The sun filtered through the wide windows of Adam's study, scattering trembling shapes across the polished ebony furniture. Adam had just woken up on the couch, his half-lidded eyes scanning the room with the instinctive vigilance he couldn't turn off.Beside him, I stared at my palm—the thin red line that still trembled with the faintest pulse of blood.
That line was proof.Proof that last night had not been a dream, but a spiritual passage carved into reality.
I forced a faint smile and turned back to the monitors.
"It's done," I said. My voice was exhausted but proud. In truth, I was collapsing from sleeplessness and shock. Yet I let the exhaustion coat my words—because to Adam, fatigue meant devotion, and devotion meant value. "Chronos Architecture, Beta 1.0. Installation instructions are on-screen. The network is fully decentralized. If you distribute this to Baron's men tomorrow, their operations will run twice as fast and a hundred times safer within six months."
Adam straightened, still half drowsy, and rushed to my side. His eyes widened with reverent awe as he gazed at the flowing Rust code, the diagrams, the cryptographic intricacy across the three monitors. His world was built on brute force and threats—this digital fortress I had created would become his ultimate power.
"Jessica," he murmured, awe turning quickly into possession. "You're a genius."
I rose from my chair and crossed my arms slowly over my chest. Meeting his eyes with the same cold, unyielding defiance he hated and craved.
"A deal was made, Adam," I said flatly. "I built you the system that will bring Marcus to his knees. Now it's my turn. I'm free."
The admiration on his face froze instantly.His jaw tightened.His voice dipped into that dangerous, quiet calm.
"Free?" He let out a mocking laugh. "Jessica, sweetheart. This is business. Unfinished business. That system is something I can hand to Baron. Until it's tested, validated, and accepted—your value stays with me."
I expected this. Adam's words changed, but his logic never did: control was everything.Anger surged through me like poison. My palm—bearing the mark from another world—curled into a fist.
But anger was a tool only if I wielded it. Otherwise, it became a weakness.
So I smothered it.And used my greatest weapon instead—targeting his greatest weakness.
I stepped close. Slowly.Placed one hand on his jaw.Let my fingers slide down his neck, tracing the artery that always pulsed too fast.Pressed my body against his: a contact disgusting to me, irresistible to him.
"The system will be approved tonight," I whispered, layering my voice with the promise of luxury and loyalty he craved. "And then… I'll be yours. Forever."
Before he could speak, I kissed him—passionate, seductive, entirely false.A kiss that was both a goodbye and a muzzle.
As always, Adam melted—caught between shock and hunger.
I stepped back, watching him struggle to regain control. This was my final performance for him.
Then I turned, walked out of the study, and minutes later, my caravan engine roared to life.The iron gates of Adam's mansion slammed shut behind me.
As the caravan sped down the highway at a hundred miles per hour, my disgust and anger toward Adam evaporated like steam. Thinking about him was a waste of time.
My mind had already crossed worlds.
To Orinlafec.To the green-eyed man.And most of all—to the girl who claimed she was dreaming while eating a pumpkin bun.
Harper Fae.
I pulled out my phone and opened social media.Typed her name like decoding a cryptic sigil:H-a-r-p-e-r F-a-e.
Seconds later, her profile appeared.Curly honey-blonde hair. Big, warm amber eyes. Cheerful. Soft.The opposite of me.
Her Instagram revealed a bright, colorful life—oversized coffee cups, pastries arranged like artwork.
Pastries.Damn.
Suddenly, my anger toward Adam shifted into sharp curiosity about this girl.
She and I had shared the same "dream"—the same reality.
She was the key.
I immediately sent her a message:
"Last night, we were in Orinlafec. The dagger. The crown tower. We need to talk. Urgently."
No response.
"This is not a joke. I have proof."(I considered sending a photo of my bleeding palm—but that was too incriminating. I stopped.)
Ten minutes passed. Nothing.My irritation spiked into something primal.I was Jessica—doors opened for me. People did not ignore me.
I tried calling her.
Ring.Ring.
No answer.
I redialed. Again. And again.Until the cold digital message snapped onto the screen:
"You have been blocked by this user."
Blocked.An insult my pride could not tolerate.
Harper wasn't just a lead anymore.She was a target.
With a sharp twist of the wheel, I left my planned route entirely. Adam's world could wait.
Orinlafec could not.
I needed Harper Fae's exact location—and for that, I needed someone.
***
I parked my caravan behind an abandoned storage facility.This was James's territory.
James was a hacker who lived off security breaches and digital shadows. To him, no information was unreachable—only expensive.
I climbed the metal stairs to his apartment and knocked.
James opened the door, hair messy, stubble thick, wearing a stretched-out t-shirt. His eyes shifted instantly from shock to hunger. He'd had a quiet obsession with me for years—but Adam's shadow had always kept him away.
"Jessica," he breathed. "What are you doing here?"
I walked in without looking away from him. Cold. Calculated.In this room, negotiation happened in only one language.
"I need a few things, James," I said. "Fast and clean. And in return, I'm giving you what Adam has forbidden for years."
His breath hitched.He closed the door.
"What do you need?" he asked, voice dropping into a more dominant tone now that he sensed leverage.
"One: Harper Fae's exact address, phone number, school records—every sensitive detail." I gestured toward his keyboard. "Two: a high-quality fake passport, untraceable. I need it in my hand by tomorrow morning."
James swallowed hard. The risk was immense.Adam monitored everything I did.
"That's… expensive, Jessica. Even Baron's men don't ask for that level."
"I know," I said, unbuttoning my dress slowly.
The body Adam saw as property—I turned it into my sharpest bargaining chip.
"This isn't about money, James.It's a trade.I'm giving you an experience Adam would never allow you to have.Your payment… is the information I'm asking for."
The dress slid to the floor.I stood before him in nothing but my underwear—cold, emotionless, unashamed.This wasn't desire.This was strategy.
James's eyes lit with years of crushed longing erupting at once.Adam's shadow vanished from his mind.
"Deal," he whispered.
What followed wasn't love.It wasn't even lust.It was surrender—his to desire, mine to necessity.
Hours later, as I pulled away from his sweaty body, I felt neither guilt nor satisfaction.Just emptiness—the kind that follows a job completed.
James rushed to his computer, energized. His fingers flew across the keys—half the speed I had coded Chronos, but fast enough.
"Harper Fae… got her," he hissed, pointing at the screen. "Address. Phone. Out of the country."
"Passport?"
"Coming up. Thirty minutes. New identity. Nobody will question it."He looked back at me, eyes burning with leftover devotion. "I'll never forget this, Jessica."
"Forget it," I ordered, dressing quickly. My voice sharp as a blade."And if you breathe a word of this to Adam—you cannot imagine how quickly my system could become your death."
He shut up instantly.
He handed me a USB stick containing everything on Harper.I waited as the passport printed.
Ten minutes later, I was walking back to my caravan.In one hand, the proof of Orinlafec.In the other, the digital betrayal that would help me return.
James's data showed Harper was currently in New York, working in an art studio.Thousands of miles away.
I started the engine.
This time, my destination wasn't Adam's business or my university.
It was New York.
I would find Harper Fae.And I would uncover the secret of crossing between worlds.
No one's rules remained.
Only mine.