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Chapter 6 - Chapter Six

🌹 The Contract Bride

đź“– Chapter Six: The Ghost Protocol

Singapore – The Aeon Facility

The air inside the surveillance room was frigid, sterile.

Screens lined the curved wall—satellite feeds, encrypted messages, biometric scans.

A woman in a grey suit stood silently before a glowing interface. Her face was unreadable, her posture rigid as a soldier. A digital voice echoed through the room.

> Subject: Wolfe, Emma

Status: Alive

Clearance Level Breach: Initiate Protocol Omega

She narrowed her eyes.

"Emma Vale survived Project Carthage," she said.

Another figure stepped forward from the shadows. Male. Tall. Scarred. "We underestimated her. But we won't make that mistake again."

"Prepare the Operative," the woman said. "Initiate full extraction."

A screen lit up, revealing a face shrouded in code.

> Operative X: Activated

Mission: Erase Emma Vale

Paris – Wolfe Manor

Emma jolted awake, drenched in sweat.

The nightmare clung to her—faceless figures, chasing her through endless corridors. Her breath came fast, chest heaving.

Alexander stirred beside her. "Another dream?"

She nodded. "I saw Lily… but her eyes were different. Like she was warning me."

Alexander wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. "Damien's gone, Emma. It's over."

Emma hesitated. "No. It's not."

She sat up, staring into the darkness. "Someone else is still out there."

As if on cue, her encrypted phone buzzed on the nightstand.

One new message. No sender ID.

> They know.

Leave Paris now.

Her blood turned cold.

Wolfe Corp – Cyber Intelligence Division

Alexander slammed the phone onto Mira's desk. "Trace that number."

Mira's fingers flew over the keyboard. "It's a ghost signal. Masked through seven relays, routed through Iceland, then Hong Kong. But the original server…"

She squinted. "Singapore."

Alexander's expression darkened. "Project Carthage wasn't Damien's alone. Someone else is pulling the strings."

Emma crossed her arms. "Someone who knows I'm still alive. And they're coming."

Mira brought up a blurred image—a surveillance capture from the Singaporean port. A figure in a black trench coat, face obscured.

> Operative X – Arrival Confirmed

Emma leaned in. "Who is that?"

Mira hesitated. "He's a myth. Ex-intelligence. No name. No history. They call him Ghost."

Alexander's jaw clenched. "Then we make sure the ghost never gets close."

London – Safe House Echo

They moved under cover of night.

Emma wore a blonde wig and contact lenses. Alexander traveled as "Julian Locke," a hedge fund CEO. Wolfe's private jet touched down at an airstrip outside London just before dawn.

Inside the stone-walled safehouse, Mira set up a mobile command center.

"We'll be off-grid for 72 hours. Long enough to find the Singapore base and destroy whatever's left of Carthage," she said.

Emma stood at the window. "And if they find us first?"

Alexander came up behind her. "They won't. I won't let them."

But even as he said it, Mira's voice pierced the room.

"Guys… we have a breach."

A red icon pulsed on the screen.

> Signal Lock: Emma Vale

Proximity Alert: 1.4 km and closing

Emma's heart dropped. "He's already here."

London Underground – Emergency Evacuation

The safe house imploded fifteen minutes later.

The walls were rigged with explosives—Alexander's failsafe. As Emma and Mira escaped through the underground tunnel, the blast echoed through the abandoned train station.

They emerged near Victoria Station. Emma glanced behind her. No sign of Ghost.

Yet.

Alexander's phone buzzed.

A video.

Emma's face—live feed.

She was in a bookstore, unaware. It was from twenty minutes ago.

Emma gasped. "He's tracking me… in real-time."

Mira paled. "There's a microchip."

They pulled into a nearby alley. Mira scanned her with a handheld device—then froze.

"It's not in your clothes. It's under your skin."

Emma's mind reeled. "No… Damien must've injected it. The night of the gala. When I blacked out."

Alexander reached for his knife. "Then we get it out. Now."

Forty Minutes Later – Wolfe's Hidden Tech Lab, London

Emma lay on the table, jaw clenched.

Alexander's hands were steady as he made a tiny incision near her shoulder blade.

"Almost there," he said.

A beep.

He extracted the chip—silver, the size of a grain of rice.

Mira sealed it in a lead box. "We'll spoof its signal. Ghost will chase a phantom to Iceland."

Alexander wiped his hands. "Emma, it's over."

Emma sat up, eyes shining with tears. "No. Now we hunt them."

Singapore – Aeon Facility

The woman in grey read the report.

> Target Location: Misdirected – Reykjavik

She didn't flinch.

"Deploy the secondary team."

The scarred man beside her raised an eyebrow. "Against Wolfe himself?"

She turned to face him.

"Against both of them."

Wolfe Corp – Zurich Data Hub

Two days later.

Alexander and Emma returned to Zurich under aliases.

The Carthage data vault was intact—but now, their plan was different. No more exposure. This time, they'd destroy it from the inside.

Mira handed Emma a small drive. "It's a neural trigger virus. Once activated, it will fry every node in the Aeon system. But it has to be done onsite."

Emma's eyes widened. "You mean… I have to go back to Singapore."

Alexander stepped forward. "No. I'll go."

But Emma shook her head. "No, Alex. I started this. I finish it."

He stared at her, torn.

Then nodded once. "Then we do it together."

Singapore – Nightfall

Emma wore black. Hair tied tight. Face like steel.

Alexander moved beside her, silent as a shadow.

They descended through the tunnels beneath the Aeon Facility, aided by Mira's relay guidance.

Upstairs, a gala raged—high officials, foreign investors.

Downstairs, the truth festered.

They reached the mainframe.

Emma inserted the drive.

The screen glowed red. Neural Virus Armed. Countdown: 5:00

Suddenly—alarms.

Emma turned.

Ghost.

He was real.

Pale skin. Dead eyes. A jagged scar down his cheek.

"You shouldn't have come," he whispered.

Emma raised her gun. "Tell that to my sister."

He lunged.

Alexander tackled him. The two men crashed into the racks, fists flying.

Emma crawled to the console—minutes left. Blood ran from her temple.

Ghost threw Alex across the room. Emma fired—hitting him in the leg.

He staggered. "You can't stop us."

Emma hit ENTER.

> Virus Released

System Wipe: 100%

Ghost's eyes widened. The screens blinked, then turned black.

Everything… gone.

He growled. Charged.

Alexander pulled Emma down just as the backup battery exploded.

Three Days Later – Back in Paris

The news was everywhere.

> Wolfe Corporation Clears Name in Global Scandal

Aeon Collapse Exposes Corruption

Damien Vale Sentenced to Life

Emma stood on the Wolfe Manor balcony, staring at the rising sun.

Alexander stepped behind her, sliding a hand around her waist.

"You did it," he said.

"No," she replied. "We did."

He kissed her forehead.

But even as they embraced—

A drone hovered in the distance.

Watching.

Epilogue Tag

Inside a darkened control room, a figure stared at the screen.

Behind them, rows of suspended human pods blinked in icy blue light.

One pod zoomed into view.

> Subject: Lily Vale

Status: Stasis

Locat

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