Page 123 of Knight

"But it’s not the point of hackers. We need to understand them well enough to break them." I lean back, ignoring the tug of my stitches. "Force gets you nowhere. You need to look for ways around, not through."

His focus sharpens, and his hands fly over the keyboard again, adjusting his approach. His code flows faster now, more confident. A week of training has strengthened skills that already made him dangerous enough to attract the wrong kind of attention. The same potential Victor saw in me, I now see in him. I should probably be more concerned about that.

Out of the corner of my eye, one of the security feeds flickers.

The library.

Eva moves into view, pushing a cart loaded with books. My attention splits. She’s working another late shift, moving books from cart to shelf with the kind of smooth skill that’s probably in some librarian handbook.

Not that I’d know anything about that. It’s not like I’ve spent the last fuck knows how long memorizing her routines or anything.Thatwould be pathetic. Almost as pathetic as the way my fingers twitch toward the keyboard every time she disappears between camera angles.

"There’s a vulnerability in the authentication process," Michael says, dragging my attention back.

"Fix it." I try to focus on what I’m teaching him. But my gaze keeps drifting back to the monitor.

The late shifts are new. Extra hours she’s taken on since everything changed. Not that I’m keeping track of that either. That would imply an emotional investment I don’t have. Or won’t admit to.

"The system thinks I’m an authorized user." There’s a hint of pride in his voice as he completes the breach.

"Your sister got home yet?" The question slips out before I can stop it.

Michael’s eyebrow lifts. "You know she hasn’t. You’re watching the feeds."

"Right ..." I adjust the camera angles, ignoring the fact I’m clearly becoming predictable. "Let’s see how you handle encrypted systems."

The lesson continues in silence. Every line of code carries weight we’re both pretending not to feel. Every command sequence says what we’re not discussing. When I finally end the session, neither of us mentions how this started. How they used his skills. How someone pretending to be me drew Eva into this world.

Through the library’s feeds, she continues her routine, moving between the stacks. She’s adapted to this new reality I forced on both of us.

Moved forward. Exactly what I wanted.

Except it’s not. Not really.

The cameras catch her face as she passes between shelves. The shadows under her eyes mirror my own. Both of us are pretending this is fine.

I keep telling myself that distance is protection, and that walls keep people safe rather than just lonely.

Physical pain is easier than watching her try to rebuild her life around the wreckage I created. It’s easier than knowing I could stop this. I could answer when she comes to my building.I could let her make her own choices about risk and safety and connection.

Instead, I watch through borrowed cameras and tell myself this is protection. This is necessary. This is what keeping her safe looks like.

The lies don’t taste any better now than they did two weeks ago.

But I keep telling them.

And I keep watching her through cameras, while pretending this is what I want.

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

Evangeline

The ancient computerat the reference desk takes forever to shut down. It's been three days since I sat on the steps outside Knight's building, waiting for something that never came. I watch as the screen scrolls through its end-of-day routine, fighting the urge to just leave it running. Four weeks of late shifts hasn’t made the wait any easier, but at least the quiet gives me time to think.

The extra shifts have kept me busy, while I try to ignore the way the balance in my bank account keeps rising. I tried returning it at first, asking the bank. They said I’d have to speak to the person who deposited it. I tried to reach him through Michael, and tell him that I don’t need his guilt payments. When that didn’t work, I turned up at his apartment, where I was greeted by silence. So, now I just let it sit there, untouched. A reminder that Knight’s still trying to control things from a distance.

Instead, I threw myself into my job, not that working in a library is ever busy. But being surrounded by books has been comforting. The steady rhythm of reshelving returns, updating the catalog, helping the few students who stay this late—it’salmost enough to fill the silence. Almost enough to stop me from wondering if he’s watching me through the library’s cameras.

When the computer screen flickers instead of shutting down, my chest tightens with a familiar panic. My mind immediately questions whether someone is trying to get to me again. If I’m about to fall into another trap or another game. But I dismiss it immediately. Something like that wouldn’t happen twice.

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