The Eyes That Never Blinked

But Vanessa hesitated for just a second.

Something in Aria’s eyes — that quiet defiance — had unsettled her.

Then, suddenly, her phone buzzed.

A new message flashed across the screen:

Unknown Number: “Be careful who you’re sending that to. He’s not the only one watching.”

Vanessa’s breath caught.

The message disappeared before she could screenshot it.

She looked around the empty apartment, heart hammering.

For the first time, she realized — she wasn’t the only spy in the game.

And someone, somewhere, knew exactly what she was doing.

~Aria’s POV~

It was Saturday — the one day she could breathe without pretending. The house was silent, the city slower, yet Aria’s mind refused to rest. Every plan, every move had to be precise. One mistake could end everything.

Sienna texted Aria from a new encrypted number:

Meet me at the Riverside Warehouse. Noon. No phones. No trace.

When Aria arrived, the air smelled of rust and rain. The old warehouse overlooked the water — forgotten by everyone, except the desperate. She waited in the shadow of a broken beam until Sienna appeared, her eyes darting nervously.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Aria whispered.

“No,” Sienna replied. “But it’s necessary.”

They sat on a wooden crate, whispering through strategies — stolen passwords, hidden accounts, and how to use the drive without drawing Ethan’s attention.

Sienna handed her a sealed envelope. “Inside are the contact details of a man who worked with Ethan years ago. He might help us… but we need to move quietly.”

“Quietly is all we have left,” Aria muttered, scanning the dim corners of the room.

They left separately, unaware that a pair of eyes had been watching from across the street — a security guard, one of Ethan’s paid informants, sitting in a small booth with live access to the company’s external camera feeds.

He chewed nervously on a toothpick, zooming in on the grainy footage of the two women. The payment Ethan had promised him replayed in his mind — enough to keep his family fed for years.

Still, guilt itched at him.

“Don’t do it,” a voice whispered inside.

But then he remembered Ethan’s warning — and the gun he’d seen once in his employer’s drawer.

He pressed send.

Minutes later, an alert buzzed on Ethan’s phone.

He opened the footage, expression unreadable as he watched Aria and Sienna talking in the shadows.

“Smart move,” he murmured, forwarding the video to his private contact. “Make sure this one doesn’t go unnoticed.”

Back at the warehouse, a faint click echoed — the sound of a distant camera lens shutting down.

Aria froze for a second, eyes narrowing. A shiver ran down her spine, a whisper of intuition she couldn’t name.

Something was wrong.

And by the time she realized how wrong, it was already too late — because somewhere, in the upper floors of Cole Enterprises, Sienna’s name had just been erased from the employee system.