of the monitors as David Chen, my ex-fiancé, stood on the stage of his company' s IPO launch,

a weapon, "hacked my systems. She tri

lashed, the w

ued, pulling her close. "Sarah just tried to con

andfather started, the one built on the rumored ability to speak to the "digital afterlife." They seized our servers, and

be able to recover anything? Then use your skills to bring back my reputa

. We a

il

a doorbell cut through the s

g-d

standing in the same spot, wearing the same faded jeans, the scent of stale coffee in the air. The calendar o

hefty payment. I had accepted their promises of reconciliation. I had taken David' s dead laptop, its case physically

d risen from the

g-d

again, more insi

. Chen's muffled voice pleaded from the other

s tensed from habit, ready to turn it,

, I knew wher

g real and solid in my lungs for the first time. I was back. I didn

not make the

ed my face against the cool wo

aw

moment of sh

, his voice laced with confusion and autho

not moving. "My answer

Mrs. Chen cried. "They say you can recover anything.

, but this time, it didn't move me. It w

ghost story people tell about my family. No one can truly r

ll was very real. It was our legacy. But

avid Chen has too much unfinished business to ju

isbelief and growing anger. I waited, my heart pounding a slow, s

on my door clicke

cold. He was

not pushed by the eld

't a ghost. He wasn't a memory. He was flesh and blood, wearing a dark, expensive suit, looking every bit the risin

said, his eyes locking onto mine. There was no warmth in the

ng all the air out. Emily White, his "new girlfriend," slipped in

w, intimate growl. "You didn't open the door. T

possibly know this was a second chance for me?

ent," I said, my voic

room, at the stacks of old hard drives, the schematics on t

former fiancée, the least you could do is show some decency. Instead, you sp

y a cold, hard anger. "You faked your death. You manipulated your own parents. And you were abou

vid' s arm. "David, she's being cr

and, but his eyes never left mine. "She's just b

use in the future, at the IPO press conference. Thi

e changed. I'm no longer the naive girl who would sacrifice eve

w threat. "You think you have a choice? After what you did?

my past life, I had helped build his company from the ground up. The core of his revolutionary data compres

said flatly. "But I do know this: you are tr

e Jones is already on my payroll. They think you're an unst

e trap as before. But this time,

ng you. I'm not touching any of your devices. My family's firm

was not going according to his plan. He had expected me to be emo

e it your way. But don't think you can just walk away from this

lver locket from my desk. It was a gift from my brother, Liam, wi

d asked, his voice

down," I

on the clasp. "Always so sentiment

e window and, with a flick of his wrist, t

t happened last time. This was diffe

monster,"

r little... rebirth, your second chance. Fine. Let's see what you do with it. But from now on, you're not to have contact wi

was saying it out loud, as i

opping again. "Emily is my future. You... you are

in his wake like satellites caught in his orbit. The door

h a rage so pure it felt like ice in my veins. He thought he had won. He

dn't just confined me.

t was a text from

simple, a single line that

O is scheduled

The day he ha

thought he was erasing a ghost. He had