Page 20 of Corrupted Deception

“I will. I’ll call you back.”

I moved my fingers to end the call, but paused. “Val?”

“Si?”

“Gracias… for everything.” She wasn’t just a source of information. She’d been a lifeline.

“De nada, amiga.”

I disconnected the call and took a deep breath, my mind racing with the digital labyrinth I was about to enter.

My first target was the government’s databases.

My fingers flew across the keyboard as I infiltrated the social security system, erasing Madison Finley, Cade Finley, and Charlotte Santoro from the grid, then the DMV records and electoral registry.

Despite the fact that I was sitting on my ass, sweat broke out across my brow and trickled down the back of my neck.

Bank accounts were next.

I liquidated my assets, transferring the funds to untraceable offshore accounts. I left no paper trail, no digital breadcrumbs that could lead back to me.

In a matter of moments, I was nearly finished, but my fingers hovered over the keys as I stared at Charlotte Santoro’s birth record.

“You’re about to delete your entire existence,” I said to the fragments of my reflection I could see on the monitor.

Ray’s heavy paws sounded on the stairs then across the concrete. He sauntered right to me and plopped his big head down on my knee, looking up at me. There was a decent chance he was trying to suck up for something, but it kind of felt like he was lending me his moral support.

“To find him, I have to stay alive, right?” And to do that, every trace of Charlotte Santoro needed to disappear.

He kept looking at me, his big, black eyes unwavering.

I nodded, but as the final keystrokes echoed through the quiet, early morning, I took a moment to catch my breath.

I was a ghost now, a shadow.

It left an odd hollow sensation in my chest.

I closed the laptop and looked out at the lightening city skyline.

I was alone, without a past, without a future, and with only one goal in mind: finding my father.

“What do you think, Ray? Should we try walking right up to Silva and demanding he hand over my dad?”

He whined and pressed his head harder against my knee.

“Yeah, I didn’t think so either.”

But short of that, I was out of ideas at the moment.

“What do you say you and I get out of here for a while?”

The feeling of imaginary eyes creeping across me had me wanting to wriggle right out of my skin.

Ray looked at me, no comprehension in his eyes.

“You wanna go for a ride?” I rephrased the question.

His head shot up, and he barked then bolted for the stairs.

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