Chapter 14: A Shadow in the Code

The plan was simple.

Bait the hacker. Lure him in. Expose him before he could do real damage.

But simplicity in Vale's world never stayed simple for long.

Her fingers danced over the keyboard in her bedroom, the soft tap-tap-tap barely audible beneath the gentle hum of her speakers playing lo-fi beats. She'd programmed a trap: a mirror of her encrypted drives filled with enough realistic data to fool even the sharpest hacker.

Come on, she thought. Take the bait.

Kian sat cross-legged on her floor, scrolling through old photos on his phone. He paused on one. A group picture of him, a few guys from his old school, and a man she didn't recognize.

Vale glanced down. "Who's that?"

He hesitated. "My dad's business partner. Well… former. He bailed on the family after some legal mess."

She frowned. "Legal mess?"

"Embezzlement. My dad nearly lost everything." His voice was flat, but his eyes gave away the old bitterness.

Vale's mind clicked. "What was his name?"

"Colton Vega."

Her heart skipped.

That name was familiar.

She turned back to her computer, running a cross-check through her old records. Moments later, it popped up.

Colton Vega—known alias: ZeroedOut.

Everything slowed.

Kian stood, sensing the shift. "What is it?"

She looked up at him, stunned. "Your dad's old partner… he's the one coming after me."

Kian's face went blank. "What?"

"He's the hacker. ZeroedOut. I didn't put it together until now."

Kian stared at her like she'd shattered something invisible. "But why come after you?"

"Because I exposed him years ago—before he ever got caught for the embezzlement. He must've figured it out. Now he wants payback."

Kian ran a hand through his hair, processing. "He practically raised me when my dad wasn't around. I trusted him."

Vale closed the laptop slowly. "Kian… he might be using your name, your location—maybe even your phone—to get access to me. We've got to be careful."

Kian took a deep breath. "What do you want to do?"

"I need to finish the honeypot. But now I know what I'm looking for."

She gave him a hesitant glance. "You okay?"

"Honestly? No," he said, voice low. "But knowing you're the one fighting this makes it a little easier to breathe."

She smiled faintly. "You're handling this better than most."

"I'm not most," he said, stepping closer. "And neither are you."

—

That night, as the system whirred and the false files sat waiting like bait in the water, Vale climbed onto her roof and stared at the stars.

Kian followed a few minutes later, climbing up with two mugs of warm vanilla.

"No storms tonight," he said quietly.

"Not outside," she replied.

He passed her a mug, and they sat side by side, shoulders brushing, the world below them fading.

For a moment, neither said anything.

And then, just as the stars blinked a little brighter above, Vale whispered, "I don't want to disappear anymore."

"You won't," Kian said. "Not while I'm here."

And for once, she believed him.