Glowy

Chapter 3

Elara’s POV

By mid-morning, the rain had settled into a soft, steady drizzle that blurred the edges of the street outside my window. Washington had a way of making the world feel smaller, quieter, and I liked it that way.

The soft glow from my laptop screen was the only light in the room besides the muted daylight slipping through the blinds. A dozen lines of code danced across the monitor, my fingers moving without hesitation. The client from Byte & Beam, a small e-commerce start-up, had been struggling with security vulnerabilities for weeks. By the time I was finished, their system would be airtight, their data cleaner than a politician’s campaign promise.

“Still saving the world one keystroke at a time?”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Hailey leaning against the doorway, holding two travel mugs. She was dressed in an oversized hoodie and leggings, hair pulled into a messy bun that somehow still looked good on her.

“Technically, this one’s just saving a struggling online pet store,” I said, hinting at it being our Company’s client.

“Same thing,” she replied, settling into the chair across from me. “You disappear into this room and come out hours later with that smug little ‘problem solved’ look. You know it’s creepy, right?”

“It’s called being good at my job,” I said, accepting the coffee she handed me. I took a sip and my lips curled into a smile,

 She’d gotten my order right, of course.

My laptop chimes.

She eyed my screen. “Is that… another alias?”

Hailey was the only one who knew my other identity. I literally trust her with my life.

I smirked. “I have to keep the mystery alive somehow.”

The truth was, aliases were my shield. Each one a layer between me and the world that thought it knew Elara Duval. Clients knew ShadowByte, or maybe another name I used that month, but never me. That anonymity was freedom — and after years of being under the Duval's microscope, freedom was the only currency I valued more than money.

Hailey’s gaze softened, as if she could hear the thoughts I wasn’t saying. “You know, most people would kill to have your brain. And they’d be flashing it all over the place, building a brand, cashing in on interviews. But you…” She shook her head. “You’d rather stay a ghost.”

“That’s the point,” I said quietly.

We sipped our coffee in comfortable silence until she leaned back, studying me. “So… are you going to tell me what had you all stiff and twitchy yesterday morning?”

I hesitated. I hadn’t told her about the CrossTech request. Saying Damon’s name out loud would be like summoning a storm I wasn’t ready for.

“It was just a client I turned down,” I said finally. “Not a good fit.”

Her eyebrows rose. “You turned down money?”

“I turned down a headache,” I corrected, closing my laptop. “And I plan to keep it that way.”

The truth was, the moment I saw his company’s name on that request, my instincts had screamed no. Damon Cross had the kind of presence that could strip a person bare without touching them. A man who could turn your strengths into weaknesses before you even realized the game had started.

I’d escaped people like that once. I wasn’t about to step back into their world.