Sparks and Shadows

Isabella was on the floor of the bathroom — legs pulled up to her chin, arms wrapped around it and head lowered — when María rushed in. 

"Isa! Your—" María came to an abrupt halt at the sight. She tossed Isabella's phone on the bed and hurried to sit beside her, ignoring the water pouring from the showerhead. She wrapped an arm around her shoulder and Isabella jumped at the touch, her head raising a fraction. 

"It's me." María's voice was soft, almost a whisper. "Are you okay?" She face-palmed herself. "What am I saying, you're obviously not okay."

"I'm fine."

María scoffed. "Yeah. Sitting on the bathroom floor curled into yourself is perfectly normal. Yeah, you're perfectly fine." 

Isabella's smile was less stiff but did nothing to lift the gloom on her face. "I think I'm rubbing off on you a little too much, is that sarcasm I hear in your voice, Mar?" 

Okay. Maybe I should keep her talking. It should help, right? 

"And who said you're the only one that can be sarcastic? The last time I checked, it's a universal language, babe." 

Isabella stared at her for a solid second. "You're trying a bit too hard but thanks, Mar." She stood and shut off the water. "I feel much better now." 

María wasn't sure she believed her. Is she supposed to be okay this soon?

"I didn't say I'm okay, ju—just feeling a bit better?" 

"Did I say that out loud?" 

Isabella nodded. María winced. 

I'm such an idiot. 

She joined Isabella at the mirror, where she stood wrapping a towel around herself. Isabella gave a bitter laugh. "I look like something the cat dragged in." 

María said nothing, drying her hair with a smaller towel. "Do you want to talk about it? We could change into warm clothes, grab some snacks and get under the duvet." 

"Like in college? Whenever one of us was feeling—" Isabella frowned at her reflection. "—and looking shitty." She picked at her fingers. "Um. Okay." 

María smiled at her. "A sec." She stripped out of her wet clothes and wrapped a towel around herself, gesturing for Isabella to do same. "I'll get warm clothes." 

María came to a halt in the room when she saw the phone on the bed and as if sensing her presence, the phone screen lit up with a text. She drew closer.

Father - I trust you've seen what's circulating. I will not address this through headlines and gossip like the rest of the world. Be at the office in an hour. We have much to discuss.

María stared at the screen in disbelief, fury tightening her throat. "Just what kind of father sends this in this situation?" 

She glanced back at the bathroom, lips pursed while her fingers tapped at the back of the phone. Before she could change her mind, powered off the phone. She pulled open the top drawer of her bedside table and placed the phone in it. It closed with finality. "She will see you when she's ready." 

She slipped into a set of nightwear and grabbed another set for Isabella, returning to the bathroom. "Here. Change into this and I will get the snacks downstairs. Do you want a drink too?" 

Isabella nodded, taking the nightwear from her. "Thanks, Mar." 

"M-hm. I'll be right back," María said to her. She made her way downstairs to the kitchen and opening the fridge, grabbed any snacks and drink she could get her hands on. By the time she was done, she was carrying a picnic-like basketful of snacks and drinks back to her room. 

Isabella was curled up under the duvet by the time she opened the door. She sat up the moment she saw the basket of snacks, her eyes the size of a saucer. "Mar, are you planning to eat all that?"

María shrugged and placed the basket beside Isabella, climbing in next to her. "Once we're done having a nice long talk – which is overdue, considering that you just got back and we haven't swapped notes! – we could watch a couple of movies. I already have a list!" 

Isabella chuckled and took a chocolate from the basket, tearing off the wrap. She took a big bite and closed her eyes as the chocolate melted on her tongue. "Mmm." 

María watched her, the smile on her face getting bigger. 

Yes! I did it! 

She grabbed a snack herself, a grin on her face. They said nothing for a while as they tore through the snacks, smiling at each other and taking turns sipping the milk drink they had opened. Isabella leaned back against the headboard, a lazy smile on her face before she turned to María, her smile dimming. "So—"

"So?"

"Let's start w—with how I got out of that bathroom situation?"

María's smile disappeared. 

Oh. 

"You said you guys got there before anything happened," Isabella continued. "Who were you with?" 

María frowned. "Who was I with?" 

Isabella nodded.b"You said we got there before anything happened downstairs, while trying to comfort me," she pointed out. 

María sat up straight and cleared her throat. "Okay. Here is the thing: I wasn't the one that found you, it was one of Harry's men."

"What do you mean, one of your brother's men?" 

"Harry has—um—his men. He runs a private security company and when I told him about the party, he insisted that they be there. For security." 

Isabella froze, her gaze burning into María. Stunned, her mind scrambled to catch up. 

"I refused at first but after seeing they were the ones who helped, I'm really glad he had convinced me. It was so—"

Isabella's brain clocked out at that point, everything going hazy. She could hear María but the words didn't register, like she was underwater or María was speaking through glass. 

Don't pull me into your spiral of regret just because I had been the one that stopped it. 

Oh. My. Good. Lord. What have I done?

*******

The room was lit only by screens – lines of code dancing across multiple monitors and a faint hum from a server rack filled the space. Xander's fingers were flying over the keyboard, his brows furrowed in deep concentration. Behind him, Harry stood like a loaded weapon in human form: arms folded, his jaw clenched tight. Newbie leaned against the wall and chewed on a toothpick, iPad in hand, eyes trained on its screen like it decided life and death. Two other guys – lean, quiet – stood nearby like shadows.

"Substack uses ghost-routing proxies and offshore encryption," Xander muttered, not looking back. "Takes effort to break but this guy's cocky, he left a weak spot."

"Good," Harry said, his voice ice-thin. "Exploit it."

One of the guys nearby scoffed. "They always think a VPN and a pseudonym makes them untouchable."

Xander smirked as he typed rapidly. "Exactly. He used a Singapore-based IP last, but his login timestamp doesn't match Substack's server window." A map pinged up on the screen with blinking points. "Means he spoofed one layer. But look – he checked for comments logged into a dummy Gmail – stupidly tied to an old phone number."

Harry stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "Trace the number."

Xander clicked, brought up a secondary window. "On it." The screen flicked again. "Boom! Burner number but not a good one. Used it to verify a backup X account but guess what – he forgot to unlink his Reddit when he logged in once."

A picture flashed: a Reddit thread with a handle. Then another click – metadata loaded. The handle led to a domain registry history for a personal blog: a legal name appeared, address, real email.

Xander let out a whoop. "Gotcha!"

They all gathered around him. "That was fast," The newbie pointed out. 

Xander winked at him, a smug smile on his face. "I'm just that good," he turned back to the screen. "Meet Jonas Wade, aka MaskedEye," he said, turning to Harry. "Freelance blogger, tried to go mainstream, never got traction. This was his Hail Mary."

Harry's lips barely moved. "Where is he?"

Xander tapped another key, a tracker loaded, "Carrer de Badajoz, 08005. Apartment. He's been refreshing the page every twenty minutes, probably riding the high."

Harry took the phone Xander handed him and the screen showed the apartment's exact location, real-time ping tracking.

"I'm going," Harry said, his voice like steel unsheathed. "Let's go say Hola." (Hello)

Xander stood, cracking his neck. "You want me to call ahead? Rattle him?"

"No. Let's watch him squirm in person." He turned to one of the boys. "we leave in five and if he tries to delete anything while we're in transit—"

Xander smirked. "Already backing up his cloud: I own him now."

Harry's expression never changed. "Good. I'll decide what he gets to keep later."

Just then the screen of the iPad newbie was holding lit up and his eyes widened. He hurried towards Harry. "Lucien sent the files." 

They all gathered around Harry as he handed the iPad to him. He swiped through the clips – Isabella weaving through the dance floor with a man right behind her, same man with her in the bathroom and one of newbie escorting her out. 

A text came in. 

Lucien: I want double payment for all that work. 

Xander chuckled. "Someone sounds salty." 

Harry: Got it. 

Harry marked out a few of the clips, split them and handed the iPad back to newbie. "Get to work. I want it everywhere by the time I get back." 

Newbie nodded and took the iPad from him, an apprehensive look on his face. Harry didn't notice — he was already striding out from the room, his face dark. Xander gave newbie a look as he stood up to follow behind Harry. "Why don't we go over what you're supposed to do with that." He gestured to the iPad. "Make sure you're not the next one on Harry's to kill list." 

Newbie turned white and Xander laughed, slapping a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's hear it," he encouraged. 

"Um—create burner accounts, post the clips, flood the comments—?" He enumerated. 

Xander nodded and arched an eyebrow when Newbie said nothing further. "Yes?" 

Newbie scratched behind his ear. "Is there more?" 

Xander gave him an I knew it look and chuckled. "And report every account that carried the news, shared or did whatever with it." He tapped his shoulder. "You owe me one, bro, you would have become minced meat." 

Xander looked towards the other guy. "Help him. It will be faster that way." 

He nodded. "Sure, Xan." 

Xander stopped half-way through the door of the room. "Um, new kid?" 

"Yes Sir?"

"Who are you again?" Xander asked. 

Newbie looked from Xander to the guy standing by him, his forehead furrowing. "A security personnel that was on duty at the party and had noticed, and helped Señorita Montez?" 

Xander nodded in approval. "And your profile?"

"An employee of the Aegis Sentinel Solutions?" 

Xander smirked. "I guess I underestimated you a little bit. I see why Harry likes you." 

Newbie's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh? He likes me?" 

Xander gave a salute and left the room. The door shut slowly behind him and Newbie stood there watching it as it did. Slowly, a smile stretched his lips, lighting up his face. 

Yes! Seems like I will be getting into the family after all. 

"If you don't move your ass, that smile won't be staying on your face for too long," the other guy told him, stepping forward to snatch the iPad from him.

He turned and followed after the guy. "Um. Do you know what it means when boss likes someone?"

The guy gave him a look. "That you're still on probation?" 

Right. He could still decide to kick me out tomorrow.