The next morning, the world pretended nothing had happened.
Aisha hurried through the campus courtyard, clutching her old laptop bag. She convinced herself the text had been spam, a hacker prank. Still, her stomach twisted every time her phone vibrated.
In her AI engineering class, Professor Ahmed introduced a “special guest” — an investor from a global tech group funding student startups.
When the tall man entered, time seemed to slow.
Black suit. Cold eyes. Same as last night.
“Students, this is Mr. Dante Moretti, CEO of Nexxus Systems,” the professor said. “He’s transforming global security through artificial intelligence.”
Aisha felt her pulse pound. Nexxus. She’d heard of them — rumored front for offshore data laundering, whispered in forums she’d explored at 2 a.m.
Dante’s gaze moved over the room until it found her. And stopped.
“Miss Khan,” he said, his accent low and Italian, smooth as glass. “You’re developing something remarkable, aren’t you?”
She swallowed. “Just… an ethics-based AI. For transparency.”
“Transparency is dangerous,” he said softly, stepping closer. “It can expose the wrong people.”
The class ended, but Dante lingered near the door. When she passed him, he murmured, “Delete your project, Aisha. Before it deletes you.”
She froze. “You hacked me.”
He smiled — not denying it. “Let’s just say curiosity runs both ways.”
That night, she tried to sleep, but the AI kept whispering from her screen:
“Dante Moretti— pattern incomplete. Accessing encrypted files…”
She didn’t click stop.
Outside, the wind howled through the desert.
Somewhere, a man in a penthouse watched her name appear on a glowing wall of data, a tiny red dot pulsing like a heartbeat.
I will post the next chapter next day
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The Algorithm of Desire
RomanceIn Dubai's towers of glass and secrets, love is the most dangerous code.Read to know decode the code
