The camera feed was gone.
The screen that had once shown Lily's frightened face now displayed only static.
But in Ava's mind, that frozen image was burned in fire.Her niece—sitting silently in the back seat of a black car with no plates, no trace, and no Elena in sight.
Ava's breath caught in her throat.
Her stomach turned cold.
"Who is that man?" she asked, her voice razor-sharp.
Levi's fingers danced across the keyboard. "Running facial recognition now. Cross-checking with Interpol, federal watch lists, Blackwood security database, and military archives."
The screen split into grids—each flashing with headshots, scan lines, error codes.
NO MATCH.
NO MATCH.
NO MATCH.
A red line blinked across the screen:
UNKNOWN ENTITY. HIGH ALERT.
Damian leaned forward, tension rippling through every muscle. "He's a ghost."
Ava's fists clenched so tightly her nails cut into her palms.
"There's no such thing as a ghost. Someone always leaves a trail."
But this man hadn't.
No license plate.
No facial record.
No digital footprint.
It was like he didn't exist.
And that terrified her more than anything else.
Somewhere miles away…
The black car moved like a phantom down an empty forest road, its tires silent on the wet asphalt.
Inside, the girl sat quietly in the back seat.
Lily.
Still in her school shoes. Still gripping the unicorn on her backpack.
Across from her sat the man.
He wore a black coat, gloves, and a navy scarf pulled just high enough to shadow the bottom of his face. He hadn't spoken since she got in. His eyes, pale grey and unreadable, flicked to the rearview mirror again.
Lily sniffled. "Where's Auntie Ava?"
The man didn't answer.
"Are you a policeman?" she asked again, smaller this time.
Still, no answer.
Instead, he reached into his coat and pulled out an old flip phone. He typed in a single number. Waited.
A voice on the other end answered.
Female. Sharp. Russian accent.
"Confirm delivery."
The man looked at Lily again. Then finally spoke—his voice low, smooth, without emotion.
"She's with me. Unharmed. For now."
Lily's eyes widened.
She pressed herself into the corner of the seat.
The man closed the phone.
And smiled.
Back at Blackwood Tower
"They've gone into the dead zone," Levi muttered. "No cameras. No satellites. No cell towers. The entire route was chosen for zero visibility."
Ava turned toward him, ice in her veins. "Then we find someone who can see without satellites."
Levi hesitated. "There is… one man. Off-grid tracker. Works alone. Hired by governments for recoveries no one else will touch."
"Hire him," Damian ordered.
"I already did," Levi said, grim. "He declined."
Damian raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"He said—'Not for Blackwood. Not for blood money.'"
Ava stepped forward. "Give me his number. I'll convince him."
Levi didn't argue. Just handed her a burner phone.
As she walked out of the control room, she could feel Damian watching her.
His voice stopped her at the threshold.
"You'll be walking into something darker than you've ever faced."
She turned, her eyes blazing. "Then I'll burn through it."
Elsewhere, deep in the woods…
The man pulled the car over near an abandoned cabin cloaked in fog and pine. He got out, walked to the backseat, and opened the door.
"Out," he said coldly.
Lily obeyed, trembling.
He led her inside.
The cabin was bare. No lights. Just a chair, a table, and a single lantern that cast long shadows against the rotting walls.
The man knelt before her.
And for the first time, he removed his scarf.
His face was pale. Scar down his left cheek. Eyes like frozen glass. Handsome—but in a way that made your blood chill.
"You don't know me yet," he said quietly. "But you will."
Lily's lip quivered. "Please… I wanna go home."
The man tilted his head. "You are home now."
He stood.
Then turned, and wrote a single sentence on the wooden wall with black chalk.
"Let the past burn, Ava. Or I'll burn her future."
Ava receives a photo. A cabin. A child. And that message—written in her dead mother's handwriting.