Elena’s POV
Naka-park kami sa isang secluded spot na may view ng main gate ni Abraham. My laptop was resting on my lap, connected to a long-range antenna Dante had rigged up kanina. My eyes were glued to the scrolling lines of green text: the lifeblood of the estate's security system. My hands were steady, but my heart was doing a frantic rhythm na walang kinalaman sa logic.
"I’m at the perimeter fence, Elena. Give me the signal," Dante’s voice crackled through the earpiece. He sounded calm, dangerously so. It was that "Soul" instinct again: being perfectly still in the middle of a storm.
"Wait for it, Dante. The encryption cycle is at 98 percent. Almost there," I whispered, my fingers hovering over the Execute key. "And... now. Loop is active. You have exactly twelve minutes before the system does its heartbeat check. Go."
I watched the tiny red dot on my screen move across the digital blueprint of the house. That dot was Dante. Every second he was inside that house was a second he was risking everything for a past that wasn't even his. The realization hit me with a raw sting: he wasn't doing this for the case. He was doing this for me.
"I’m in the study," bulong ni Dante. Narinig ko ang mahinang tunog ng pagbukas ng mga drawer. "Masyadong maraming files dito, Elena. It’s a physical library of every person he’s ever 'fixed.' It’s sick. This isn't insurance; it's a collection of souls."
"Find the vault, Dante. Blue folder with a gold seal. That’s where he keeps the manual overrides and the original hard copies of the 'dirt,'" I instructed, my eyes scanning the security logs.
Suddenly, a red alert flashed on my screen. My breath hitched.
"Dante, abort! May biglang pumasok na system-wide update. It wasn't in the schedule. The main server is forcing a reboot in three minutes, not twelve. If that happens, the smart locks will engage and you’ll be trapped inside the study."
"I’m almost there, Elena! I can see the vault," he replied, his voice strained. I could hear the sound of him working on the mechanical lock.
"No, Dante! You need to leave now! The reboot will trigger the silent alarm sa local precinct. It’s a trap!"
"I’m not leaving without the truth, Elena. I’m not letting him hold this over you for another five years."
The panic started to override my system. This was the problem with "Systems": they were predictable, but people like Abraham were even more so. He knew someone would try to loop the feed. He was waiting for us to feel safe.
"Dante, please," I whispered, my eyes stinging. "I don't care about the dirt anymore. I just want you back. Just come back."
"Got it!" sigaw niya. Narinig ko ang pagbagsak ng mabigat na bakal. "I have the drive. Moving out now."
I watched the red dot move, but it was too slow. The progress bar for the reboot was at 90 percent.
"Two minutes, Dante! The hallway cameras are about to go live!"
I started typing frantically, trying to inject a "junk" code into the update to stall the reboot. It was a messy, unfiltered move: something I would have never done weeks ago. I wasn't being a professional fixer anymore; I was being a partner.
"Dante, jump the balcony! Huwag ka nang dumaan sa stairs!"
Narinig ko ang mabilis na yabag ng mga paa niya, then a heavy thud, followed by the sound of glass shattering. At the exact same moment, the lights in the estate surged and the alarm began to blare. The twelve minutes were up.
"Dante? Dante, answer me!"
Silence. Only the sound of the wind through the earpiece. My world felt like it was crashing. Every pixel of my life was suddenly irrelevant if he didn't make it out of that house.
"I'm here," he finally gasped, his voice sounding raw and pained. "I'm at the car. Start the engine, Elena. Now!"
He literally rolled into the passenger seat just as I floored it. His clothes were torn, and there was a cut on his cheek that was bleeding, but he was holding the drive like a trophy. He looked like a mess: my mess.
The rush of the escape followed us into the night. When we finally reached a safe distance and pulled over, the adrenaline didn't fade. It transformed.
He didn't say anything as he pulled me into his space, his hands, stained with the grit of the heist finding the heat of my skin. The fear of almost losing him had broken my final circuit. This was the hardcore aftermath of survival: English was the only language that could hold the weight of how much I needed him in that moment. Every touch was a manual override of my past. We weren't just fixing a case anymore; we were anchoring our souls in the wreckage of the night.
"You're insane," I whispered against his skin.
"And you're a genius," he smirked, despite the pain. He reached over, his hand covering mine on the gear shift. The sting of the touch was unfiltered and real. "We have it, Elena. The system is officially broken."
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