My Dad is the CEO who wants me Dead

She’s alive

Liam woke up on Maya's floor.

His back hurt. His arm throbbed where the gash was still healing. And for a split second, he forgot where he was.

Then he remembered everything. Mike's body. The USB drive. Julian's cold eyes scanning right past him like he was invisible.

He sat up fast, his heart already racing.

Maya was at her computer, still in her clothes from last night. She had dark circles under her eyes and a coffee cup that looked like it had been refilled about twelve times.

"You didn't sleep," Liam said.

"Couldn't." Maya didn't look away from the screen. "I've been going through the metadata. And Liam—you need to see this."

Liam got up and walked over, rubbing his sore neck. His body wasn't used to sleeping on floors anymore. Five years of a crappy mattress had made him soft.

Maya pointed at her monitor. "I found something weird. There's a file in the Atlas folder that shouldn't be there. It's encrypted with a different protocol than everything else."

"So?"

"So I checked the timestamp. This file was added three days before you left Elysian. But the access log shows it was opened last week."

Liam's blood went cold. "Last week? That's impossible. The project was shut down years ago."

"That's what I thought too." Maya pulled up another window. "But someone accessed it. From inside the building. Using Mike's credentials."

"Mike was dead last week?"

"No." Maya shook her head. "He was alive. That's the thing. Whoever accessed the file used Mike's login information while he was still working. But Mike told you he didn't know anything about the project anymore, right?"

Liam nodded slowly. "He said he'd erased everything."

"Then either Mike was lying—"

"He wasn't." Liam's voice was sharp. "Mike was scared, but he wasn't a liar."

"Okay," Maya said. "Then someone else used his credentials. Someone who had access to his computer and his passwords."

Liam's mind was racing. If someone had been poking around in the Atlas files last week, that meant Julian wasn't the only one hunting for the code.

There was someone else.

"The file," Liam said. "Can you open it?"

"I've been trying all night." Maya rubbed her eyes. "The encryption is insane. I've never seen anything like it. It's like—" She paused. "It's like whoever wrote it didn't want anyone to get in. Not even the person who created the project."

Liam looked at the file. At the lines of code that made no sense, even to him.

"Let me try," he said.

Maya moved aside. Liam sat down in her chair and stared at the screen. The encryption was familiar. Too familiar. He'd seen this pattern before, back in the old days when he was still building things instead of destroying them.

He started typing.

His fingers moved fast, faster than they'd moved in years. The muscle memory was still there, buried under all the mopping and cleaning and pretending to be nobody.

"What are you doing?" Maya asked.

"Breaking the encryption."

"But I tried everything—"

"This isn't a standard protocol," Liam said, not looking away from the screen. "It's a custom lock. I designed it myself. Only one other person knew how to break it."

Maya was quiet. Then she said, "Who?"

Liam didn't answer. He was too focused on the code, on the familiar patterns that were coming back to him like old friends.

The screen flickered. A prompt appeared.

Password required.

Liam stared at it. He knew what the password was. It was the same thing he'd used for everything back then, the name of the person who'd made him believe he could change the world.

He typed it in.

Elena.

The file opened.

Maya leaned over his shoulder, her breath catching in her throat. "What is that?"

Liam didn't answer. He couldn't.

The screen was filled with documents. Emails. Contracts. Photographs. And at the top, a message addressed to him.

Liam,

If you're reading this, then you finally came back. I knew you would. I knew you couldn't stay away forever.

I don't have much time. They're watching me. They know I'm still connected to the project, and they'll kill me if they find out what I've been doing.

But I had to leave this for you. You need to know the truth about what happened five years ago. About who set you up and why.

It wasn't a stranger. It was someone you trusted.

I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I was scared. I'm still scared. But you deserve to know the truth.

Find me. Before they do.

- Elena

Liam stared at the screen. His hands were shaking again.

"Who's Elena?" Maya asked softly.

Liam couldn't speak. The name was like a knife in his chest, cutting through all the walls he'd built around himself.

Elena had been his partner. His best friend. The only person in the world who'd ever truly understood him.

And she'd died five years ago.

Or so he'd thought.

"She was my girlfriend," Liam finally said. "She was killed in the same accident that made me leave. At least—that's what I was told."

"Told?" Maya's eyebrows shot up. "You didn't see her body?"

"No." Liam's voice was hollow. "I was unconscious. When I woke up, they told me she was dead. I had no reason to doubt them."

"But now you do."

Liam scrolled down through the documents. There were pictures of Elena, recent ones. She looked older, more tired, but it was definitely her.

She was alive.

The entire foundation of his reality was crumbling. He'd spent five years mourning her. Five years blaming himself for her death. Five years running from a past he couldn't escape.

And she'd been alive the whole time.

"There's a location," Maya said, pointing at the bottom of the message. "She wants you to meet her. Tonight. At a warehouse on the east side."

"It's a trap," Liam said immediately. "It has to be. Julian must have found her. He's using her to draw me out."

"Or maybe she's telling the truth." Maya's voice was gentle. "Liam, if she's been hiding all this time, there has to be a reason. Maybe she knows who framed you. Maybe she's been waiting for you to come back."

Liam shook his head. "I can't risk it. If Julian's there—"

"Then I'll come with you."

Liam looked at her. "Maya, no. This isn't your fight."

"Mike was my friend too," Maya said. "And you—you're not just some janitor anymore. I know that now. If there's someone out there who can help us stop Julian, we have to take that chance."

Liam wanted to argue. He wanted to protect her from all of this, to push her away and keep her safe.

But he was tired. So tired of running alone.

"Okay," he said quietly. "But if anything goes wrong, you run. You don't look back. You don't try to save me. You just run."

Maya smiled, a small sad smile. "Deal."

The warehouse was dark.

Liam and Maya crouched behind a stack of old pallets, watching the entrance. The building was abandoned, filled with rusting machinery and the smell of rotting wood.

"She said midnight," Maya whispered.

Liam checked his phone. "It's five minutes past."

"Maybe she's late."

"Or maybe we're walking into something we can't get out of."

Maya squeezed his arm. "Hey. We've got this. Whatever happens, we've got this."

Liam wanted to believe her. He really did.

The door creaked open.

A figure stepped into the dim light. Small, nervous, looking over her shoulder like she expected someone to jump out at any moment.

It was Elena.

Liam's heart stopped.

She looked older, yes. Weary. But it was her. The same sharp eyes, the same nervous way she bit her lip when she was scared.

He stepped out from behind the pallets.

Elena saw him. Her face crumpled, and she ran toward him, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Liam," she sobbed. "Oh my God, Liam. I thought I'd never see you again."

Liam held her, not quite believing she was real. "You're alive. How—why—"

"I'll explain everything," Elena said, pulling back. "But we don't have much time. They found me. They know I'm here."

"Who? Julian?"

Elena shook her head. "No. Someone worse. Someone who's been watching us this whole time."

Liam felt a chill run down his spine. "Who?"

Elena's eyes flicked over his shoulder, and her face went white.

"Run," she whispered.

Liam turned.

Maya was standing behind him, her face expressionless.

In her hand, she held a gun.

"I'm sorry, Liam," Maya said quietly. "I really am."

And then she pulled the trigger.