The hospital room was dim, the lights lowered to spare fragile eyes and tired heart. Mary sat beside the bed, her fingers wrapped around the edge of plastic chair, watching the slow measure rise and fall of her daughter chest. Every beep of the monitor grounded her, reminded her why she was here, why she had crossed the borders and oceans without hesitation.
This was not escape
This was survival
When the nurses quietly stepped out. Mary reach for her phone. she hesitated only for a moment before unlock it. Mrs Carter's voice echoed faintly in her memory just look into it Mary nothing more. I need to understand.
Mary had promised herself she would not fall back into old habits. No digging. No decoding. No reading between lines meant to Stay blurred. Yet when Daniel's name appeared on the official reports, something inside her had shifted. The accident had been labeled unfortunate, unavoidabl. But Mary had learn long ago that " accident " was most convenient lie.
She open the files again.
Then chain of the companies involved was and deliberate confusing _ transport contractors, insurance brokers, investment firms operating under different names in different countries. She followed the trail patiently, calmly the way she uses to. One name appeared again and again subtle but persistent.
Helix group
Mary stopped scrolling
Her breath slow, her body reacting before her mind fully caught up. That name was not unfamiliar. It wasn't even forgotten. It had simply been locked away sealed behind years of deliberate silence.
Helix group was not just a corporation. It was a mask. A financial vessel designed to move money where it was never meant to be traced. She had seen it before, years ago, when her life was had been defined by shadows and coded instead of hospitals and children wards.
And worse - Helix had never acted alone.
Mary accessed an older archive, one she had sworn she would never open again. The encryption was unmistakable. Clean. Precise. Familiar. Her fingers pause above the screen as realization settled heavily in her chest.
Helix group was connected to the organization she once worked for.
Not officially. Never officially. But the patterns were there: funding cycles, dormant accounts reactivated only when certain operations resumed, names she recognized buried beneath layers of corporate anonymity.
Her pulse thudded loudly in her ears.
She leaned back, staring at the ceiling. Leaving the organization had cost her everything she had known _ it had saved her soul. Or so she had believed. She had walk away because line were crossed. Because missions had turned into silencing. Because the truth had become collateral damage.
And now Helix was circling Daniel.
Mary lowered her gaze to her phone again. She searched further, deeper, ignoring the warning instincts flaring inside her. That was she noticed it _ a subtle change in access log someone else had viewed the same financial nod minutes after she had.
Not a coincidence.
Hee phone vibrated suddenly in her hands.
Mary stiffened.
Unknown number.
No location data.
No profile.
She didn't answer immediately. She waited, counting her breaths. Then the message appeared.
You shouldn't be surprised. Some doors never close.
Her jaw tightened
A second message followed almost instantly.
People know you're active again.
Mary's fingers curled around the phone.
A third message appeared.
This isn't a threat. Its advice. Be careful.
Her eyes flickered to the glass wall separating her from her daughter. The girl slept peacefully, unaware of the invisible currents shifting around them. Mary stood slowly, positioning herself closer to the bed, instinctively shielding what mattered most.
She typed back.
If you know who I am, then you know I don't take advice lightly.
The reply take longer this time.
When it came, it was shorter
That hasn't changed. But the world you left has.
Mary stared at the screen, a cold clarity settling in her chest. This person knew her. Knew her story. Knew enough not to threatened her _ and enough to warn her instead.
Which meant something far worse.
Another message appeared
But if you want something don't hesitate to ask for help I won't mind helping. We came from the same world.
Mary stared in shock then she deleted the message thread. Wiped access trace, and shut down the archive. The pieces were already forming a picture she did not want to see: Helix group resurfacing, the organization quietly reactivating old channels, Daniel caught in the middle without even realizing it.
And now she had been seen.
Mary look down at her daughter, brushing a stand of hair gently from her forehead. Her expression hardened _ not with fear, but with resolve.
She had left that life once.
But if it was reaching her family now, she would not run again.
Her phone vibrated one last time.
A single notification.
They're are closer than you think.
Mary slowly lifted her gaze toward the door.
And this time,she knew_
The past wasn't coming.
It had already arrived.