1. Veronica

Chapter 1

Veronica

T he sun burned low on the horizon, casting golden shadows over Haverboro, Arizona. The small desert town was quiet, completely unlike my previous home in San Diego, which was loud and noisy but notably not as hot.

Haverboro was settled between barren stretches of desert and winding highways hidden away among strip malls and cacti. I’d come here with my sister to be far from my mother, but we’d found more than we bargained for. Under the stillness and the glow of the desert, we’d found a serial killer. Well, she’d found love.

God, what a cliche. I laughed to myself as my fingers danced over the keyboard, each keystroke a careful push further into the dark web .

I leaned closer to the screen, my breath shallow as the lines of code blurred and shifted. My eyes burned, but I couldn’t help but love it. The hours of staring at the computer were second nature to me, but I couldn’t afford to stop now. I’d been chasing information since the case I’d worked on for my sister Natasha.

The serial killer case had pulled up more family drama for her new boyfriend than he was prepared for, but it kept me busy and interested. Well, primarily interested in his brother, Eli Walters. He was an enigma—a true ghost in the digital world after supposedly dying — which was utterly fascinating. Also — everyone had seen him in the flesh but me, which was unfair.

He was also now my somewhat creepy-hot stalker, but since he wouldn’t actually come and talk to me, I had turned to trying to find something about his past, anything. I was getting closer, turning the tables on him. If someone asked me who I thought about all day long, I’d never admit that the man I was obsessing over was someone I’d never even spoken to. Someone that I had almost zero information on. Someone that I fantasized about when I lay in bed at night.

I had always been good at finding things that didn’t want to be found. It was one of the things I was good at. If Eli thought he would hide from me, he was mistaken.

A soft chime pulled my attention to the corner of the screen. My friend Reed had sent a message in our private chatroom. I opened it with a flick of my wrist.

Reed: You’re still at it? We told you to drop this one, V.

I rolled my eyes, typing out a quick reply.

Me: Can’t. Something’s off about this whole thing. He’s not just some rando.

Arabella: He’s dangerous—Reed’s right. Maybe you should let this go.

Calia: Guys, she’s not gonna drop it. You know V. If anything, you’re just making her more curious.

I smirked at the truth in Calia’s words. My trio of online friends knew me well. Reed was the cautious one, always urging me to play it safe. Arabella had the knack for spotting threats from miles away. Calia, on the other hand, was my partner in crime, who encouraged me to push boundaries. They kept me sane even when I felt like things were flying apart.

Me: Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.

I hesitated for a moment, then added.

Me: Besides, I’m close. If I can figure out how Eli connects, I can…

My fingers froze mid-sentence. Another chat window had popped up on my computer screen. My breath caught in my throat. Holy shit. This wasn’t good. White text began to appear on the dark background, one word at a time. My heart thundered in my chest, deafening me despite the music blaring from my speaker in the background.

Unknown: STOP LOOKING

Reed: You can what?

I ignored Reed and quickly initiated a trace, my mind racing as I tried to follow the thread of the intrusion. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but there. The more I dug, the clearer it became. Whoever was on the other end was good—really good.

My chest tightened, a familiar ache settling in as my past health issues reared their ugly head. I took a deep breath, pushing the pain aside. I couldn’t afford to be weak, not now.

“Come on,” I whispered, my fingers moving faster, my heart pounding in time with the keystrokes. “Just a little more…”

Me: Who is this ?

I tried to take a breath, my lungs burning with the effort. There was no reply for what felt like an eternity. Then, slowly, the cursor began to move again.

The words sent a trilling of excitement through me. My fingers shook as I settled them on the keys, but I forced myself to respond, my mind racing through every possible scenario.

Unknown: Someone who’s closer than you think.

My heart skipped a beat. I’d never been this close to him before, never felt the weight of his presence so acutely. It was as if he were in the room with me, watching my every move.

I didn’t know what possessed me, but I typed the next words with a strange mixture of defiance and fear.

Me: I’m not afraid of you.

The reply was almost instant.

Unknown: You should be.

Shit, shit, shit. The chat window disappeared as I frantically tried to reinitiate the trace to no effect, but the words lingered in the air, heavy and foreboding.

I sat back in my chair, my mind reeling. I had a choice to make. I could pull back, listen to Reed and Arabella’s warnings, and retreat into the safety of my world behind the screen. Or I could push forward, dive deeper into the darkness that surrounded Eli, and find out what he was hiding. There was no way this wasn’t connected to him. Nobody would convince me that it wasn’t. It had to be. Woah … I scooted my chair back for a minute and took a heaving breath.

What if?

What if … this was Eli? Was that possible?

My fingers hovered over the keyboard, my decision already made. I was in this now, too deep to turn back. There was something there. I had to go down the rabbit hole now. This person had shown that I was on to something. I wasn’t about to fold.

I began typing again, my resolve hardening with every keystroke. The game had changed, and so had the stakes. But I had never been one to shy away from danger. Not when it had a name and a face that haunted my every thought.

The hunt was on.

Arabella: Wtf our chat glitched. Did it do that for everybody?

Reed: What happened?

Me: It was nothing .

Calia: That was NOT nothing bitch. You need to cool your jets.

Me: I accidentally tripped something. It bugged out the chat.

I rationalized later when I stared at the meticulously arranged glow-in-the-dark star stickers on my ceiling that the girls didn’t need to know. That’s the only reason I lied.