Ava didn't sleep throughout the night.
She paced her apartment like a caged animal, staring at the black card Eitan had left behind when she didn't take it. It sat on her kitchen table like a curse staring back at her in a silent, impossibly heavy way.
VESSEL_07.
She had seen codes like that before, but not in files. Rather she had seen them in facilities and labs and they were tattooed on skin and etched into collars.
It wasn't a name, it was a designation and now it looked like she had gotten one herself.
The city pulsed outside her window, unbothered by her unraveling thoughts. Her apartment was small, wedged between forgotten buildings and roaches that didn't even bother to hide anymore. She had lived like this for years. Always below the radar and in the cracks, where no one dared ask questions.
So why did he see her? How did he find her?
She replayed their conversation in her mind again and again. His voice was calm and unhurried and he spoke like someone who had already won.
She hated that she remembered how he smelled. His scent was like clean steel and expensive perfume.
By 11:45PM, she had already changed clothes three times.
Her hoodie was too sloppy and her boots sounded too loud. She didn't know what to wear to a confrontation with a man who made governments nervous.
After a while, she decided to settle on black jeans, a leather jacket and well, luck.
---
The cab dropped her three blocks away from Arama Tower. She didn't want surveillance picking her up too early, although she knew somewhere deep down that it was already too late for that.
As she went toward the building, she realized how surreal it felt to walk toward it by choice. She had heard about this place in hushed tones from the underground. They said it was a corporate prison with luxury walls and that it was a palace built by a man who hated the idea of being touched.
Inside the building, the lobby gleamed like a surgical suite. She looked around but she found no receptionist or security desk.
Yet, her eyes caught a single elevator, already open for her and she stepped in without hesitation.
It moved upward without a sound. There were no buttons, no control panel... just her in a strangely plain elevator and the quiet hum of being pulled toward something irreversible.
When the doors slid opened, she was met by a hallway wrapped in matte black stone. The silence was so thick that she was sure she heard the echo of her heartbeat in her ears.
She walked toward a door that was left ajar, when she entered, she saw him.
Eitan stood near the window, one hand in his pocket, watching the city like he owned everything in it. He didn't even turn when she entered.
"Close the door."
She obeyed before she realized it. The door shut with a dull thud.
The floor-to-ceiling windows behind him overlooked a skyline that looked fake. It was like a simulation too perfect to be real. She didn't dare move closer to him.
"I showed up," she said. "That's not the same as trusting you."
He still didn't turn. "But you came. That's more than most."
"I want answers."
"I know." Eitan replied curtly.
Ava crossed her arms. "Then stop acting like a prophet and talk."
Eitan finally turned.
Seeing him this close, he was too sharp and his eyes weren't just cold, they were precise, like they cut through noise straight to meaning.
"I know what they did to you." He said simply.
"Be specific." Ava demanded.
"You were part of a cohort. Seven of you were handpicked, conditioned and trained from birth to obey without question. But something went wrong."
Ava's spine stiffened. "How do you know that?"
He stepped toward her. "I watched it happen."
"You watched? Why?" She asked.
"I was supposed to buy you." Eitan shrugged.
That hit her like a slap, so much that she nearly staggered back. "What?"
"They were auctioning you off... the others too. But they weren't selling you off as people, more like tools. For corporations, intelligence contractors and maybe private militaries."
"You talk like you weren't part of it." Ava clenched her teeth.
"I pulled out of the deal." Eitan said.
"Why?"
"Because I don't buy what I can break for free."
The words made her chest tighten, for too many reasons. "I'm not broken."
"You are. But you could say you're breaking in the right direction."
Ava's brows furrowed and her fists clenched. "I'm not some stray you can rescue."
He studied her, his eyes were completely unreadable. "I don't rescue people," he said softly. "I collect."
That chilled her bone deeper than the rain outside ever could. She took in a shaky breath. "You said I was compromised ant that they'll be after me."
"They already are." Eitan asnwered.
"And you're just offering me protection?" She asked.
He nodded once.
"And in return? What do you want from me?"
"I want you to stay."
Ava stared at him, disbelief linning her features. "That's it?"
"You stay in my tower and work under me. I will give you access to information, training and the truth you want to know. In exchange, I want you close."
"Why?" Ava asked, genuinely curious.
Eitan's eyes didn't move from hers. "Because I've spent years watching you try to survive. And now I want to see what happens when you finally live."
Ava didn't speak for a long time. She looked out at the city below, at the glittering skyline that used to mean escape and now felt like a trap disguised as opportunity.
"You're obsessed," she said in a soft voice.
"I am." Eitan affirmed.
She turned back. "That should scare me."
"It will."
She paced, then stopped in front of him.
"I'll stay," she finally said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not yours."
Eitan nodded. "Not yet."
She stepped back and looked around, eyeing her surroundings. "I'll need a room."
"It's ready." He answered curtly.
"And a gun too."
"I already had one placed in the drawer." Eitan replied.
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you... always prepare this far ahead?"
Eitan's lips twitched, almost amused. "For you?" he said. "Always."