Chapter 3 :Silent Stones and Cracked Windows
The next day morning elijah's alarm blared at 5:45 a.m., sharp and unforgiving like everything else in his life. He groaned, slapped it quiet, and rolled onto his back. The ceiling above him was cracked slightly near the corner, a reminder that even his high-rise condo in the city wasn't immune to the pressure of time.
He sighed. Another day to pretend you've got it all together.
By 6:15, he was dressed in his usual charcoal suit, sipping bitter black coffee from his "World's Okayest Boss" mug an ironic gift from his assistant, Dana, who was far too comfortable speaking her mind. He glanced over his shoulder at the papers spread across his dining table. Designs, schedules, a few grimly highlighted contracts.
Elijah was the CEO of StoneArc Innovations, a company known for creating sleek, environmentally conscious smart-home systems. Security, temperature control, lighting if it needed a brain, they gave it one. His latest line, Thalos, was about to roll out nationwide.
But the past few months had been odd. Glitches in the software that their best coders couldn't trace. Cameras turning on by themselves. A strange surge in anonymous emails sent to customer support with complaints that didn't exist in their database.
"Ghosts in the machine," Dana had joked once. Elijah didn't laugh.
He should've taken it more seriously.
But this morning wasn't about work. This morning was for Thomas Grant.
Elijah drove out of the city before the sun finished rising, the buildings giving way to smaller houses, then trees, and finally silence. The cemetery rested on a quiet hill, guarded by old oaks and birdsong. He parked near the gate and walked the path alone.
As he approached his father's grave, he noticed something strange.
A single white lily lay on the headstone. Fresh. Dew-kissed. Not from his mother or Eliana he'd asked.
He frowned but said nothing. Just lowered himself to the ground and sat cross-legged like he had as a boy.
"Morning, Dad," he murmured.
The wind shifted gently through the trees. He imagined his father's voice, deep and dryly amused: 'You're late. You were always late, son.'
"I've got a lot on my plate," Elijah replied, managing a small smile. "Work's insane. We're two weeks out from launch, and suddenly half the system's acting like it's possessed."
He paused. "You'd like the product though. It's smart. Reliable. Built to last. Like you."
He pulled out a folded paper from his coat. "It's my speech for the board meeting next week. Wanted you to see it first. You always did edit my essays better than Mom."
There was a long pause.
"Also… I saw someone."
The words hung in the air. A robin fluttered from one branch to another.
"I don't know why I'm even telling you this. It's not like it was anything serious. Just a woman. In a café. Maya."
He chuckled under his breath. "She talks like she's lived ten lives and still has stories she won't share. Wears sneakers with dresses. Smiles like she's remembering something funny but won't let you in on the joke."
He ran a hand through his hair. "She's… different. I don't know. I haven't felt something pull at me like that in years."
He looked back at the lily on the grave.
"Did someone else come here, Dad? Someone you knew?"
The mystery tugged at him.
Later That Morning: StoneArc Innovations HQ
Elijah walked into his office to find Dana lounging in his chair, sipping from his mug.
"You're early," he said.
"You're late," she replied. "By eight minutes. Should I alert the media?"
"Only if they're bringing breakfast."
Dana handed him a file. "Here's the list of the system bugs. Also, someone accessed the restricted server again at 2:14 a.m. from a masked IP."
Elijah stiffened. "Again? That's the third time this month."
"I'm beginning to think we're being watched," she said in a mock-spooky voice. "Or cursed. Did you anger a cyber-witch?"
"I might've ghosted a date who called herself Raven," he deadpanned.
"See? This is why I don't delete my crystals."
They both laughed, but tension lingered.
"Seriously," Dana added, lowering her voice, "you need to talk to IT about locking that access point down before launch. We don't need a scandal."
He nodded. "I'll handle it."
But his thoughts drifted. The lily. The strange access attempts. The café girl. Maya.
What did they all have to do with each other?
Mystery Note:
Later that evening, Elijah opened his email to find a blank message from an unknown address. No subject. Just an attachment: a single photo.
It was an old image.
Black and white.
A group of people standing outside a small shop. His father was one of them much younger. And standing beside him, unmistakably, was a woman that looked exactly like Maya.
Only the photo was dated: 1987.
**Brooklyn, New York — 9:14 AM**
Maya hadn't slept a wink at night the thread she pulled at midnight was now unraveling into something far older and far deadlier than she'd imagined
The steam curled gently from Maya's teacup as she sat near the wide window of her apartment. Morning light filtered in through gauzy curtains, casting a pale glow on her face. Her eyes, however, remained focused on the small velvet box in her hand.
She opened it.
Inside was a delicate gold locket old, a little tarnished, but lovingly preserved. Inside, a photo: a man identified to her as Thomas Grant and a child no older than five. The child was Maya.
Her voice trembled. "You promised I'd never have to meet him like this."
Her phone buzzed. A secure message: He asked about the lily. Be ready.
Maya sighed and rose to her feet, placing the locket around her neck. The moment it clicked shut, she transformed no longer a daughter lost in time, but a woman with purpose.
Flashback: 1995 - Langley, Virginia
Maya was only thirteen the last time she saw her father or the man her mother said was her father. They had lived in shadows her mother moving them constantly, changing names, states, stories. The man known to her as Thomas Grant had been a ghost, appearing only when danger was near.
He worked for a program so classified Maya never learned its real name only that it dealt with high-risk tech, counter-intelligence, and burying secrets too dangerous for daylight.
Then one day, he vanished. Officially, he was "killed in an operation." But Maya never believed it. She saw the fear in her mother's eyes. The whispering men at the funeral. The photo of Thomas Grant stored in a top-security vault under a false identity.
That's when the obsession began.
Present Day - Her Private Office
Maya worked quietly, fingers tapping over encrypted files. She had built her career in shadows design consulting, government contracting, and security testing. She was no stranger to secrets. And now she was consulting disguised as a designer for StoneArc Innovations.
What she hadn't expected... was Elijah.
Their first meeting had shaken her. He looked too familiar. The same steady gaze. The quiet fire. And the name Elijah Grant.
"He doesn't remember me," she whispered again. "Or maybe... he was never told."
But as she investigated deeper into StoneArc's systems, her suspicions grew: Elijah's father, who was also listed as Thomas Grant in older archives, had been tied to the same ghost project as the man in her locket.
What if... they were the same man?
What if she and Elijah were half-siblings?
What if that was a lie meant to keep her chasing the wrong enemy?
StoneArc's server logs were bleeding data into hidden pockets files only someone with high-level access would understand.
And someone else was watching.
Café Meeting (The Day After Elijah's Visit to the Grave)
Maya sat waiting, her tablet on the table.
A man in a grey blazer sat across from her. "You've gone too deep."
"I'm not walking away."
"Then you'll burn with it. You think this is just about him? You think Thomas Grant died for some lab accident?"
She held his gaze. "I think someone tried to erase him. And I think they failed. I think Elijah's father and mine... might've been the same man or two identities created by the program. Or... maybe someone just made me believe that."
The man leaned in. "You want the final file? Then get closer to Elijah. There's something hidden in that system something your father never got to finish. Find it. Before they do.
That night, Maya looked into the mirror.
Her fingers ran over the locket. "If you're out there, Dad... I'll finish what you started. Even if I have to destroy everything to do it."
Her reflection blinked back calm, steady, dangerous.
Because Maya wasn't just uncovering a truth.
She was becoming the weapon Thomas had designed her to be.
And Elijah Grant? He was the key whether he was blood, or bait, or both.
One way or another... the truth would surface.