Chapter 12: The Isolation Net

👉 Previous Decision: You either confronted Arthur at his brownstone or met Evelyn at the Arlington diner.

Arthur’s security detail swept into the diner, moving with swift, brutal efficiency. They forced Evelyn and me out through the rear service hallway, throwing us into the back of a black SUV. It wasn’t a kidnapping; it was a relocation. A very public relocation.

Within hours, Arthur escalated his retaliation. My phone service disconnected. My name appeared on local law enforcement watch alerts, flagged for “domestic terroristic threats.” He had released an altered deep-fake video to local media outlets, portraying me as a mentally unstable former employee making threats against municipal infrastructure.

My former colleagues refused to answer my calls. My neighbors, once friendly, crossed the street to avoid me, their eyes wide with suspicion. Arthur had painted me as a dangerous stalker.

I stood on an unlit street corner in West Virginia, the rain plastering my hair to my forehead. Evelyn stood beside me, her expression grim. We were entirely isolated. Cut off. There was nowhere left to turn, no one left to call.

The vast, quiet power of Arthur Pendelton had extinguished my social and digital existence.

➡️ Read CHAPTER 15 to continue the story.