You can run from your past. You can bury the truth. But when ghosts learn how to text… it means they're close enough to touch.
Ava stared at her phone.
One word. One sender. No number just "Unknown."
Liam leaned over, eyes narrowing. "What the hell is that?"
She swallowed hard. "It's her. It has to be."
"You're sure?"
"I know how she talks," Ava whispered. "Even her silence has an echo."
The message blinked again then disappeared.
Deleted.
"What kind of game is this?" Liam asked, jaw tightening.
"No game," Ava said, rising from the bed. "It's a warning. She wants me to know she's watching."
She crossed the room and opened her laptop. Her fingers trembled over the keys.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Tracing it. If she sent it through a hidden app, there's always a digital trail."
Liam walked to the window, pulling back the curtain.
The street below was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Do you think she's here… in this city?" he asked.
"I think she's always been one step ahead," Ava replied. "And I think she's waiting for me to remember something I haven't yet."
Flashback.
Isabella sat at the grand piano, fingers trembling over the keys.
It was the night after Liam vanished.
Celeste entered the room without knocking.
"You should eat something," she said softly.
"I'm not hungry."
Celeste placed a tray on the table. "They found a body."
Isabella's fingers froze.
"What?"
"They're not sure it's him… but the ring on his finger matched."
The sound of shattering glass filled the room as Isabella rose too quickly, knocking over a wine goblet.
"No," she gasped. "He can't be gone. I would feel it."
Celeste walked closer, her expression unreadable. "Sometimes, we don't get to say goodbye. Sometimes, love is a ghost we carry."
Isabella turned, eyes blazing. "You know something. Don't you?"
Celeste smiled, the kind of smile that begged to be slapped.
"I know the world doesn't let women like us love freely. Not without bleeding."
Present.
Ava closed the laptop, pale.
"What did you see?" Liam asked.
"Not everything," she whispered. "But I think she faked your death. I never saw your body. Just blood. Just pain."
Liam frowned. "You think I was alive?"
"I think… you were taken."
Just then, her phone buzzed again.
This time, it wasn't just a word.
It was a photo.
Of Isabella, standing in her velvet masquerade dress.
Only it wasn't a photo from the past.
It had today's date on it.