New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 360 Soon

Claire leaned back in her chair, her excitement from their recent victory evaporating in an instant as she stared at her screen. The message was simple, just two words, but they sent a chill down her spine, ""Miss me?"

The line went quiet on the other end of the phone call with Matthew. He paused, clearly sensing something was off. "Uh, Claire? You still there?" he asked, his voice concerned.

Claire cleared her throat, trying to shake off the weird feeling crawling up her spine. "Yeah, I'm here."

"What's up? You went all quiet."

She hesitated for a second, then exhaled sharply. "I just got a message."

"A message?" Matthew repeated. "From whom? What does it say?"

Claire's eyes flicked back to the screen, her lips twisting in irritation. "It's only two words, Miss me?"

Matthew's tone immediately shifted. She could almost hear him sitting up straighter, the playful vibe gone. "Whoa. That's... weird. Did you track it?"

"Yeah," Claire muttered, clicking through her system, her fingers flying over the keys. "I tried. But all it leads me to is the message. Nothing else. Whoever sent this is playing games."

Matthew's foot hit the floor with a heavy thud, now fully alert. "Do you know who it could be? Do you have any idea?"

Claire bit her lip, thinking it over. Her mind raced through possible suspects. Then something clicked, and her eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me it's that Eligos guy."

Matthew went silent on the other end for a moment before speaking carefully, "Eligos? You sure? I mean, it could be anyone, especially since you've been posting on the hacker boards. You might've pissed off some random." Claire thought about it, gnawing on her lips as she considered his words. He wasn't wrong, but something about this message felt personal. The way the hacker left that creepy little note-it just screamed Eligos. He was always cryptic like that.

"Yeah, maybe." she finally admitted. "But this feels like him. You know how he is, always leaving breadcrumbs, just to mess with me."

to be

muttered. She hated that he was right. Eligos wasn't just another hacker. He was the kind who enjoyed toying with people, and if he had her in his sights now, that meant trouble. Big trouble. Matthew's voice softened, a bit of concern creeping in. "You want me to help track

couldn't see her.

"You sure?"

the desk, deep in thought. "I'll dig around for a while. See

quiet for a beat, then,

I'm gonna need

as she worked her way through every possible lead. For hours, she stayed glued to her setup, her fingers

time Claire thought she was making progress,

Even for someone with her skills, this firewall was the

already the middle of the night, but she wasn't about

came, and Claire was still

shadows across the room. Her eyes burned from staring at the screen, and her glasses kept slipping down her nose. She

he called out, sounding startled. "Have you been

rolled her eyes, not even bothering to look up from her screen.

when he saw her. "You look like you haven't slept in...

and continued typing.

clearly taken aback by how zoned in she was.

I don't have much of a

"And?"

long hours to

firewall

her as she leaned back in her chair. "However, the result disappoints me. Those long

eyebrows shot up.

soon," Claire read aloud, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "So now I've got that to look