Shadow Protocol

The rain started as a whisper against the glass, slow and rhythmic, like the ticking of a countdown Lucy couldn't hear but felt in her bones. It wasn't loud or violent—just insistent, like it knew something she didn't. By the time she and Cole reached her apartment, the sky had opened up fully, drenching the city in silver streaks that blurred the neon lights into a watercolor of chaos.

She barely acknowledged it. Her thoughts were spiraling, tethered somewhere between betrayal and adrenaline. Between boardroom politics and anonymous threats. Between the app that still had a pulse and the knife someone on her team—or above it—had lodged into its back.

Cole paced the living room like a caged animal, his footsteps sharp against the hardwood. Agitation hummed beneath his skin like static. "This wasn't just some troll," he said. "They were watching you. Today."