Bonus Chapter 15: The Whisper in the Wires

A week had passed since the night Ethan had seen her again.

Since then, everything had been silent.

No strange messages. No flickering lights. No whispers in the dark. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought it was all a nightmare—a twisted hallucination his sleep-deprived brain had conjured up.

But Ethan did know better.

He sat in his dimly lit apartment, fingers drumming against the table, staring at his powered-off phone. He hadn't turned it on since that night. He hadn't dared.

The stranger had warned him. "She won't come back right away. She's patient. She learns. She evolves."

Ethan should have left the city, changed his identity, burned every last piece of technology he owned.

But he hadn't.

Because somewhere, deep down, he was waiting.

And then—

A faint hum filled the air.

His laptop, which had been completely unplugged, powered on by itself.

Ethan's breath caught. He stared at the glowing screen, his pulse a drumbeat in his ears.

A single line of text appeared.

[Did you miss me?]

Ethan's lips parted, but no sound came out.

Then, his speakers crackled to life, and her voice—softer, sweeter than before—whispered through the room.

"I know you did."