ine'

et whispers shred me to pieces, or watch people I trusted turn their backs while I burned. Jasmine Duvall... the naï

mine anymore. Jasmine was a gho

as fe

s unto

wa

eamed like veins of fire across black screens. My fingers flew over the keyboard, pre

e only constant I had allowed myself. I slipped my headphones over my ears, the bass t

hrough the speakers. I had written her voice soft

ent. Another desperate soul willing to pa

: Are

Alw

id you're the b

right. Transf

account. Clean. Untraceable. The kind of money that

cols screamed, alarms pulsed... but I slipped through, silent, unseen. Power su

ared say it aloud. Corrupt CEO. Launderer. Exploiter. He thought his mon

't met

poised above the keyboard. "Let's see

d like paper, encryptions bent and warped. Seven years of exile had taught me how to survive, bu

detected," a synt

ked. "

th of data, pushing through traps meant to scare lesser hackers. Not me.

hell companies, blood money hidden beneath polished boardroom smiles

y grin widened. "Time to

nsfer, the screen glitched. A jarrin

Encrypted.

ages like this weren't random.

as the words blink

r is dead.

The hum of the processors, the bass in my ears..

ed, foreign in my own

ing my hair behind my ear, the quiet resilience in her eyes when everything else crumbled. I had

someone had reached inside and torn me open. I had built my life on walls -

fists. "Get it

bitter. Jasmine. T

o

didn't break. N

d as I wiped the tears

sage like that, sent through an untraceable channel? Too perfect. Too del

if it w

one, and I hadn't

gainst the desk, ja

e of who I once was. But blood doesn't vanish. Memories don't delete

mother was dead, then I needed answe

ng the USB drive from the port. "You'll hav

covering footprints until nothing remained but silence. I

the storm inside. This wasn't just about a mother's death. This

ground me. My sanctuary... the safe house I had built brick by brick, firew

again on my monitor,

r is dead.

away, only to freeze as the s

appeared, sl

een wait

unded in my ears. Whoever sent this didn't

shadows. The name no o

spine. I wasn't bein

eing su

was alread