The city slept. But Riva didn't. Her room had glowing fairy lights, an open laptop, and one cold cup of rose tea. The cursor blinked like a heartbeat.She wasn't coding anymore.She was staring. Because her code had moved.On its own. Project Whisker-her secret Al for decoding animal emotions had been fine last night.Perfect, even. But now the system delay was off. Whole logic trees were rewritten.
She didn't touch them. And someone or something had. She checked the logs.
User: G-417
Last Access: 2:19 a.m.
That user didnt exist.
Her cat, Pixel, suddenly growled low, sharp, facing the closet.she turned.Nothing. But when she faced her screen again, a new line of code had appeared:
Next time, dont work alone. Her blood turned cold.
She pulled the drive. Killed the Wi-Fi.Grabbed her backup laptop.
No more second chances. No more secrets.
Riva wasnt just building an Al anymore.
She was being hunted by someone who wanted her code.
And this time they'd made the first move.