The elevator hummed as it descended, a narrow box of glass and tension.
Elena stood beside Adrian, her reflection trembling faintly on the polished steel. The message still glowed on her phone screen.
"Too late. They're already inside."
She didn't move. Her fingers gripped the phone so tightly her knuckles whitened.
Adrian noticed. "What is it?"
She swallowed hard, locking the screen before he could see it. "Nothing."
He turned to face her, his voice low. "Don't lie to me now."
Her heart thudded painfully. "It's just another warning. Probably someone trying to scare me."
His eyes darkened. "Who would warn you?"
Elena forced a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "You'd be surprised how many people enjoy a little chaos when they smell blood."
The elevator stopped with a soft chime. Neither moved for a beat. The air between them was thick , with tension, fear, and something else she didn't want to name.
Adrian finally spoke. "You should go home. I'll have security check your office and the data center."
"I'm not leaving you alone with this," she said firmly.
He arched an eyebrow. "Since when did I need protecting?"
"Since the people trying to destroy you realized the fastest way to do it… is through me."
For a heartbeat, his gaze softened. Then, without a word, he handed her his access card. "Fine. Then we go together."
They entered the data center, a chilled room humming with servers. Blue light spilled across the polished floor like veins of electricity.
Adrian moved with focus, scanning through terminal logs while Elena stood guard by the glass door. Every few seconds, she glanced over her shoulder, her instincts prickling.
She had been in rooms like this before five years ago, under another name, another life. Back when betrayal was measured in whispers and coded files.
Adrian's voice pulled her back. "Found something."
He pointed at the screen. "The breach originated from an internal IP, but the signal looped through three ghost addresses before hitting our mainframe. That's high-level work someone knew exactly how to cover their tracks."
"Can you trace it back?" she asked.
"Not yet. But whoever it is, they're close."
He turned toward her and stopped.
"Elena."
The way he said her name sent a shiver down her spine. "What?"
He reached for her wrist gently, his fingers brushing the edge of a small scar there. "You got this from the prototype accident two weeks ago… right?"
Her pulse faltered. "Yes."
He frowned slightly. "I just realized… I saw that same scar before."
She froze.
"In the explosion report five years ago. The woman who.." He broke off, his voice catching. "It's impossible."
Elena stepped back. "Adrian..."
He stared at her, disbelief battling with recognition. "Elena? That can't be..You're.."
She shook her head quickly. "Don't. Not here."
But it was too late. The walls she had built, brick by fragile brick, began to crumble.
He took a step forward, voice trembling. "You died. I held you in my arms.."
Her breath hitched. "I didn't die. Not completely."
"Then who buried you?"
Silence. Only the low hum of servers filled the space.
Finally, she whispered, "Someone wanted me gone. Someone powerful enough to make the world believe it."
Adrian's jaw tightened, his emotions flickering between anger and raw relief. "Why didn't you come to me?"
"Because if I did, you'd be dead too."
He ran a hand through his hair, pacing. "So this whole time ,every meeting, every late night in the lab, you were lying to me?"
Tears burned her eyes, but she blinked them back. "I wasn't lying. I was surviving."
"By hiding from me?"
"By protecting you!"
Her voice cracked, and for a moment, the fire in her eyes matched his.
Adrian looked at her as if seeing her for the first time, the same woman he'd mourned, the same eyes that haunted his dreams.
"Elena…" His voice softened. "God, it really is you."
He reached for her, but the alarm cut through the air before he could touch her.
Red lights flashed across the room.
"Unauthorized breach detected," a robotic voice announced. "Level 2 containment lockdown."
Adrian snapped into action. "Someone triggered the secondary access line. They're in the system again."
Elena moved beside him. "Shut down remote access. I'll isolate the core."
"Already on it."
They worked in sync two minds perfectly in rhythm despite the storm between them. For a moment, it was like the old days again, when they built dreams together, before betrayal and fire tore it apart.
But then the lights flickered, severally and the screens went black.
Adrian cursed. "They wiped everything."
Elena's fingers flew across the keyboard. "No. Look, there's a trace code. They left something behind."
On the screen, a single message appeared, coded in binary.
She translated it quickly. Her blood ran cold.
"You should've stayed dead."
Minutes later, they stood in his private office, drenched in silence and rainlight.
Adrian leaned against the desk, staring at her. "Who's doing this?"
Elena hesitated. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
She drew in a breath. "The same man who ordered the fire five years ago. The same one who killed everyone who got too close to the Phoenix project."
He straightened. "The Phoenix project was shut down. There were no survivors."
"There was one." Her eyes met his. "Me."
Adrian's pulse raced. "You're saying Crane..."
"Crane didn't just sabotage the company. He sold your father's designs to an offshore bidder. I found the proof… and he found me before I could expose him."
His expression darkened into something dangerous. "And now he's trying to finish what he started."
Elena nodded slowly. "He knows I'm back. And now that you do too, he'll come after you."
"Let him try."
She shook her head. "You don't understand. He doesn't just kill careers, Adrian. He erases people."
He stepped closer, his hand brushing hers. "Then he'll have to go through me first."
Their eyes locked, the storm outside echoing the one between them.
For a moment, words disappeared. The air buzzed with everything they'd never said, everything they still couldn't.
"You shouldn't have come back," he whispered.
"I didn't have a choice," she said softly. "Not when the truth was still buried with me."
Adrian's voice broke. "You think I stopped looking for you? You think I ever moved on?"
Her chest tightened painfully. "I didn't want you to live in the shadow of what they did."
"And yet here you are."
Silence. Heavy, electric, alive.
Then, quietly, he said, "I don't care who you were. Or what name you used. You're here now and I'm not losing you again."
Before she could respond, the office phone rang.
Adrian answered, listening. His expression turned grim.
He hung up slowly. "Security just found something in the west wing."
"What?"
"A body."