OFF LIMITS: HIS BEST FRIEND'S MOTHER
You don’t give up, Carter.
Somewhere deep down, beneath all the fear and humiliation, a small ember flickered. I wasn’t done yet.
I stood, crossing to the desk where my ruined laptop still sat. I turned it on again, praying something, anything had survived the wipe.
A single file blinked in the directory.
“Backup_TransferLog.tmp.”
Corrupted. Unreadable. But still there.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Maybe Cassandra hadn’t wiped everything after all.
I reached for my phone. “Xander, I need help.”