Chapter 5 - Paranoia
Isolation breeds paranoia.
Julian and Elena were trapped in a townhouse that was rapidly losing heat—literally, as I had hacked their smart-home thermostat and locked it at a brisk 55 degrees. They were turning on each other.
Through the laptop camera in Julian's home office, I watched them fight.
"Where did the money go, Julian?!" Elena shrieked, clutching a blanket around her shoulders. "The accounts are frozen! The board suspended you! You told me this was airtight!"
"It was airtight until you decided to forge his signature on the deed!" Julian shot back, pouring himself a massive glass of scotch. "If the feds look too closely at the house, they’ll look at the company transfer. You’re dragging me down, Elena."
"Me? You’re the one who couldn't secure the patents!"
Julian stopped pacing and stared at her, his eyes wild. "Someone is playing us. Someone knows. The patent holder... Tartarus Holdings. I had my guys dig into it. It’s a shell corporation. Untraceable." He paused, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Marcus."
Elena scoffed, though her hands were shaking. "Marcus is dead, Julian. The military confirmed his convoy was vaporized."
"Then who is doing this?!" Julian threw the glass at the wall. It shattered, amber liquid bleeding down the expensive wallpaper. "Ghosts don't file cease-and-desist orders! Ghosts don't freeze bank accounts!"
He was breaking. But I wasn't done playing with my food. I opened the smart-home application on my phone and triggered the Bluetooth speakers in their living room.
May you like
I played a song. It was the song we had danced to at our wedding.
Julian froze. Elena covered her mouth, her eyes wide with horror as the soft acoustic melody filled the freezing house. I turned it off after ten seconds. Let them wonder. Let them rot in the silence.
