Meadow's POV
The quiet didn't last.
It never does.
I was halfway through my coffee
when the first alert chimed.
It wasn't loud. Just a soft electronic ping from one of the secondary monitors. The kind most people would ignore.
But after everything we had been through, my body reacted before my brain did.
I looked up.
The screen blinked once.
Then again.
A small line of code rolled across the bottom.
"Alaric," I called.
He was in the hallway, speaking with someone on the phone. His voice stopped instantly when he heard my tone.
"What is it?"
I pointed to the screen.
"At first I thought it was system noise."
He stepped closer, eyes narrowing
as he read the data.
"It's not noise," he said quietly.
Another line of code appeared.
Then another.
My stomach tightened.
"Is someone trying to access the network?" I asked.
"No," Alaric said.
"Then what?"
He didn't answer immediately.
The monitor flickered again.
This time the signal resolved into a
small digital pattern, repeating numbers, arranged in a precise order.
A message.
Alaric's jaw tightened.
"Someone is sending us something."
My pulse quickened.
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Instead he typed a command into the system.
The pattern expanded across the screen, translating slowly into readable characters.
Four words appeared.
HELLO, MEADOW.
The coffee mug slipped slightly in my hand.
"Tell me that's not?"
"It is," Alaric said.
My heart started pounding.
"No," I whispered. "That's not possible."
"We confirmed containment," he said.
"Yes."
The monitor chimed again.
Another message appeared beneath the first.
MISS ME?
Cold spread through my chest.
Tyler.
I stepped closer to the screen, anger rising faster than the fear.
"He shouldn't be able to reach us."
Alaric's fingers moved quickly across the keyboard, tracing the origin of the signal.
His expression grew darker with each second.
"This isn't coming from where he's supposed to be."
"What does that mean?"
"It means either someone is helping him…" Alaric said slowly, "or he was never where we believed he was."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Behind us, the hallway floor creaked.
Lily stepped into the doorway, still wrapped in her blanket.
"What's going on?"
I didn't want her to see the screen.
But it was too late.
Her eyes landed on the message.
Her face went pale.
"Tyler," she whispered.
The monitor chimed again.
A third line appeared.
YOU DID VERY WELL, MEADOW.
I'M PROUD OF YOU.
My hands curled into fists.
"He thinks this is a game."
"No," Alaric said quietly.
"He thinks it's a conversation."
Another message appeared instantly.
THE FIRST MOVE WAS YOURS.
NOW IT'S MY TURN.
The signal cut off.
The screen went still again.
Silence filled the room.
Lily's voice trembled slightly.
"What does he mean?"
Alaric didn't look away from the monitor.
"It means," he said calmly, "the war isn't over."
I felt a strange calm settle inside me.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Something colder.
Tyler thought he could step back into this like nothing had changed.
He thought the woman he had manipulated before was still here.
I stared at the blank screen.
"Then he's about to learn
something," I said quietly.
Alaric glanced at me.
"What's that?"
I met his gaze.
"That I'm not the same Meadow he started this with."
Outside, the city lights flickered against the dark sky.
And somewhere out there…
Tyler Cross was watching.
But this time, he wasn't the only one.