Chapter 12: Decoding the Data

I stared at the screen, my eyes burning from hours of staring. The office was quiet, everyone else had left a long time ago. But I couldn't stop now. I was so close.

"Come on, Olivia," I whispered to myself, my fingers flying across the keyboard. "What am I missing?"

The financial data from Drake Technologies filled the screen, a mess of numbers and charts. To most people, it would look like nonsense, but to me, it was a puzzle waiting to be solved. Somewhere in this mess was the key to uncovering Ethan's secrets—and maybe even saving the global economy.

A soft ping from my phone caught my attention. A message from Ethan:

"Still working? Don't forget to eat. There's sushi in the fridge."

I couldn't help but smile. For a fake husband, he was surprisingly thoughtful. I pushed the thought aside and focused back on the data. I didn't have time for distractions, no matter how nice they were.

As I scrolled through more data, something caught my eye. A pattern, barely noticeable, running through years of financial reports. I leaned in closer, my heart starting to race.

"That can't be right," I whispered.

The numbers showed a level of market prediction that seemed impossible. It was like Drake Technologies knew about market changes before they happened. Not just once or twice, but over and over again, for years.

I dug deeper, my excitement growing, but so did a feeling of unease. This wasn't just smart business. This was something else.

Suddenly, my screen flickered. For a second, I thought I saw a string of code flash across the screen, but it was gone before I could be sure. I blinked, wondering if my tired eyes were playing tricks on me.

Then it happened again. This time, I was sure. Someone—or something—was accessing the system.

I typed as fast as I could, trying to trace the intrusion. But whoever it was, they were good. Every time I thought I was onto something, the trail went cold.

A chill ran down my spine. What if I wasn't the one hunting? What if I was the one being hunted?

I glanced at the office door, suddenly aware of how alone I was. The silence that had been comforting now felt suffocating. I reached for my phone, about to call Ethan, when the screen lit up with an incoming call.

Unknown number.

My finger hesitated over the answer button. Every instinct told me not to pick up. But curiosity—the same curiosity that drove me to become an economist, to solve the mysteries of global finance—won out.

"Hello?" I answered, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Dr. Chen," a distorted voice replied. "I hope I'm not interrupting your... research."

I froze. Whoever this was, they knew exactly what I was doing.

"Who is this?" I demanded.

"A friend," the voice said, sounding amused. "Someone who thinks you might be interested in what's hidden beneath those numbers you're so obsessed with."

My mind raced. Was this the whistleblower who had contacted me before? Or someone else?

"I'm listening," I said cautiously.

"Smart girl. But we both know how brilliant you are, don't we? It's why he chose you."

"He? You mean Ethan?"

A low chuckle came through the line. "Oh, Dr. Chen. You think this is about Ethan Drake? You've barely scratched the surface."

My free hand curled into a fist. "Stop playing games. What do you want?"

"To open your eyes. You're close to the truth, but you're looking in the wrong place. It's not about what the data shows. It's about what it doesn't."

I looked back at my screen, at the patterns I had uncovered. "The market predictions," I breathed.

"Bingo," the voice said. "But think about it: how is it possible? What kind of technology could predict global markets with such accuracy?"

My mind spun with possibilities, each more unbelievable than the last. Quantum computing? AI? Some kind of time travel?

"Who are you?" I asked again.

"Someone who knows what's really going on at Drake Technologies. Someone who knows what Ethan Drake is hiding in that quantum lab of his."

My breath caught. The quantum lab. I had seen references to it in the data, but Ethan had been vague when I asked about it.

"If you know so much," I challenged, "why not just tell me?"

"Where's the fun in that?" the voice teased. "Besides, some truths need to be discovered, not told. You're the brilliant economist, Dr. Chen. Figure it out."

"And if I do? What then?"

There was a pause, longer this time. When the voice spoke again, it was deadly serious.

"Then you'll have a choice to make. One that will decide the fate of not just the global economy, but reality itself."

The line went dead.

I sat there, phone still pressed to my ear, heart pounding. The silence of the office closed in around me, heavy with the weight of unseen eyes.

Slowly, I turned back to my computer. The screen was black. When I moved the mouse, nothing happened. The system was completely locked up.

With shaky hands, I reached for the power button. As the screen flickered back to life, I saw that all my research was gone. Hours of work, erased.

But it didn't matter. Now I knew I was on the right track. Whatever Ethan was hiding in that quantum lab, it was the key to everything.

I stood up, gathering my things. It was time to confront my fake husband and get some real answers.

As I reached for the door, the lights in the office suddenly went out, plunging me into darkness. A soft hum filled the air, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Something was powering up in the walls around me.

A faint blue glow began to seep through the seams in the floor, pulsing like a heartbeat. The air crackled with an energy I couldn't explain but could feel in every cell of my body.

And then I heard it. A voice, but not from my phone. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Welcome, Dr. Chen," it said, sounding unnervingly pleasant. "To the true Drake Technologies."

The floor beneath my feet started to move, and I realized with a jolt of fear that I was descending. The office was gone, replaced by sleek metal walls glowing with that same eerie blue light.

I was being taken somewhere. And somehow, I knew that once I got there, nothing would ever be the same again.

As the hidden elevator continued its descent into the unknown, one thought echoed in my mind:

What have I gotten myself into?