A husband abandoned his disabled wife in a forest, unaware that a shadowy figure observed every moment…
Recovered reserve electronic mail tied obsolete project collection. Within, multitudes from patrons, providers, prior aide, directed her.
Evidence pre-Nathan enterprise management. Dylan marked pertinent, duplicated, secured protected storage. Then respite.
While Dylan prepared meal, Ava maneuvered to rear pane. External timber immobile. Windless, soundless, merely flakes and elevated terrain’s expectant hush.
She scowled. Distant near route start, observed. Fresh wheel mark.
Adjacent, obscure form. Possibly imprint absent morn. She maintained composure.
Retreated from pane. «Dylan,» she articulated steadily. «Proximity intruder suspected.»
He omitted inquiry method. Merely acted. Silent, rapid, proficient.
Perimeter inspected, verified observation. «Recent beyond mine,» he stated. «No justification others here.»
«Nathan?» Dylan negated. «Excessively distant sans strategy.»
«Unaware location yet, perhaps alternate seeker.» Ava’s insides flipped. «Response?»
Dylan’s timbre deep. Assured. «Maintain acumen.»
«Lead.» «Defer action till termination prepared.» Ava assented.
Initial months, not mere endurance. Battle preparation. Sunset descent behind crest, lodge radiated subdued determination.
Workstation disordered with pads, storage units, correspondence outputs, dual computers whirring. Ava central, concentrated, keenest months. «Recollected this,» she whispered, navigating stored documents.
«Self variant.» Dylan proffered energy snack and hydration. «Variant reclaiming territory…»
«Constructing personal schema.» Referenced initial schematics recovered. Structural plans, agreed pacts, billing logs from enterprise pre-crash.
Those Nathan subsequently asserted authorship, presenting patrons amid her upright relearning. «Verify enterprise mine,» Ava declared. «Founder, access post-wound.»
«Triple safeguard,» Dylan affirmed, duplicating protected units, loading secure remote. Dated stamps, authentic correspondences, initiative documents, doubtless.
Ava reclined. «Forgotten passion, creating significance.» Dylan silent, observed with habitual composed fervor unseen.
«Morrow,» he appended post-pause. «Advance further.» «Which?»
«Morn contact.» «Former colleague, investigator private now.»
«Subtle. Financial offenses expert.» Ava blinked.
«Pre-meal accomplishment.» «Slumbering,» he shrugged minimally. «Utilized tranquility.»
«Identity?» «Connor Blake.» «Arriving dawn.»
«Overlooked paths, fabricated profiles, diverted resources, concealed exchanges. Unearth.» Ava paused.
«Legal desire, pristine.» «Shall,» Dylan stated. «Steps legitimate, exposure mere.»
Ava grasped writing tool, snapped once. «Agreed. Chronicle all.»
«Expose deceit, seclusion, dominance.» «Construct airtight, prosecutor unavoidable.» Dylan assented.
«Schema indeed.» Labored till late. Ava narrating, Dylan recording.
Charted key instances past eighteen months. Crash to recovery facility to gradual autonomy erosion. Device codes altered sans approval.
Funds combined, choices sans her. «Observe,» she indicated, browsing prior ledgers. «Labeled shared reserve.»
«Personal contingency fund.» «Parental bequest post-crash.» «Nathan inaccessible till half-year past.»
Dylan’s vision sharpened. «Exit scheming commencement,» Ava confirmed. «Extractions minor initial.»
Hundreds, then thousands. Tagged health refunds. She faced Dylan.
«Received none.» «Larceny.» «Veiled manipulation, yet larceny.»
«Assumed overload post-wound.» «Perhaps consented forgotten.» «Unforgotten. Induced memory doubt.»
Ava eyed lap. «Mind manipulation cliche, yet experiential not.» «Madness gradual sensation.»
Dylan’s timbre stable. «Documentation purpose, head-external proof.» She assented, mandible firm.
Post-interval, Dylan queried, «Reserved inquiry.» She regarded. «Agreed.»
«Absent woodland sighting, non-appearance,» he trailed. Ava eyed blaze, then softly, «Night survival improbable.»
«Immobile.» «Lacking remedies, illumination, connection.» Tone steady.
«Intentional.» Hush extended. «Mentioned prior similars, experienced somewhat.»
«Implication?» Dylan expelled air leisurely. «Novice, domestic response.»
«Pair, analogous dynamic.» «Marks on her, charges declined.» «Insisted tumble.»
«He loomed entry, limbs folded, grinning ownership over breath.» He fixated embers. «Deceased fortnightly.»
«Discovered stair base.» Ava’s airway tightened. «Imprisoned?»..
