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Chapter 7: A Glitch in the Feed
The office was quiet after hours—too quiet.
Rina stretched at her desk, rubbing her eyes. The first week at CorePath had been a blur of orientation videos, minor tasks, and whispered conversations that stopped when she walked into a room. Maybe she was imagining it. Maybe not.
She stood, ready to leave—until something flickered on her monitor.
A live security feed.
She hadn't opened it.
She hadn't even known it was there.
Rina blinked. The screen showed the lobby, but something about it felt… off. The image was grainy. The timestamp wrong. It had been recorded.
Her screen went black.
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Forty-two floors above, Eliot stared at the system logs.
Someone had tripped the security override.
And it hadn't been him.
"She's digging," Luca said quietly behind him. "You were right. She's not just smart—she's restless."
"She's in danger," Eliot replied. "If she starts uncovering what happened to her father…"
"Then she could blow your cover. And ours."
Eliot didn't respond. He watched the log scroll one last time, then stood. "Have someone follow her. Discreetly. No contact."
"And you?" Luca asked.
"I'll be the coincidence she keeps bumping into."
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Outside the building, Rina zipped her coat against the chill, her mind racing.
When she looked up, there he was.
That barista.
The one with the crooked smile and warm eyes.
"Eliot?" she asked, startled.
"Rina," he said, like he hadn't just crossed the city in ten minutes flat. "You okay?"
She hesitated. "Yeah. Just… weird day."
He offered a coffee. Just like the first time. "Weird days go better with caffeine."
She took it.
And for the first time, she wondered:
Who exactly are you?
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