CHAPTER 6: DANGER ALERT

CORA'S POV

The word RUN remained on every screen.

I stared at it, unable to move.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

Diamond was already moving.

"Stay here."

"What?"

He crossed the room and reached for the keyboard.

"Diamond, what is happening?"

"Someone breached my system."

His fingers moved rapidly across the keys.

The screens changed.

Lines of code flashed across them.

Then one by one, the monitors displayed the same message.

YOU CAN'T HIDE HER FOREVER.

My blood turned cold.

"They know I'm here."

Diamond's jaw tightened.

"Yes."

"Who are they?"

"I don't know."

"You said you knew how to protect me."

"I said I would."

He grabbed his phone.

"There's a difference."

I stared at him.

"You're frightening me."

His expression softened for the briefest moment.

"Good."

I frowned.

"Good?"

"Fear keeps people alive."

A loud alarm suddenly sounded throughout the mansion.

Diamond's entire demeanor changed.

"Stay in this room."

He headed for the door.

"Wait!"

He stopped.

I looked at the computers.

At the code flashing across the screens.

Something about it bothered me.

I stepped closer.

"Diamond."

"What?"

"This code..."

He turned.

"What about it?"

I pointed at the screen.

"It's not a normal breach."

He stared at me.

I moved toward the keyboard.

"It's a distraction."

His eyes narrowed.

"What are you seeing?"

"The person who hacked your system isn't trying to steal anything."

My fingers hovered over the keys.

"They're trying to make us think they are."

I started typing.

Diamond watched me.

"How do you know?"

"Because whoever wrote this is leaving too many traces."

I frowned.

"Too many obvious ones."

The code shifted.

A hidden window appeared.

My heart stopped.

There was an encrypted file buried underneath the attack.

"They're looking for something."

Diamond moved beside me.

"What?"

"I don't know yet."

I cracked the first layer.

Then the second.

My fingers moved faster.

The old rhythm returned.

The rhythm I'd forgotten.

The rhythm that had once made me feel alive.

Katiana stirred.

You remember.

"Unfortunately."

The screen flickered.

Then a name appeared.

PROJECT HADES.

Diamond's expression changed.

"What?"

I looked at him.

"You know it?"

He didn't answer.

"Diamond?"

His face had gone pale.

"Shut the computer down."

I stared at him.

"Why?"

"Now, Cora."

I didn't move.

"Why?"

His voice hardened.

"Because that file is the reason someone has been trying to find you."

My stomach dropped.

"What does it have to do with me?"

Diamond looked at the screen.

Then at me.

"Everything."

Before I could demand an explanation, the power suddenly went out.

The room plunged into darkness.

I gasped.

Diamond grabbed my wrist.

"Stay close."

A gunshot echoed somewhere outside.

I screamed.

"Get down!"

Diamond pulled me behind the desk.

Another shot rang out.

Then another.

My heart raced.

"Are they inside?"

"Not yet."

"Not yet?"

He looked at me.

"You're surprisingly calm."

"I'm terrified!"

“Okay."

I almost hit him.

"Stop saying that!"

A faint smile crossed his face.

Then it disappeared.

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"About why you stopped hacking."

The question made my stomach twist.

I looked away.

"I told you. I don't do it anymore."

"I know."

"Then why ask?"

"Because I need to know what happened."

I swallowed.

For years, I'd buried that part of myself so deeply that I rarely allowed myself to remember.

But now, sitting in a dark room while someone hunted me, the memories came rushing back.

"I was nineteen."

Diamond remained silent.

"I was fascinated with computers."

I gave a humorless laugh.

"Actually, I loved them."

I stared into the darkness.

"My father hated that."

"Why?"

"Because he thought computers were a distraction."

I smiled faintly.

"I would sneak into the study at night after everyone went to bed. I'd sit there for hours."

Katiana stirred.

(You were happy then.)

"Yes."

I remembered it clearly.

The glow of the screen.

The quiet house.

The feeling that nobody could tell me what I was capable of.

"I taught myself everything."

Diamond listened without interrupting.

"Programming. Security systems. Encryption. Hacking."

I looked down at my hands.

"I was good."

"How good?"

I laughed softly.

"Good enough to get myself into trouble."

My memories shifted.

"I found a private network one night."

Diamond's expression tightened.

"I shouldn't have been able to access it, but I did."

"What did you find?"

"A boy."

I looked at him.

"He was trapped."

Diamond didn't speak.

"He wasn't physically trapped. He was being held digitally. His identity had been erased. His accounts were locked. His entire existence had been wiped."

I swallowed.

"I didn't know who he was. I only knew someone had done something terrible to him."

"So you helped."

"Yes."

I smiled sadly.

"That was the first time hacking felt useful."

I remembered the adrenaline.

The excitement.

The hours spent breaking through layers of security.

"I freed him."

Diamond stared at me.

"And then?"

"I received a message."

My voice dropped.

"Three words."

"What words?"

I looked at him.

Thank you, Cora.

His expression changed.

"You knew his name?"

"No."

I shook my head.

"I'd never given him my name."

Silence filled the room.

"Then how did he know?"

"I don't know."

I continued.

"That was when I got scared."

I was nineteen.

Young and naive.

I'd thought hacking was a game.

Until I realized someone powerful had noticed me.

"I destroyed everything."

"Everything?"

"My computer. My drives. Every backup."

I closed my eyes.

"I stopped hacking completely."

Diamond watched me carefully.

"Why?"

I hesitated.

Then finally admitted the truth.

"Because my father found out."

Diamond's brows furrowed.

"He told me I'd bring shame to the family."

My voice cracked.

"He said a woman like me had no business involving herself in dangerous things."

I laughed bitterly.

"He told me I needed to focus on becoming a good wife."

Diamond's jaw tightened.

"And then Daniel came into your life."

I nodded.

"Daniel loved the quiet version of me."

I looked away.

"He liked that I didn't argue. That I stayed home. That I didn't challenge him."

My chest tightened.

"So I buried everything."

"The hacking?"

"My ambition."

I wiped my eyes.

"I stopped being Cora."

I paused.

"I became Daniel's wife."

The words tasted bitter.

"I thought if I made myself smaller, easier and more obedient, he'd love me."

Diamond said nothing.

"And for six years, I tried."

I looked at the dark computer screen.

"I stopped hacking because I was afraid."

A tear slipped down my cheek.

"But that's not the whole reason."

Diamond waited.

I took a shaky breath.

"I stopped because of Tobias."

His expression softened.

"Your son?"

I nodded.

"When I became pregnant, I promised myself I'd give him a normal life."

I smiled sadly.

"I wanted him to have a mother who wasn't being chased by powerful people. A mother who wasn't hiding behind screens. A mother who could take him to school and attend his birthday parties without looking over her shoulder."

My voice broke.

"So I chose my family."

Diamond's gaze remained fixed on me.

"And they chose Claire."

I laughed through my tears.

"Funny, isn't it?"

I wiped my face.

"I gave up the one thing that made me feel powerful because I wanted to be loved."

The room became silent.

Then Diamond spoke.

"You weren't weak, Cora."

I looked at him.

"You were protecting the people you loved."

I swallowed.

"And they failed to protect you."

His words broke something inside me.

I looked down.

For years, I'd blamed myself but perhaps I'd simply given everything to people who never deserved it.

A light suddenly flickered on.

The computers came back to life.

Every screen displayed one final message.

SHE REMEMBERS.

My blood ran cold.

Then another line appeared.

NOW ASK HER WHAT HAPPENED TO DANIEL NINE YEARS AGO.

I stared at the screen.

Diamond went completely still.

"What does that mean?"

I whispered.

He didn't answer.

Because somewhere in the deepest corner of my memory, something stirred.

Something I'd forgotten.

Something connected to the night I stopped hacking and for the first time in nine years, I wondered if Daniel had known far more about my secret life than I'd ever realized.