The Heart System

Chapter 424: Chapter 424

Nala and I stepped out of Maeve’s office and stood in front of the closed door for a few seconds. Neither of us said anything. The corridor lights hummed softly above us.

After a moment, we walked to the right, further down the corridor, and stopped in front of a large window overlooking the parking lot.

Snow was falling steadily outside, dusting the cars and pavement in white.

"Can we trust this Tuck person, Evan?" she asked, her voice serious.

"Of course we can," I said with a nod.

"Okay..." she muttered, staring out at the snow. "Okay... we’ll find out where those recordings were saved... right, Evan?"

I smiled slightly. "Yes. Don’t worry about it."

She stayed quiet for another few seconds, then pushed herself off the windowsill and glanced down the corridor. It was mostly empty. A couple of employees stood near the far end making phone calls. A cleaning staff member was wiping mud off the floor near the entrance.

"I’ll..." Nala said quietly.

She reached into her pocket, pulled out the hidden camera, and casually slipped it into my pants pocket, keeping the movement subtle.

"Leave it to you, then."

"Hmm."

She rubbed her face, exhausted, then walked off toward the elevators without another word.

I stayed there, leaning against the window frame, staring out at the snow-covered parking lot.

A hidden camera in TechForge. It could’ve been Carrie trying to get revenge. One of the board members. A competitor. Anyone. The list of possible suspects was massive.

I shifted my gaze slightly—

And saw her.

A woman standing in the parking lot holding a black umbrella despite the light snowfall. She wasn’t moving. Just standing there.

I turned fully toward the window and focused on her.

But right as she started to tilt her head up I blinked and she was gone. No one there. Just snow.

"Silk..." I muttered. "It has to be, right?"

"Evan."

I turned.

Amelia stood behind me. She had a small bandage wrapped around her finger.

"Oh. Hey," I said. "What happened to your finger?"

"Paper cut," she replied. "Hurts like hell."

"Yeah. Those are the worst."

"Yep."

There was a short silence between us.

"Oh, uh, we won’t be doing lessons today," I said. "Something came up. I need to leave early."

"Okay..." she said, clearing her throat. "I... gotta go."

"Yeah. Don’t let me stop you."

"Mm."

Awkward.

She walked past me, knocked on Maeve’s door, and stepped inside.

I turned back to the window, scanning the parking lot again. Nothing. No umbrella. No figure. Just snow settling quietly over everything.

"Gotta go," I exhaled. "No time to dwell on that."

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It felt weird visiting my old workplace again. The place was still the same mess it used to be. Gas fumes mixed with alcohol and cigarette stench hit me the second I stepped out of the car. A complete dumpster fire. But I couldn’t lie, I kind of missed it. Here, you didn’t have to worry about hidden cameras, corporate espionage, or someone trying to leak company secrets. The biggest crisis here was someone stealing a Red Bull.

The automatic doors slid open and I stepped inside.

Tuck was behind the counter, head down, scrolling through his phone. Probably reading the news or watching some stupid clips. He didn’t look up, so I cleared my throat and walked closer. When he finally raised his head and saw me, his face lit up.

"My man," he grinned, slapping the counter. "Thought you forgot about ol’ T after landing yourself some rich chick."

"Naah," I said, shaking my head. "Just busy. How are you?"

"Good. How about you?" He looked me up and down. "Plain t-shirt and pants? Not very office-core. Day off?"

"Had to leave early. Didn’t have time to put on my rich-asshole suit," I said with a small laugh. "How’s it been since Richard left?"

"They still haven’t found some unlucky bastard to replace him," he replied. "So I’m doing double shifts. Pay’s good though."

"Still sucks."

He waved it off. "I’ve worked worse places. Trust me."

I leaned both elbows on the counter and rubbed my face. He noticed right away that something was off. His expression shifted and he reached over to tap my shoulder once.

"You got problems?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "We found a hidden cam in Nala’s office. Nala’s my girlfriend. We need to figure out where the footage is stored."

Tuck leaned back against the cigarette cabinet, arms crossing over his chest. It was enclosed in glass now, which I didn’t remember from before. He looked at me for a long second, then shook his head.

"I thought you came here to visit me," he said. "Not ask for help again."

"Look—"

"You did this last time too. Came in asking us to help rescue some woman," he cut in. "Now I’m thinking, hey, Evan finally dropped by to hang out, and boom. You need something."

"I know I haven’t been around," I said. "But TechForge takes a lot out of me."

"Oh, poor you," he shot back. "Big tech job, tons of money, stressful life. Cry me a river."

"You know that’s not what I mean."

"It is what it sounds like." He shook his head. "We used to hang out all the time. Drink. Do dumb shit. Now look at you."

"That wasn’t exactly healthy," I said. "I used to have beer for breakfast if there was any left. That wasn’t sustainable."

"Whatever," he said. "I’m not getting dragged into your weird situations again."

"Tuck."

"Sorry, man. You changed. Better? Worse? I don’t know. But you changed. I’m not some tool you pull out when you need fixing. Not some fucking chairty."

"What, you want money?" I asked without thinking.

That did it.

His jaw tightened. "Get out before I actually hit you."

"Tuck, I didn’t mean—"

"Get out."

I stared at him for a second, then shook my head. "Fine. Jesus. Fine."

I walked out of the gas station, the automatic doors sliding shut behind me.

Well, that failed.

I stood there in the cold for a moment, hands in my pockets. I didn’t even know who else to ask now. And if I was being honest, part of what he said wasn’t wrong. Ever since this new life started, I hadn’t exactly been a great friend.

"Way to go, Evan," I muttered to myself before heading toward my car.

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Fuck. I really wished I still had Hypnotize available. If I did, I would’ve just convinced Maeve to help us and saved everyone the headache. But she had been stubborn. Really stubborn. Whatever that past of hers was, she clearly wanted nothing to do with it. And we couldn’t afford that kind of refusal right now. Tuck was out, and the only person who might actually know how to trace that hidden cam was Maeve.

The head doctor of TechForge having some secret hacker past. I still didn’t know what to make of that. Why switch paths like that? What happened?

I went back to her office without knocking and let myself in, closing the door behind me. She wasn’t there. Probably on a break. I stepped further inside and sat on the edge of one of the examination beds, rubbing my hands together and exhaling.

"Tuck... fuck, man," I muttered. "This sucks."

Sitting around wasn’t helping. I stood back up and walked toward the window, staring outside for a second before pulling my phone out. It was on silent. I’d missed a few calls.

None from Mendy.

That hit worse than I expected. I still couldn’t believe I’d been late. I’d been so wrapped up with Kayla and everything else that I completely miscalculated the time. I thought I could make it. I was wrong.

I dialed Mendy.

After a few rings, she picked up. "Hey, Evan."

"Hey," I said. "I think you know why I’m calling."

"Mm?"

"I’m sorry I was late. Traffic was bad. Snow, everything."

"It’s okay," she said calmly. "I handled it."

"Handled what?"

"My bedroom. We were going to rearrange it, remember?"

"Yeah... I’m really sorry."

"It’s fine," she replied. "I need to go now, though. Sorry."

"Yeah. Have a nice one."

"You too."

The line cut. I lowered the phone and slipped it back into my pocket.

There were also missed calls from Cora. I stared at her name for a second but locked the screen. I couldn’t deal with that right now. The hidden cam situation was already eating at me.

That’s when I heard it.

A faint sound from under Maeve’s desk. Quick. Subtle. Like something shifting. I glanced down. There was a bag under her table. One of the zippers wasn’t fully closed, and something black was slightly visible through the gap.

At first I ignored it. Then I looked again.

It looked like a strap. A collar maybe.

Curiosity won.

I crouched down, pulled the bag toward me, and opened the zipper fully.

Inside was a dog collar. Black leather. Metal ring. Next to it, a pepper spray. A couple of notebooks. And a laptop.

I frowned.

The collar didn’t match the clean, professional image she carried around the office. Neither did the rest of it. It felt like pieces of a different person shoved into a single bag.

My instincts told me to check the laptop. So I did. I pulled it out, sat on the edge of her desk, and opened it. Password screen. Of course. I wasn’t some elite hacker. I couldn’t brute-force my way in. It would need a password or her fingerprint.

The door handle suddenly turned. The door began to open. I didn’t even think.

I activated Time Stop.

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SHOP [Page 2]

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• Hypnotic Perfume (40c)

• Time Stop (90c)

• 500 Dollars (50c)

• 1 Ability Point (150c)

• 1 Mastery Point (160c)

• Desire Aura (100c)

• Reputation Point +30 (200c)

• Mastery Evolve (1500c)

• Random Passive Skill (1700c)

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Credits: 5249c

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