Shadow Of Obsession.
Later, in the company's tech hall, Damien sat in a strategy meeting with the Zurich branch's finest engineers.
A massive screen displayed cascading lines of code, shifting architectural diagrams, and live intrusion simulations. One by one, team leads presented their reports, clean, sharp, high level.
Damien sat like a king on a throne, silent but hyper aware. His eyes skimmed every detail, and he was paying rapt attention, until his eyes landed on Eva.
EvaMyles,
Damien might have appeared like he was listening to them, and even though he was actually paying attention, but his eyes had been infact on Eva.
He had been stylishly watching her, her every move, her appearance, trying to study her, and he could see how distracted she seems, her hair was messy, her eyes looked sunken like she had not slept for a while, and she seemed very unorganized, frazzled, distracted, out of rhythm with the room's pristine professionalism. And yet, he couldn't look away.
The conference room held close to forty employees, a blend of engineers, analysts, and directors. Damien was seated among the top-tier executives, quiet, observant, yet undeniably commanding. While many in the room tried not to stare, nearly everyone was aware of his presence. His reputation alone demanded attention, and it made the staff sit a little straighter, speak a little more carefully.
Everyone noticed him.
Everyone... except Eva.
She didn't glance his way even once. Her expression was blank, detached. If she had noticed Damien Lopez in the room, she gave no sign. Her demeanor suggested she was somewhere else entirely, mentally, emotionally.
Earlier, Damien had studied her file.
Everything about her on paper confirmed she wasn't Ana. Her name was Eva Myles. Twenty-four years old, should be same age as Ana. Hired roughly a year ago. Highly educated, impeccably skilled. On record, she was a completely different person. And yet...
Actually she is quite beautiful, no doubt. Not just familiar, strikingly beautiful. Even more so than Ana, though he wouldn't admit that aloud. Her eyes bore a resemblance, larger, more expressive, but oddly similar in shape and depth. Same height too. And from a distance, with the right angle and lighting, she could've been her.
But up close, no. She wasn't Ana.
Still, Damien caught himself watching her. Again and again. Not out of suspicion anymore, but something else.
Something he didn't yet understand.
"Eva, you're up," a colleague nudged her gently.
She startled, gathering her files hastily before stepping forward.
She approached the screen and began her report;
Eva's Report
"Over the past quarter, we've enhanced our defensive posture by integrating AI-based threat detection into our cloud infrastructure. We've shifted from signature based intrusion and detection systems to behavior based anomaly detection using machine learning models trained on synthetic traffic datasets.
Our current focus is on mitigating zero day exploits and advanced persistent threats (APTs). In this simulation, " she gestured at the screen, "We isolated a spear phishing payload that had bypassed traditional firewalls but was detected by our heuristic filters within milliseconds.
In terms of backend, we've migrated core services from monolithic architecture to microservices, significantly reducing latency. We're also testing a quantum resilient encryption protocol, using lattice based cryptography for post quantum security."
She was in her element now, commanding attention with clarity and depth.
Damien leaned forward, and for the first time today, he spoke;
"How would you respond if our threat model identified a logic bomb embedded in our source code, set to trigger based on a specific internal commit ID?"
Eva froze for a breath when she heard that voice. Then she abruptly turned, and for the first time, her eyes found Damien.
And everything inside her seemed to collapse.
Her pupils dilated. Her lips parted slightly. For a second, it looked like she might scream.
But she didn't.
She blinked, and then surprisingly composed herself, and then answered calmly, "I'd isolate the commit trail, roll back to the last known good deployment, then trigger a full static and dynamic code analysis. I'd follow with privilege isolation, lock external integrations, and conduct red team simulation to trace the breach point."
"Good," Damien murmured, eyes narrowing.
She walked back to her seat stiffly, nervously without another glance.
Damien Resolve
Later, in Damien's office,
Eric stood with folded arms. "Is everything alright, sir?"
"Yeah." Damien lied, eyes distant.
Eric turned to leave when Damien suddenly asked, "Eric, did you notice the girl named Eva?"
"Yes, I did."
"What do you think about her?"
"She does looks like one that should be fired, acting like someone skating on thin ice, except that she seem to know what she's doing technically."
"You didn't notice anything else?"
Eric sighed. "No, sir. Should I have?"
"She sounds like Ana," Damien said quietly. "Her voice, her hair, it's almost identical. The same field of work, even. Her age matches. Her reaction when she saw me,"
Eric groaned. "Sir. No offense, but this has to stop. Every time we meet someone with brown eyes and shoulder length hair, you go spiraling. You're seeing Ana everywhere. This is not healthy."
"I am not insinuating anything yet, I am just trying to analyze the situation, did you see the way she reacted when she saw me, it wasn't just surprise, Eric. It was fear. You saw it. I mean, this is different. The way she looked at me, more like she knew me."
Eric exhaled sharply, rolling his eyes and nearly facepalming. "She flinched. Everyone flinches when they see you. You're Damien Lopez,the world's most talked about tech billionaire. People freeze around you, fangirl around you, faint around you. She composed herself afterward, didn't she? That's more than most can do. You're reading into this. She's not Ana."
"I didn't say she is, just that her reaction was spectacular"
Eric raised his eyebrows. "Like o said earlier, It could be due to any reason, or perhaps she was just reacting to Damien Lopez, world-renowned tech prodigy and multi-billionaire. Women do that, sir. Especially when you're asking them about logic bombs in front of a room full of experts."
Damien scoffed.
"I saw her too, she does sounds like Ana, most girls sounds like that, with all due respect, you have to stop seeing Ana in every woman you meet. Do you know how many people in the world have the same hair color? Millions. And it's been two years, Mr Damien, I expected you to have moved on by now. You are being too paranoid."
Damian exhaled sharply as he shut his eyes.
Eric started at him in disbelief, and then takes a deep breath, his voice low but firm. "Mr Damien, this, this thing with Ana, it's starting to look like an obsession. You keep seeing her in every woman who crosses your path. Just last week, you said the vendor's daughter looked like a younger version of her."
He shook his head. "Sir, you have to let her go. The family's worried. We all are."
He paced a little before continuing. "Don't forget, the whole reason we Left California and moved to Zurich was because the psychologist recommended a change of environment. This place was supposed to help you heal, Even the family agreed. But if you're still seeing Ana here, in strangers, in shadows then I don't think it's the city. It's you. You need to move on."
Damien didn't respond at first. His jaw clenched tight. Then, quietly but with weight, he asked, "Why should I?"
Eric looked at him, stunned.
""For the past two years she seemed to have disappeared. We have swept everywhere yet can't be found. Is she even still alive?
I left Dexter with the codes just to keep her safe, so Dexter doesn't have to go after her or her family. Yet she can't be found.
What if Dexter had gone back on his words by killing her? What if to protect the fact that he stole the codes, he had kept her hidden in his basement? What if he had wiped out all her family? I need answers. Something, anything at all. Even if it's her grave!"
Eric paused, then spoke more gently.
"Well, now that you mentioned it, it is possible that Dexter might have done something to her. I mean Dexter is a dangerous and brutal man. And even though he seemed ruthless, but based on the inside investigation being carried out on him, it was said that he dislikes betrayal, and his watchword is loyalty. He doesn't go back on his words. So it is also possible that he didn't do anything to her. Maybe something else happened to her. Anything is possible, we are still on the investigation, so we can't jump into conclusions yet "
"Investigation?" Damien scoffed and repeated bitterly. "Investigation that yielded no result for the past two years."
He scoffed again and then returned to the documents on his table.
"But sir, for a second I had thought you had succeeded in getting her off your mind. I am shocked we are back here again. I thought you and seraphina is now an item, why don't you try to focus on your relationship with Seraphina and forget this Ana girl. It is not helping you in any way. If we can't get to her, Kamer would gets her eventually. Can't we just do that?"
"Seraphina? Damien cut in coldly. "Who?"
Eric blinked, stunned.
But Damien had already turned back to the files on his desk.
With a reluctant bow, Eric quietly left the room, his heart heavier than before.
ERIC
Eric was walking down the hall when his phone rang. He glanced at the screen and answered immediately.
"Eric, how is my son? How is Switzerland?" Eleanor's familiar voice came through.
"We're settling in fine, ma'am," he replied politely.
"And how is Damien? Does the relocation seem to be helping at all?"
Eric thought back to the conversation he'd just had with Damien. He sighed.
"I can't say for sure yet, ma'am. We only just got here. But I believe he'll be okay."
"I need him to be okay, Eric. He's my only son, and I still don't understand why he can't seem to move on from just one girl! Please, keep talking to him. He listens to you."
"I'll do my best," Eric promised.
"And one more thing, please convince him to consider Seraphina. I've tried, but he won't listen to me. Since he listens to you, maybe you can make him see reasons. Seraphina has been by his side for the past two years, loyal, caring, always available. That kind of devotion shouldn't be ignored. In return, she deserves more than silence. She deserves commitment."
Eric remained quiet, listening.
"The family needs an heir, Eric. He's not getting any younger. I've decided to send Seraphina over to Switzerland. Maybe being closer to him will finally strengthen their bond."
"That might be a good idea, ma'am."
"Good. Then I entrust him to you, Eric. Take care of him, will you?"
"I'll try my best," he replied again, his voice low with uncertainty.
After the call ended, Eric stood still, staring at the phone in his hand. He was conflicted.
He knew Damien would be furious if he found out he was working with Mrs. Eleanor behind his back. But at the same time.., he was starting to worry too.
It had been two years. Two long years, and every effort to locate Ana had come up empty. Yet Damien refuses to let go. He was still pouring an unimaginable amount of money into the search, still refusing to reclaim the stolen codes from Dexter, all for Ana's safety.
At first, Eric believed it was just revenge. But now, he wasn't so sure anymore.
It didn't feel like revenge. No
It felt like obsession.