Bound To The Broken Alpha (Amy and Daniel) novel Chapter 175

Chapter 175 Walking Into A Trap

AMY

Finished

Daniel entered quietly, his expression already wary. “You’ve been at this all morning. You need to slow down.”

“I can’t.”

He came closer, placing his hand on the desk to calm me. “Amy, we can’t chase ghosts without proof. Whoever did this is baiting you. You know how Elias works.”

I met his eyes. “This isn’t bait. This is deliberate cover–up. Marielle’s life was erased systematically–file by file, name by name. Someone in the South is protecting his secrets.”

Daniel exhaled in frustration, “Then let’s be smart about it. Rushing only gives Elias what he wants- control. We need a clear trail, not chaos.”

I pushed myself away from the desk, “You think I don’t know that? But every hour we wait, more data disappears. If I stop now, we will lose the last traces.”

Before he could argue further, Brian appeared at the doorway, his expression serious. “Amy, you might want to hear this.”

Daniel straightened. “What is it?”

Brian hesitated, clearly uncomfortable. “Someone tampered with our internal security systems two nights ago. I thought it was just a routine data ping until I checked the access logs again this morning.”

My stomach tightened. “Show me.”

He handed me a tablet displaying the system’s network activity. The timestamp was precise–two nights ago, just after midnight. Access points spiked from an unknown location, encrypted with an old Carter Holdings internal key, one that hadn’t been used in years.

“Could Elias have used it?” I asked.

Brian shook his head. “Not directly. The encryption pattern doesn’t match his usual network signature. But…” He paused. “It aligns with one of our older system IDs. I think whoever did this used a stolen internal key.”

Daniel frowned. “Who had access to that key?”

Brian hesitated. “That’s the problem. The ID belongs to Clara.”

The room fell silent. I blinked, trying to process it. “Clara?”

Cole, who had been listening from the doorway, stepped forward. “I checked the server backups after Brian called. He’s right. There’s a digital trace of Clara’s old login signature. She was inside Carter Holdings‘ private archives, but only for a few minutes before vanishing again.”

I felt my pulse quicken. “So Clara accessed company data right before my mother’s records disappeared.”

7/2

08:48 Mon, Jan 12

Chapter 175 Walking Into A Trap

Finished

Cole nodded grimly. “And whatever she took, she covered her tracks too well. She wiped her trail on the way out, but she left just enough for us to know she was there.”

Daniel ran a hand through his hair. “You’re saying Clara might be tied to Marielle’s disappearance?”

“It fits,” I said quietly. “Elias had the reach, but Clara had the access. Together, they could erase anyone and anything.”

Brian crossed his arms. “If that’s true, then whatever connection exists between Marielle and Clara isn’t random. This was planned.”

I turned back to the monitors, scanning the data feed for any surviving traces. “I want every digital path Elias could’ve used mapped out. Emails, security cams, data transfers–everything. Start from two nights ago and trace backward.”

Brian frowned. “That’s a tall order, Amy. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. It could take days.”

“Then start now,” I ordered. “We don’t have days.”

He nodded and left without argument.

Once we were alone, Daniel leaned against the wall, watching me. “You’re letting this consume you.”

I looked up from the screen. “You think I care about that?”

“Yes, I do,” he said evenly. “You’re walking into a trap. Elias wants you distracted. He wants you chasing after ghosts so you’ll leave the company vulnerable.”

I stepped closer, “This isn’t about ghosts. This is about my mother. About why her name keeps showing up in every shadow Elias leaves behind. You think I’m emotional? Fine. But emotions don’t erase government records. Someone did this deliberately, and I’m going to find out who.”

His jaw tightened. “And if you find something you’re not ready for?”

“Then I’ll deal with it.”

The silence between us grew thick. Daniel finally turned away, muttering, “You always have to take the hard road.”

I didn’t respond. There was no point. He didn’t understand what it felt like to be erased from your own history, to have your mother’s existence vanish like smoke.

Hours passed as I dug through fragmented files, corrupted data, and buried code. The more I searched, the clearer it became that this wasn’t a recent cover–up. Someone had been scrubbing Marielle’s records for years. Elias might have triggered the final deletion, but the groundwork was old andcarefully maintained.

When Brian returned later that evening, his face was pale. “You need to see this,” he said, holding out his phone.

On the screen was an encrypted video file. The metadata was traced back to a southern port, timestamped three weeks earlier. He pressed play.

The footage flickered before stabilizing. A woman stepped into frame, cloaked and wearing dark glasses. Even through the grainy quality, I recognized the tilt of her chin and it was the same as mine. Marielle.

08:48 Mon, Jan 12

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