Chapter Text
January 15, 2025 - Los Angeles, California
The soft hum of morning settled over the Gillory household like a warm blanket, the familiar sounds of breakfast and routine grounding Morgan amidst the chaos of her life. Her kitchen, still cluttered with remnants of a late-night dinner, was now bustling with energy as Ava, at 15, danced around the room, chattering excitedly about the school play she was preparing for. Morgan half-listened as she made coffee, her thoughts still swirling around the case she had been working on for the past few days. Her mind, sharp and precise, could never quite fully turn off—especially when the pressure of a case loomed in the background.
Ava was eager for attention, trying to convince Morgan to come to her rehearsal that evening, while 10-year-old Elliot quietly sat at the table, flipping through a comic book with the kind of focus Morgan could never seem to manage. She glanced at him now and then, a mixture of pride and nostalgia welling up inside her. Despite everything she’d gone through, her kids were her anchor—her reason for finding balance in a world that often felt off-kilter. Chloe, still a baby, gurgled happily in her high chair, her innocent face the calm before the storm that was Morgan’s life.
Morgan poured herself a cup of coffee and looked out the window, watching the soft light of early morning play over the neighborhood. It was moments like this—simple and normal—that she cherished most. Yet even in this fleeting calm, she felt the subtle weight of the world pressing down on her. The case had taken a new turn, and she was already anticipating the calls, the meetings, the endless hours of strategy and investigation.
“Mom, do you think I can get a part as the lead in the play?” Ava’s voice cut through her thoughts, sharp and insistent.
Morgan smiled softly, setting her coffee down on the counter. “If anyone can, it’s you, sweetie.” Her words were filled with the kind of reassurance she gave to both of her older kids, even if a part of her wondered if she was being as supportive as she could be, considering how little time she had.
Elliot peered up from his comic book, eyes wide with a bit of mischief. “Is the lead girl gonna be super cool like you, Mom?” he asked, his tone half-serious, half-joking.
Morgan chuckled, ruffling his hair as she moved to grab a bottle for Chloe. “I don’t know about that, kid. But she’d better be able to keep up, right?”
As she fed Chloe, a sudden beep from her phone pulled her attention away from the momentary distraction of family life. She set the bottle down quickly, her eyes darting to the screen. The message flashed up—unknown number, no name attached. It made her heart skip a beat.
“I’m your cousin, Lexy. We need to talk.”
Morgan’s fingers hovered over the screen. Her first instinct was to delete the message. It was a mistake. A joke. Something too surreal to take seriously. But something about it, the simplicity of it, the immediacy, made her pause. A cousin? She hadn’t heard from any family—certainly not from anyone connected to her father—for years. She’d distanced herself, made it clear she wanted nothing to do with the past. So why now? Why this message? It couldn’t be real, could it?
Her phone buzzed again, cutting through her confusion. Another message from the same unknown number:
“I’m not in a good place, Morgan. But I’m good at what I do. I need your help.”
Morgan’s breath caught in her throat. The words swam in her head, but she couldn’t quite focus. This was too much—too out of the blue. She felt the familiar buzz of anxiety rise in her chest, but she tamped it down, pushed it aside. Her focus had to stay on the present—on her kids, on the case, on everything else. But she couldn’t shake the weight of the message, the way it gnawed at her.
Her hand hovered over the phone, unsure whether to respond. Instead, she locked the screen and slid the phone into her pocket. She wouldn’t deal with this right now. She couldn’t. But as she turned back to Chloe, her thoughts kept returning to that message, to the question of who this Lexy was, and why she would suddenly reach out after all these years.
“Mom?” Ava’s voice broke through her thoughts, and Morgan’s head snapped up. Ava was standing a few feet away, watching her with a knowing look. She must have sensed the shift in her mom’s mood.
Morgan straightened up, her face softening. “Yeah?”
Ava raised an eyebrow, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Everything okay?”
Morgan glanced at her daughter, forcing herself to focus on the present moment. She couldn’t bring this up now—not with Ava, not with anyone. “Yeah, just… family stuff. I’ll be fine.”
Ava didn’t press the issue, nodding before returning to her own world of school drama. Morgan exhaled quietly, relief washing over her. She didn’t want to deal with this. Not yet. She had too many other things to focus on.
Just as she was about to return to her thoughts, her phone buzzed again. This time, it was a message from Karadec:
“Come into the office. We’ve got a lead on the case.”
Morgan sighed, tucking the phone back into her pocket. She had no choice. The case couldn’t wait, and she had to put the mystery of her so-called cousin on hold—at least for now.
“Gotta run, sweetie,” she said, scooping Chloe up into her arms. “You’re gonna rock that play, okay?”
Ava shot her a quick smile, still distracted by her own plans, and Elliot gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Morgan kissed Chloe on the cheek and moved toward the door, the phone still buzzing softly in her pocket. She couldn’t shake the feeling that today would be more than just another day at the office.
By the time Morgan reached the precinct, the weight of the morning’s strange turn still clung to her like a second skin. As soon as she walked through the doors, the familiar, controlled chaos of the office settled over her, grounding her. She paused just inside the entrance, her eyes scanning the room. The team was already deep in conversation, working through the details of their current case. The tension was palpable, but it was the kind of tension she thrived in—a controlled storm, all sharp edges and determined focus.
Daphne was hunched over her desk, eyes locked on a series of screens, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she analyzed data. It was a rare sight to see her so absorbed, but when it came to connecting the dots, no one did it better. Her cool demeanor never wavered, even when things seemed to be spiraling out of control.
Oz was pacing near the evidence board, talking animatedly to Karadec. The forensic investigator’s usual energy was a bit higher than normal, his voice laced with excitement as he reviewed a set of preliminary results. “We’ve got a match on the encryption,” he was saying, adjusting his glasses. “These hackers? They’re good. Real good. But not good enough.”
Karadec, arms crossed, leaned against the desk, clearly trying to maintain his usual stoic composure. His eyes flicked between the board and Oz, a slight furrow in his brow. “I don’t care how good they are. We need to make sure we’re one step ahead. Keep pushing the tech side, but I want real intel, not just theories.”
Selena was at her desk, her phone in one hand, scanning through paperwork with the other. Even when she wasn’t speaking, her presence seemed to command attention—calm, collected, and in control. She looked up as Morgan approached, offering a brief nod. “You’re here just in time. We’re closing in on this thing.”
Morgan nodded in acknowledgment, though her mind was still preoccupied with the cryptic text she’d received that morning. But now, as the team’s energy seemed to permeate the space, she pushed the thought aside. The case needed her focus. Lexy could wait.
“Got something for us, Morgan?” Karadec asked, his voice cutting through her thoughts. He stepped away from Oz, looking at her with his usual intensity. The subtle edge of skepticism remained in his eyes. He hadn’t fully warmed to the idea of working with her yet, and Morgan could tell—especially when she’d joined the team, taking an unconventional approach. But he trusted her mind, even if he didn’t always agree with her methods.
Morgan didn’t immediately answer. Instead, she turned her attention to the case board, where Daphne had outlined the key players in the cyberattack—various corporate and government targets compromised by an anonymous group of hackers. The more they investigated, the more tangled the situation became. The data, when decrypted, revealed stolen government files—files that could cause an international crisis if leaked.
“I’ll be honest,” Morgan said, her voice steady as she walked toward the board, “I don’t think we’re looking at a random attack here. The hackers are working for someone—probably higher up, more organized than we realize. It’s a case of too many moving parts.” She ran a hand through her hair, thoughts clicking into place. “We need to dig deeper into the connections between the people who’ve been targeted.”
Selena glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. “And you’ve got a lead on that?”
Morgan didn’t respond immediately. Her phone buzzed in her pocket again, the message from Lexy gnawing at her. She had to stay focused. This case was bigger than any personal issue. She nodded. “I do, but it’s going to take some digging.”
Karadec’s gaze flickered back to her, then to the board. “All right. You take lead on that angle. I’ll work with Oz and Daphne to trace their movements. We’re closing in.”
As they all fell into their respective tasks, Morgan felt the weight of her phone in her pocket, but she refused to let it distract her. There would be time later to figure out what Lexy wanted. Right now, this case—and the team—demanded her full attention.
Morgan sat at her desk, fingers lightly grazing the keyboard, but her eyes weren’t on the screen in front of her. She was supposed to be cross-referencing the latest data on the cyberattack victims—names, locations, affiliations—but her thoughts kept pulling her back to the morning’s messages. I’m your cousin, Lexy. We need to talk. The words replayed like a song she couldn’t get out of her head, no matter how much she tried to drown it out.
Across the room, Oz’s energy filled the air like static electricity. He darted between the evidence board and his workstation, a bundle of uncontainable enthusiasm. “Okay, okay, listen to this,” he said, his voice raised just enough to demand attention. “I ran the encryption on the hackers’ latest transmission through the system again, and guess what? It’s a custom cipher! Like, something they built from scratch. We’re talking next-level genius.”
Daphne, seated nearby with her ever-present air of quiet competence, didn’t even glance up from her laptop. “Genius doesn’t mean perfect, Oz. If you’ve got their cipher, break it and tell us what we’re dealing with.”
“Break it?” Oz sputtered, adjusting his glasses. “It’s not a toaster, Daphne! This is like… trying to un-bake a cake. There are layers, complexity. You can’t just—”
Daphne cut him off with a calm, pointed look. “You’re stalling.”
Morgan couldn’t help the faint smile tugging at her lips. The dynamic between Oz and Daphne was like a well-rehearsed routine, and even on the most stressful days, their banter brought a measure of levity. It was one of the few constants in the ever-shifting chaos of their work.
Still, she couldn’t ignore the gnawing sense of unease creeping through her. She picked up her phone, the temptation to reread Lexy’s messages almost too strong to resist. But before she could open them again, Karadec’s voice cut through her thoughts.
“Morgan, you with us?”
Her head snapped up, and she realized everyone in the room was looking at her. Daphne had swiveled her chair slightly in Morgan’s direction, while Oz stood frozen mid-gesture, a marker in his hand like he was about to underline something on the board. Karadec, arms crossed, watched her with a mixture of curiosity and mild concern.
“Yeah,” she said quickly, setting her phone down on the desk, screen facedown. “I’m here. Just running through a few angles.”
Karadec didn’t look convinced, but he let it slide. “Good, because we need you sharp on this. Oz, what’s the status on the victims’ connections?”
Oz launched back into his explanation, gesturing wildly at the evidence board. “Right, so! We’ve got three confirmed breaches—two corporate, one government. And here’s the fun part: all three victims worked with the same subcontractor about six months ago. Some no-name tech firm out of Luxembourg. I ran the name through the system, and guess what? Fake. The whole company’s a shell.”
Daphne frowned, her fingers pausing over her keyboard. “A shell company tied to what?”
“That’s the thing!” Oz said, his excitement bubbling over. “I traced the registration to a server farm in Indonesia, but the real data? Totally wiped. Whoever set this up covered their tracks like pros.”
Morgan leaned forward, trying to force her focus back onto the case. “What about the timeline? Are we sure the breaches are connected, or are we looking at copycats?”
“I’d bet my lunch money it’s the same group,” Oz replied, spinning the marker in his hand. “The encryption signatures match, and the timing’s too perfect to be a coincidence. Whoever these guys are, they’ve been planning this for months—maybe longer.”
Daphne nodded, her expression thoughtful. “If they’re this good, they’ve probably got someone on the inside. We should cross-check the victims’ employee lists. Look for anyone with access to sensitive data who might’ve had financial trouble or a sudden change in behavior.”
Karadec stepped closer to the board, his gaze narrowing on the scattered photos and documents pinned there. “Start with the subcontractor. If they’re a shell company, someone’s running it. Find the name, and we’ll find out who’s pulling the strings.”
The team fell into a rhythm after that, each member diving into their respective tasks with a kind of seamless efficiency that only came from years of working together. Morgan tried to lose herself in the flow, burying her unease beneath layers of data and strategy. But no matter how much she focused on the case, Lexy’s messages lingered in the back of her mind like a shadow she couldn’t shake.
At one point, she caught Daphne glancing at her, a subtle furrow of concern in her brow. “You all right?” Daphne asked, her tone quiet enough not to draw attention.
Morgan hesitated, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. “Yeah,” she lied. “Just a lot to juggle today.”
Daphne didn’t push, but her expression said she wasn’t entirely convinced.
Across the room, Oz let out a triumphant whoop, breaking the tension. “Got it! Subcontractor registry just gave us a name: New Dawn Solutions. Ring any bells?”
Morgan’s focus snapped back to the board. “Never heard of them,” she said, standing and moving closer. “But if they’re tied to all three breaches, they’re our best lead.”
Karadec nodded. “Let’s run them down. Oz, Daphne, start pulling everything you can find on New Dawn Solutions. Morgan, I want you to cross-check their clients with the breach victims. If there’s a pattern, we need to find it now.”
Morgan nodded, forcing herself to push Lexy’s messages out of her mind. The case had to come first. Whatever Lexy wanted—whoever she really was—would have to wait.
Morgan had spent years perfecting the art of multitasking. It wasn’t just about keeping all the plates spinning—it was about making it look effortless. But today, the cracks were starting to show. As she sifted through the subcontractor’s client lists and tried to identify patterns in the breaches, her mind kept circling back to the messages.
She leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowing at the screen in front of her. New Dawn Solutions was proving to be just as slippery as Oz had described. Their records were vague, with inconsistencies in everything from employee logs to their reported profits. Whoever had set this company up had done so with the explicit purpose of staying under the radar.
“Got anything yet?” Karadec’s voice broke through the quiet. He stood a few feet away, arms crossed, his expression expectant but patient.
“Plenty of dead ends,” Morgan replied, her tone clipped. “These people covered their tracks better than most.” She gestured toward the screen, where a series of fragmented client records blinked back at her. “Whoever’s behind this didn’t just hide their footprints—they erased them entirely.”
Karadec studied her for a moment, his eyes sharp. “You don’t seem like yourself today.”
Morgan stiffened slightly but kept her gaze on the screen. “I’m fine. Just trying to piece this mess together.”
“If you say so,” he said, his tone neutral but loaded with the kind of understated concern that made Morgan’s defenses bristle. He moved on without pressing further, heading toward Daphne’s desk to check on her progress.
Morgan exhaled slowly, pressing the heel of her hand against her temple. She couldn’t afford to lose focus—not now. But even as she forced her attention back to the task at hand, the memory of Lexy’s messages lingered.
Across the room, Oz was muttering to himself as he worked, the occasional triumphant noise escaping him when he hit on something useful. “Okay, this is insane,” he said suddenly, turning toward the group. “I’ve got a list of New Dawn’s supposed employees, and at least half of them are fake. Like, completely fabricated. Stock photo headshots, placeholder names, the whole deal.”
“Which means the real employees are hidden behind the façade,” Daphne said, not looking up from her own screen. “Smart. Makes it harder to trace back to whoever’s actually running the operation.”
“Not impossible, though,” Morgan said, her voice sharper now, cutting through the growing haze of distraction. “If they’re hiding their real staff, it means they’ve got something to lose. We just have to figure out where they slipped up.”
Daphne nodded, her expression thoughtful. “I’m cross-referencing the fake employee records with travel logs and payroll systems. If they made even one mistake, we’ll find it.”
Morgan watched her for a moment, marveling at how calm and methodical Daphne remained, even when dealing with something this complex. It was a skill Morgan admired, even if her own methods were more intuitive—and, admittedly, a little messier.
“Anything on the breaches themselves?” Selena asked from her position near the back of the room, where she’d been quietly reviewing reports. Her voice was steady, a grounding force amid the frantic energy of the team.
“Not yet,” Oz admitted, spinning his chair around to face her. “But if I can get into their internal communications—emails, encrypted messages—I might be able to figure out how they’re coordinating this.”
“Do it,” Selena said simply, her focus already shifting back to her own work.
As the team fell into a rhythm again, Morgan’s phone buzzed softly in her pocket. She ignored it for as long as she could, her fingers tapping out search queries and filtering through layers of redacted information. But eventually, the pull was too strong.
Sliding her phone out of her pocket, she unlocked the screen and saw another message from the same unknown number:
“I’m serious, Morgan. I need your help. You’re the only one I can trust.”
Her stomach twisted. The words were so direct, so unflinching, that they left no room for doubt. Whoever this Lexy was, she wasn’t going to let up.
Morgan’s grip on the phone tightened, her thumb hovering over the keyboard. She wanted to reply, to demand answers. But she didn’t know where to start.
“Morgan.”
Her head snapped up, and she realized Karadec was standing in front of her again. He raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for her to acknowledge him.
“You’re distracted,” he said, his tone matter-of-fact but not unkind. “If something’s going on, you need to deal with it. Otherwise, it’s going to start affecting the case.”
Morgan opened her mouth to argue but stopped herself. He wasn’t wrong, and she knew it. But there was no way she could explain the situation—not yet, and certainly not to Karadec.
“I’m fine,” she said instead, forcing a small, tight smile. “Just trying to connect the dots.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he nodded anyway. “All right. But if you need to step out, do it. We’ve got this.”
Morgan nodded, watching as he walked away. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to refocus. The case was bigger than her personal issues. Lexy could wait—she had to.
The precinct had a rhythm to it—voices overlapping, keyboards clicking, the faint hum of fluorescent lights creating a steady backdrop to the team’s focus. Morgan sat at her desk, her phone beside her, the black screen a magnet for her attention. She stared at it more than she should have, her mind miles away from the subcontractor data she was supposed to be analyzing.
Her thoughts churned like a storm, circling around the string of texts she couldn’t get out of her head. I’m your cousin, Lexy. I need your help. She hadn’t replied yet. She couldn’t—not with so many questions crowding her mind. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something urgent beneath the words, something she wasn’t sure she was ready to face.
A buzz broke through the noise, and her hand instinctively reached for the phone. Another message lit up the screen.
“My life is in danger, someone is after me.”
Morgan froze, the weight of the words settling over her like a heavy stone. Her breath caught, her pulse quickening as she stared at the screen. The text was short, direct, and utterly terrifying. This wasn’t a plea for attention. It was a warning.
Her grip tightened on the phone as a thousand thoughts collided at once. Was it true? Who was after Lexy? And why her? The questions came in rapid succession, each one louder than the last.
“Hey, Morgan.”
Karadec’s voice snapped her back to reality. She looked up sharply to find him standing near her desk, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in quiet observation.
“You’ve been staring at that phone like it’s about to explode,” he said, tilting his head slightly. “What’s going on?”
Morgan quickly locked the screen, setting the phone down with deliberate care. “Nothing,” she said, the word too quick and too sharp. “Just… catching up on messages.”
Karadec raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying it. “If it’s personal, take a minute. The case isn’t going anywhere.”
“I’m fine,” Morgan insisted, though her tone lacked conviction. She could feel his eyes on her, weighing her words, but she refused to look up.
Karadec hesitated for a moment, then sighed. “All right. Just don’t let whatever it is distract you. We’re getting close.” He nodded toward the evidence board, where Daphne and Oz were still working through their leads. “We need everyone sharp.”
Morgan nodded, forcing a small smile. “I’m sharp. Don’t worry.”
He didn’t press further, but as he walked away, Morgan felt the weight of his words linger. She wasn’t sharp. Not today. Her mind was split in too many directions, and the text had tipped her over the edge.
Her eyes drifted back to the phone. The words stared back at her, unrelenting. “My life is in danger, someone is after me.”
She leaned back in her chair, exhaling slowly. She didn’t know Lexy—had no reason to trust her. But if there was even a chance that this was real, she couldn’t ignore it. The case demanded her attention, but the nagging pull in her chest was impossible to dismiss.
Across the room, Daphne and Oz were deep in conversation, their voices cutting through the tension.
“I’ve got two anomalies in the financial records,” Daphne said, her tone brisk. “Transfers that don’t line up with the company’s reported income.”
“Could be offshore accounts,” Oz replied, his excitement bubbling up. “Or a slush fund. Either way, it’s shady.”
“Dig deeper,” Karadec said, joining them. “If there’s money moving under the radar, it might lead us to whoever’s behind this.”
Morgan watched them work, her fingers tapping idly on the edge of her desk. She needed to focus. The team was counting on her. But the text burned in her mind, louder than anything else in the room.
Finally, she grabbed her phone and slipped it into her pocket. She wasn’t ready to deal with Lexy yet, but she couldn’t let the message go unanswered for long. Whatever was happening, it wouldn’t wait forever.
By the time the sun began its slow descent behind the horizon, the precinct was awash in the orange glow of twilight. The office hummed with a quieter energy now, the frantic pace of the day settling into something more measured. Daphne’s sharp clicks on her keyboard and Oz’s occasional mutters of discovery were the only sounds that broke the relative calm.
Morgan sat at her desk, a stack of files to her left and a blinking cursor on her screen. Her focus was fractured, each attempt to dive into the investigation interrupted by the pull of her phone in her pocket. The weight of Lexy’s messages gnawed at her, and though she kept telling herself she would deal with it later, the truth was she didn’t know what “later” looked like.
“Cross-referencing employees didn’t get us far,” Daphne said from across the room, breaking the quiet. She turned her chair toward the group, her expression composed but tinged with frustration. “Most of the names linked to New Dawn Solutions are dead ends—aliases, fake credentials, the works. Whoever’s behind this knows how to stay invisible.”
Oz, perched on the edge of his desk, twirled a pen between his fingers. “Invisible, sure. But no one’s perfect. If they’re moving money, it’s gotta leave a trail somewhere. Digital footprints are harder to scrub than they think.”
“We don’t need to catch every step,” Karadec added, his arms crossed as he studied the evidence board. “We just need one mistake. One crack in the armor.”
“Easier said than done,” Daphne replied, though there was no doubt she was already working through the problem in her mind.
Morgan shifted in her seat, her eyes flicking to the board. The web of photos, documents, and digital threads stared back at her, a puzzle with too many missing pieces. Normally, she would have been the first to suggest a new angle, a fresh perspective to break the case open. But today, her thoughts were elsewhere, tangled in questions she didn’t know how to answer.
Her phone buzzed again, and this time she didn’t hesitate. She pulled it from her pocket, the glow of the screen illuminating the latest message.
“Please, Morgan. I don’t know where else to go.”
Her breath caught. The desperation in the words was palpable, cutting through her lingering doubts like a blade.
She glanced up, her gaze sweeping the room. The rest of the team was deep in their own tasks, focused on the intricacies of the case. Karadec, ever vigilant, caught her eye briefly, but he didn’t say anything.
Morgan’s thumb hovered over the keyboard, her mind racing. She couldn’t ignore this anymore. The case demanded her attention, but Lexy’s words refused to be silenced.
Taking a deep breath, she typed a quick response: “Where are you?”
The reply came almost instantly: “Not far. I can come to you.”
Morgan’s pulse quickened. This was it—the moment she had to decide whether to follow through or turn away. And even though part of her still hesitated, the rest of her knew there was no real choice.
She stood abruptly, grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair. “I’ve got to step out for a bit,” she said, her voice even but resolute.
Karadec turned, his expression sharpening. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she said quickly, brushing past him. “Just need to take care of something. I’ll be back soon.”
He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t press. Instead, he nodded, turning his attention back to the board.
Morgan stepped out into the cool Los Angeles evening, the crisp air hitting her like a jolt. She pulled her phone out again, staring at the messages as she walked.
“Where are you?”
“Not far. I can come to you.”
Her fingers tightened around the device as she sent another reply: “Meet me at the park on Sixth. Fifteen minutes.”
As she made her way to the park, the city’s sounds swirled around her—traffic, distant voices, the hum of life continuing as it always did. But Morgan’s thoughts were singular, focused on the meeting ahead. Whoever this Lexy was, she had turned Morgan’s world on its head in less than a day.
And Morgan couldn’t shake the feeling that this was only the beginning.