Dominic’s POV
The hard drives hum like heartbeats in the night. I sit cross-legged on the concrete floor of my garage, the vault’s contents spread around me like the remains of a body picked apart for truth.
My laptop’s blue glow cuts through the dark but my hands are trembling with sweat. The files are endless of encrypted folders, logs, lab results, fragments of data that read like code and confession.
I don’t even know what I’m looking for anymore, evidence or a ghost. Then I find it. A single file labeled “AUDIO-0712-E”.
I hover the cursor over it, pulse stuttering. “E,” for Elia. My throat tightens as I click. There’s a hiss of static, then the faint hum of fluorescent lights. And then…
“Stanley, please. I want out.”
Her voice. I freeze. My breath lodges halfway up my chest. It
