“I’m here,” I said.

My heart began to beat faster.

I zoomed in on the data packet.

It showed an outgoing ping, requesting a location handshake from my device.

“I need your decision,” Clara said. “We need to finalize the transfer details tonight.”

“Tonight is too fast,” I said, keeping my voice steady.

“The board votes on Thursday,” she said. “We don’t have the luxury of time.”

I looked at the blinking green dot.

The data packets were tracking my connection to the nearest cell tower on Wabash Avenue.

Clara wasn’t trying to buy the files.

She was tracing the signal to find out exactly where my studio was.

Daniel didn’t know where I worked, but Clara was finding out for him.

“Thirty million is a lot of money,” I said, buying seconds.

“It is security,” Clara said. “It is the life you wanted when you left him.”

I tapped the screen, trying to abort the data exchange.

The application was locked, keeping the call active.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

“Don’t take too long, Emily. The offer has an expiration date.”