said they’re extracting remotely. That means connection. No connection, no transfer.”
He blinked.
“That won’t stop it permanently—”
“I know. But it buys us time.”
For a split second, something flickered in his eyes.
Respect.
Then his phone buzzed again.
He looked down.
His expression changed instantly.
“What?” she demanded.
“They’re not just pulling the file.”
A cold weight dropped in her stomach.
“They’re activating it.”
“Activating what?”
He looked at her phone in her hand.
“Open it.”
Her breath hitched.
“I just shut it down.”
“Open it.”
Her fingers trembled as she powered it back on.
The screen lit up.
And immediately—
A black interface replaced her home screen.
Not her apps.
Not her wallpaper.
A secure window.
One she had never seen before.
White text appeared:
“SECONDARY PROTOCOL INITIATED.”
Her pulse roared.
“What is this?” she whispered.
Ethan’s face drained of color.
“I didn’t install that.”
More text appeared.
“DATA RELEASE IN 60 SECONDS.”
Her throat tightened.
“What data release?”
His voice turned hoarse.
“The file wasn’t just evidence.”
She stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It’s programmed,” he said. “If tampered with… it auto-sends to multiple media outlets.”
Her mind exploded.
“You made a dead man’s switch?”
“Yes.”
“And you forgot to mention that?!” she snapped.
“I didn’t think they could trigger it remotely!”
The countdown dropped.
52 seconds.
“If it sends—?” she demanded.
“It exposes everything. Names. Transactions. Crimes.”
“That’s good, right?”
He looked at her.
“No.”
Her stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“Because once it’s public… they won’t need the file anymore.”
The meaning hit her.
“They’ll just eliminate us.”
Silence.
49 seconds.
Her breathing quickened.
“You said it had your brother’s name on it.”
“It does.”
“And if it sends?”
“Then his death becomes public.”
Her chest tightened.
“And?”
“And so does something else.”
Her pulse thudded painfully.
“What else, Ethan?”
His voice lowered.
“My name.”
The countdown hit 40.
“You’re on the list?” she breathed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
Then—
“Because I didn’t just steal from them.”
Her stomach twisted.
“I helped them before I stopped.”
The words felt like a punch.
“You were part of it.”
“Yes.”
The honesty burned.
“And if this sends,” he continued quietly, “I go down with them.”
The air left her lungs.
This wasn’t just exposure.
It was self-destruction.
32 seconds.
The alley felt suffocating.
“What do we do?” she asked.
His jaw tightened.
“There’s one way to stop it.”
“What?”
He looked at her phone.
“We have to destroy it.”
Her grip tightened instinctively.
“This is the only proof.”
“And it’s the only thing keeping us alive right now.”
24 seconds.
Sirens sounded again in the distance.
Closer.
But different this time.
Not police.
Too controlled.
Too quiet.
Her chest tightened.
“They’re coming,” she whispered.
Ethan looked torn.
Proof.
Justice.
Survival.
20 seconds.
He stepped closer.
“Amara.”
His voice softened.
“If I destroy that phone, we disappear. We run. New identities. No more looking back.”
“And if we don’t?”
His eyes hardened.
“We finish this war.”
15 seconds.
The weight of the decision crushed her.
Walk away and live in hiding.
Or expose everything and burn the world down.
10 seconds.
Her heart pounded violently.
“Choose,” he said.
She looked at him.
Really looked at him.
The guilt in his eyes.
The grief.
The man who had done terrible things.
The man who tried to fix them.
5 seconds.
She made her decision.
And it wasn’t what he expected.
She lifted the phone.
Not to smash it.
But to her ear.
And pressed one button.
Speaker.
The line connected automatically.
The same distorted voice from before came through.
“You’re smarter than he thought,” the voice said calmly.
Ethan’s body went rigid.
Amara’s voice was steady.
“You want the file?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
She swallowed.
“Then meet me.”
Ethan turned sharply toward her.
“Amara—”
She cut him off without looking at him.
“Alone.”
The countdown hit—
The screen went dark.
No release notification.
No confirmation.
Silence.
Three seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
She slowly lowered the phone.
Her heart was still racing.
“What did you do?” Ethan demanded.
She finally looked at him.
And for the first time—
She smiled slightly.
“I stalled it.”
His eyes widened.
“You—what?”
“I’m not just a literature student,” she said quietly.
The sirens grew louder.
Closer.
The voice on the phone spoke again.
“You have 24 hours,” it said smoothly.
“Or we come to you.”
The call ended.
Ethan stared at her like he didn’t know her at all.
“You hacked it,” he whispered.
She tilted her head.
“Who said I didn’t know what was on my own phone?”
Silence.
A new realization dawned in his eyes.
“You knew,” he said slowly.
Her gaze didn’t waver.
“I saw the hidden storage the first week.”
His pulse visibly jumped.
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“I wanted to know what you were hiding.”
The sirens stopped at the end of the alley.
Doors opened.
Footsteps approached.
Not random.
Organized.
Ethan looked at her again.
This time not as someone he needed to protect.
But as someone he had completely underestimated.
“Who are you?” he asked quietly.
Her expression turned serious.
“That’s a better question for you.”
The shadows at the end of the alley shifted.
And this time—
They weren’t alone.
- Writer
