Nandito na kami. The old warehouse was a skeletal remains of the city's industrial past, filled with shadows that felt heavy and unfiltered. Sa loob, ang tanging maririnig ay ang mahinang pag-ugong ng mga lumang ventilation fans at ang mabilis na tibok ng puso ko.
"Diyan siya," bulong ni Dante, pointing toward a small, makeshift office enclosed in glass at the far end of the floor. Sa loob, nakatalikod ang isang lalaki, his fingers flying across multiple monitors.
"Nathaniel Vance," sabi ko sa sarili ko. Hahakbang na sana ako pero muling hinawakan ni Dante ang braso ko.
"Wait, Elena. Look at the setup. Hindi lang ito basta ghost login. He’s not just stealing data; he’s mirroring the entire core system. This is a deep-dive heist."
The sting of realization hit me. Kung nakuha na niya ang core protocols, hindi lang ang reputation ng kumpanya ang mawawala—ang buong digital architecture nila ay pwedeng gumuho sa isang click lang.
"Professionalism won't fix this, Elena," Dante whispered, his face dangerously close. "You have to be faster than the machine."
Tumakbo kami palapit, our footsteps echoing against the concrete. Nang marinig kami ni Nathaniel, he didn't run this time. Humarap siya sa amin, his eyes wide and bloodshot, looking like a system that had been overclocked for too long.
"You're too late," Nathaniel laughed, a sound that was raw and devoid of any soul. "I'm not the one you should be looking for. I'm just the proxy."
"Who sent you, Nathaniel?" I snapped, stepping forward. "Give me the systems access back, now."
"Systems?" Nathaniel sneered. "Elena, you of all people should know that systems are built to be broken. The person who hired me... they know about the 'dirt.' They know about the wrong decisions you made five years ago."
I felt my world tilt. The polished pixels of my life were suddenly flickering, threatened by a ghost from a past I thought I had successfully deleted
"What are you talking about?" I whispered, my voice failing me.
"The breach isn't about money," Nathaniel said, his finger hovering over the Enter key. "It's about the truth you buried. And if I press this, the whole world sees the unfiltered Elena."
Bago pa siya makagalaw, Dante lunged forward, tackling Nathaniel away from the desk. The monitors crashed to the floor, and for a second, everything was chaos. In the middle of the struggle, Dante looked back at me, his eyes sharp and protective.
"Elena! The backup server! Kill the connection now!"
Nanginginig ang mga kamay ko, pero lumapit ako sa main terminal. This was my world—logic, code, and pixels. I worked with a speed I didn't know I had, shutting down the mirrors one by one.
Nang mamatay ang huling screen, tumahimik ang buong warehouse. Nathaniel was pinned to the floor by Dante, and I was leaning against the desk, gasping for air.
"It's over," Dante said, his voice low and steady.
"No," I replied, looking at the encrypted file that had just appeared on the terminal as it shut down. "It's just the beginning. Dante... the person behind this... it's not a stranger."
Dante stood up, walking toward me. The rhythm of our shared breathing was the only thing left in the room. He didn't ask about the file. He didn't ask about the 'dirt.' He just stood there, a solid presence in the middle of my crumbling architecture.
"Day ten," he murmured. "And the walls are officially gone."
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