Found Obsession

Chapter 120: The Upper Hand

Rose sat in the chair of her secret room, the dim light casting long shadows across the walls.

"Ma'am," Percy had whispered earlier, his tone laced with unease. "For my general and my lieutenant general to be heading out together like that...I don't have sufficient information, but with all honesty, something's wrong."

She had never heard Percy—or any other soldier Jonathan had left with her—speak so candidly. The weight of his words settled deep in her chest, adding to the mounting pressure. She had only nodded at the time, unwilling to let her fears show.

Now, sitting alone, that sensation had only deepened. Rose swallowed hard, her hand instinctively moving to her chest as if to calm the storm raging within. Her breaths came slow and deliberate, but her heart refused to steady.

Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself of Jonathan's words to stay upright, and to keep moving.

With trembling fingers, she turned on her red program, her hands moving anxiously over the keyboard. She began meticulously clearing any evidence of their involvement, erasing traces of their presence in the orphanages. Each file she secured and backed up felt like another layer of protection for the secrets they had fought to shield. Certain copies were encrypted and locked away within the program, ensuring their existence could only be uncovered by her.

As the program ran, she placed the three notes—Sasha's, Mark's, and Jonathan's—together on the desk. She stared at them for a moment, the weight of their unspoken words pressing against her soul.

Her hand moved to her chest again, a futile attempt to quell the unease that had settled there. Her instincts screamed at her, a sharp edge that refused to dull.

Something was wrong.

Rose took another shaky breath, her fingers brushing over the folded notes. For now, she didn't dare read them. Not yet. Not until she was ready to face whatever truths they held.

Maybe she was just overly worried for Jonathan, but he was counting on her. She couldn't let him down.

Rose swallowed hard, forcing herself to focus.

Jonathan had given her tasks to complete, and she needed to keep moving forward. Turning her attention back to the screen, she began searching for clues—anything that could explain why children were being taken. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she hacked into cameras and systems.

Her heart sank when she found a disturbing pattern: several files and camera footage had been deleted, and many cameras had been disabled entirely.

Rose scoured the remaining data, her eyes narrowing as she traced the path of a bus. One faint trail emerged, but the cameras in the next area didn't cover the route. She frowned, turning to a map and pinpointing the coordinates. It was an isolated area, devoid of population. She circled the spot with a red pen, her thoughts racing.

Why were children being taken there?

She dove back into other camera feeds, searching for buses from different orphanages. Every lead seemed to converge on the same location. Rose's chest tightened as she folded the map. Something was happening there—something significant.

She turned back to her red program, the unease in her chest growing heavier.

Rose glanced at her watch. 5:02 PM. Her fiery instincts roaring inside her wouldn't let her rest.

Her mind flickered to Mr. Beristain. He had seemed impatient to get the loan back now, to have the money. He had mentioned rumors of a war.

Could this all be connected?