Accidentally Yours (Merffy Kizzmet) novel Chapter 232

Chapter 232

Lola

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(88)

The lab sat buried under the penthouse floors, cold and alive in equal measure–server hums, ozone, and the faint scent of burnt coffee clinging to the air. Screens covered every wall, casting blue light that crawled over metal and glass.

Jake was right where she expected him: hoodie half–zipped, hair a rumor, surrounded by empty mugs and a thousand–yard stare that said sleep was theoretical.

“You look like you’ve been awake for a week,” she said, setting her coffee beside one of his.

“Five days,” he replied without looking up. “Sleep’s for civilians.”

“Or happy people.”

“Can’t relate.”

He finally swiveled toward her. “You wanted Rinaldi. I went fishing.”

She leaned a hip against the desk, pulse kicking once. “I said low–key.”

“This is low–key,” he said. “I didn’t even use the scary servers.”

“Define scary.”

“The ones that talk back.”

She blew out a breath. “Okay. What did you find?”

Jake clicked something, and the central monitor bloomed with pale–blue grids.

At first it looked like static organized by a perfectionist. Then he zoomed in, layer after layer collapsing inward, until a single red pulse glowed at the center.

Not blinking. Breathing.

He pointed. “That’s him.”

“What do you mean that’s him? It’s a dot, Jake.”

“Yeah, but it’s a dot that doesn’t want to be seen. Every time I ping this node, it bounces me three countries over, wipes the trail, and loops my access logs. That’s not architecture; that’s a living countermeasure.”

“So it’s–what? Protected?”

“Protected, mirrored, spiteful. Classic rich–villain energy. And guess what one of the dead proxy addresses was tied to?”

She raised a brow.

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10:45 Tue, Oct 21

Chapter 232

“An old Academy server.”

88

Her fingers tightened around the mug.

For a second she could smell waxed marble and hear her father saying, You’ll meet Luclan Rinaldi. He’ll give you the tour himself.

Het voice came out thinner than she wanted. “I was nine. I remember shoes squeaking. His voice saying my name like it already belonged to him.”

Jake’s tone flattened into something close to concern. “You sure you want to keep digging? Whatever this is, it’s awake.”

It’s just data. It can’t see you.

Right?

The pulse flickered. Once. Twice. Then the entire grid rippled, slow as breath.

Jake’s hands froze on the keys. “Uh… that wasn’t me.”

“What do you mean, that wasn’t you?”

“It moved,” he said. “It’s rerouting–Jesus–it just bounced into our local net.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Tell it that.”

Across the bottom of the monitor, black text began to type itself.

HELLO, LOLA.

Silence thickened until even the fans seemed to hesitate.

Jake exhaled through his nose, voice perfectly deadpan. “Cool. He knows someone’s watching.”

Of course he does.

The monster always feels the flashlight before you see its eyes.

For a second, neither of them breathed.

The word on the screen pulsed once, slow and deliberate.

HELLO, LOLA.

Jake’s cursor blinked beneath it, a tiny stuttering heartbeat.

Lola set her mug down carefully, like any sudden movement might make it worse.

C

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10:45 Tue, Oct 21

Chapter 232

“Can we–turn it off?”

:

“Off?” Jake’s voice was thin. “You don’t turn that off. You hope it gets bored.”

The red pulse dimmed, then flared again, brighter. The lights in the lab hiccupped.

Ozone thickened. The air felt wrong.

“Jake.”

He was already typing, fast. “It’s trying to handshake with the internal net. That shouldn’t even be possible from this end.”

“Then unplug it.”

“I did. Three minutes ago.”

Her spine prickled. “So it’s doing this on its own.”

He didn’t answer.

It knows I’m here.

It knew before I did.

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