Home again

Harriet's point of view 

“What?”one of them stood, moving toward me. My vision blurred as I lifted my head slightly, forcing my lips to move again.

“I’m…” Warm and familiar arms wrapped around me. “Hey….it's okay.”

I froze for half a second. The hug tightened, and more arms surrounded me. “You’re home now.”

My fingers curled into someone’s shirt, I didn’t even know whose.

“Alright, that’s it,” Jade, my race partner said, pulling back slightly. “This calls for a celebration.”

“I can wipe your entire digital footprint,” Allen, my genius hacker added immediately. “Randy won’t be able to track you, not even if he tries.”

“Welcome home!” Larry, my designer announced dramatically, sweeping his arm toward the room like I was royalty returning from exile. A small, wet laugh escaped me.

“The tech world had been in chaos for the past three years,” Larry continued. “Everyone’s trying to find the Cipher Empress.”

He grinned. “Everyone, including Provost's group. They’ve been sending request after request for collaboration, begging yo meet thr Cipher Empress.”

My chest tightened, but I smiled anyway. My gaze drifted around the room, my fingers tracing my name on the awards, trophies and certificates sitting on the shelves.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

“But the K’s group still remain a threat, “ Allen said slowly. “Zain Khalid just doesn't give uo!’ Jade voice came with so much venom.

I closed my eyes, memories of the past flooded my mind. I was not only a tech icon, I was close to being the world's best, until mom died, and my stepfather tried to….I shrugged, shaking off the bad energy trying to envelope me.

As if noticing, Jade clapped; “We need to throw the biggest welcome party for the boss,” she said. Loud cries of excitement followed, washing down every knot in my chest.

“Thank you,” I said softly. “And we will have the biggest party tonight,” I added.

My voice steadied.“But first…” I turned back to them. “I need to erase my name from the Provost's group.”

A beat of silence passed.

Then claps of excitement.

“Say no more, boss,” Allen said, bringing out my seat.

Within minutes, I was inside the internal network of Randy's company. I went through file after file, system after system, deleting and erasing every crisis I had quietly handled over the past five years

Then, I went to the core system, the one I built from nothing, the one he planned to use to win the global award in a few months. My finger hovered for a second, then I pressed, ‘DELETE.’

The screen flickered, ‘processing, my heart went to the many nights I stayed awake while he slept..fixing, protecting and building everything, yet he gave Sienna the praise.

I stared at the screen when it flickered ‘ Deletion complete,’ my face didn’t change.

The marriage was over, that means every connection had to go with it. From this moment on, the Provost family would never benefit from me again.

The cheers behind me reminded me I wasn't alone, Jade squeezed my shoulder, anchoring me.

Three hours later, we were in a private lounge, filled with music, lights and laughter.

My throat tightened when Jade handed me a jewelry box she had been keeping for five years. “You changed everything for me, I bought this to say thank you.”

Tears filled the back of my eyes, threatening to embarrass me. “Excuse me,” I murmured, turning quickly towards the restroom.

The hallway was too quiet on my way back, not the kind of silence that felt peaceful, but the kind that made your skin tighten, like something was off and you just hadn’t seen it yet.

I didn’t hear him approach, there were no footsteps, no warning, nothing to prepare me for the moment his hand clamped around my arm. The force of it made me gasp.

Before I could react, I was yanked backward, my body slamming hard against the wall as the air rushed out of my lungs. Sharp pain flared instantly, but it was nothing compared to the fear that followed; My worst nightmare…..

“Let me go…” I struggled, twisting against him, my fingers digging into his wrist in a desperate attempt to break free, but his grip only tightened.

“You thought you could run forever?” His voice brushed against my ear, carrying a familiarity that made my stomach twist. 

“You don’t have the Provost’s protection anymore… Now you have to pay for my left eye.”The words settled heavily, dragging something cold through my chest.

My stomach dropped so fast it made me dizzy. My breath came uneven, breaking apart as panic crept in. 

I pushed against him again, harder this time, but he didn’t move, didn’t even flinch. My eyes darted around, searching for anything, anyone, any possible way out, but there was nothing except the shadow of the hallway and the echo of my own heartbeat pounding louder with every passing second.

“Please…” The word slipped out before I could stop it, and I hated it immediately.

A quiet sound left him, almost amused, and his grip shifted, pulling me closer until there was no space left between us.

“You’re coming with me, pixie,” he murmured, his tone calm in a way that made it worse. “Unless you want your little friends to suffer because of you.”