Page 26 of My Ghost

He knows!I’ve tripped a goddamn trap.

Panic claws up my throat, hot and all-consuming.My mind goes white for a second, blank with disbelief.Then instinct kicks in.I snap the laptop open again, fingers shaking as I launch the rapid-wipe protocol I specifically wrote for this kind of crisis.A cascade of code spills across the screen, scrubbing every trace of my activity from the device.

Move.Now.

I grab the laptop mid-process, snatch the burner phone from the table, and bolt out of the front door.I fly down the stairs, my breath coming out in sharp gasps as I burst through the back door into the alley.There I see what I came searching for.

The dumpster’s rusted lid groans as I throw it open.I don’t waver, I throw the laptop in, then the burner phone.I slam the lid shut with a metallic clang that echoes down the alley with finality.

There!All evidence is gone.But I am shaking, my palms are sweaty, my chest is tight with adrenaline and dread.

That was too close.Way too close.

I drag my feet back up the stairs to the apartment, heart hammering against my ribs.Once I have bolted the door, my panic subsides.I go back to the couch to sit down, but I shoot up again to pace the room, unable to stay still.My mind is racing, spinning with fury and disbelief.I don’t know what the hell Matteo is into or how deep he is in this, but I’m going to find the hell out.

And if Lily isn’t safe?I will burn their entire organization to the ground.

Chapter Sixteen

Matteo

I’m mid-sentence, deep in a meeting about high-level security protocols with a potential client, when my phone vibrates.I look down to glance at the screen and everything stops.

18:24—Trigger activated

Sector Pandemonium: Code line Phantom

My pulse spikes.

The words die in my mouth.I don’t offer an excuse as I rise, grab my phone and walk out under the client’s stunned gazes.On the surface, I’m calm and collected.But internally, every instinct is screaming.

Finally.

By the time I park my car in The Bastion’s underground garage and ride the elevator up to my office, my hands are already unlocking systems, calling up logs, scanning timestamps on my phone.The two techs glance up, startled, when I storm into the office.

“Out,” I snap.

They remain frozen until I give them a sharp look and they vanish.

As soon as the door shuts, I lock myself into my office, drop into my chair and start digging.

The trap worked, finally.Someone fucking tripped the code.It was not random—the intruder knew exactly what they were doing.They managed to circumvent two firewalls before they tripped the wire hidden deep in my system.Admittedly, they were skilled, but not skilled enough to avoid my trap.I smile, already savoring the sweet taste of victory.

Just as I’d suspected, the signal traces back to The Atrium.But now I need them to move.I counted on their panic when they saw the message, pushing them to make a rash decision.

I log into the control system of the building then pull up the surveillance feeds synced to the timestamp.Fingers flying, I run through the cameras of the streets around the building first, looking for something, anything out of the ordinary.Like someone fleeing the building.Nothing seems to stand out until I land on a feed of a camera filming the alley behind the building.A flicker of movement catches my eye.

I hit pause.Rewind.Play.

Someone barrels out of the building into the alley, fast, almost frantic.I can’t see clearly in the dim lighting and the grainy resolution of the surveillance camera, merely a silhouette cutting through the dark, something clutched tight against their chest, another smaller shape in their hand.

I lean forward, narrowing my eyes.

The figure steps under the weak glow of the alley light.

My breath catches.

It’s her.