Chapter 4 - THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE AND THE ALLY BURIED IN THE PAST
Savannah sat in the dim light of the apartment,
her laptop open on the small wooden table.
She was tired,
bone-deep tired,
but she couldn't sleep.
Every time she closed her eyes,
she saw Roman’s face,
the way it looked when he lied to her—
that smooth,
practiced mask of concern.
She had spent the last hour scrubbing her digital footprint,
deleting accounts,
changing passwords,
and activating the encryptions she had learned from a friend in her college days.
That friend,
Julian,
was the only person who knew where she was.
Julian was a ghost,
a high-level coder who had once done some "consulting" for Roman's rivals,
a man Roman thought was dead.
He had been the one to help her set up the offshore account,
the one to show her how to move through the city without triggering the facial recognition software Roman’s company had installed in half the downtown buildings.
A soft knock at the door made her heart jump into her throat.
She grabbed the heavy kitchen knife she had bought at a bodega on the way.
"It's me,
Sav,"
a voice whispered from the other side.
She exhaled,
the tension leaving her body in a rush,
and unlocked the door.
Julian stepped inside,
shaking the snow from his dark jacket.
He looked older than she remembered,
with streaks of gray at his temples,
but his eyes were still sharp and kind.
"You're a hard woman to find,"
he said,
setting a bag of groceries on the table.
"That's the point,"
Savannah replied,
leaning against the wall for support.
Julian looked at her stomach,
then at her pale face.
"You look like hell."
"I feel like hell."
"He's going to find you eventually,
Sav."
"Roman doesn't lose things."
"I'm not a thing,"
she snapped,
the fire returning to her eyes.
"He can treat me like a possession all he wants,"
"but I am the one with the leverage now."
Julian sat down,
opening his own laptop.
"You mean the files?"
"Everything,"
she said.
"Every offshore transaction,"
"every payoff to the city council,"
"every shipment that didn't go through customs."
"I've been copying his hard drives for three years,
Julian."
"I knew this day would come,"
"even when I was trying to convince myself it wouldn't."
Julian whistled softly.
"You realize if you use this,"
"you're not just leaving him."
"You're destroying him."
"He destroyed me first,"
she said,
her voice cold and steady.
"He destroyed the woman I was,"
"and he tried to claim the child I'm carrying as just another asset."
"I don't want his money,"
"I don't want his name."
"I just want to be sure he can never follow us."
She looked at the groceries Julian had brought—
milk,
bread,
vitamins,
and a small stuffed bear.
She picked up the bear,
its fur soft against her palm.
"He'll start with the people I know,"
Savannah said.
"He's already interrogated Margaret."
"He'll go after you if he finds out you're alive."
Julian smiled grimly.
"Let him try."
"I've been dead to the world for five years."
"He's powerful,
Sav,"
"but he's arrogant."
"He thinks he's the only one playing the game."
"He doesn't realize you've been playing the long game while he was busy with his mistresses."
They spent the night working,
building a fortress of data around her new identity.
Savannah felt the baby kick,
a strong,
rhythmic thump that reminded her why she was doing this.
She wasn't just Savannah anymore;
she was a protector.
The drama of her life had shifted from a tragic romance to a high-stakes thriller,
and she was the one holding the detonator.
As the first light of a gray morning touched the window,
she realized she wasn't afraid anymore.
May you like
She was angry.
And Roman Carter was about to find out exactly what happened when the person who knew your every weakness decided to fight back.
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